Former UIndy athletes transition to coaching
Scott Gyllenborg, a graduate assistant for men’s soccer, and Kyleigh Turner, the assistant women’s volleyball coach, are two individuals at the University of Indianapolis who started their UIndy careers as athletes.
Gyllenborg grew up in England, where he had been playing since he was seven years old.
Along with soccer, Gyllenborg also played cricket and rugby. However, given the cultural influence of growing up in England, soccer became his sport of choice.
“Soccer’s always kind of fixated me,” Gyllenborg said.
At the age of seventeen, he moved to the United States due to a job opportunity his father had received.
“Coming [to the US] gave me an opportunity to do [soccer and school],” Gyllenborg said.
After playing for a school in St. Louis, Gyllenborg played soccer at UIndy. He played as a center, and he also played right field. Gyllenborg earned two letters in 2009 and 2010 while playing for the team.
“I was one of the captains,” he said.
According to Gyllenborg, the responsibility as a captain of the team helped prepare him to assist in coaching, however, he believes that it’s how you conduct yourself as a coach that really matters.
Gyllenborg said that though he had wanted to play soccer professionally, coaching had really been his childhood dream. Before coaching at UIndy, Gyllenborg coached at a soccer club in Carmel for three years.
“I don’t think it prepared me to coach [the UIndy] team,” Gyllenborg commented.
He said that he has played with the juniors and seniors on UIndy’s soccer team for two years, and the sophomores for one year.
“My role is to be a connecting force between the players and [Head] Coach [John] Higgins,” Gyllenborg said.
Gyllenborg also said that the proximity within the team made it an easier transition into coaching.
“It’s a pretty close-knit group,” he said.
Turner has been coaching at UIndy for two years now, after being a captain for the women’s volleyball team for two years.
Turner mainly helps the defensive specialist. Some of her other duties include assisting in recruiting, scouting and implementing practices. She also has been coaching for a volleyball club in Muncie. Turner also played volleyball for this club for six years.
“The biggest [difference in coaching both teams] is that the club team girls I coach are all from different schools, so it’s a lot of getting to know each other and how to play together,” Turner said.
Turner also explained that at the university, the necessary skills are already there.
“Last year, I was still making that transition with the girls from being friends with them. This year I haven’t played with most of them so they only see me as a coach,” Turner said.
Turner said the transition from playing on the team to coaching was made easier due to the added responsibility she was given when playing for the UIndy team.
“[During my senior year], I was the only senior. So being a captain and the only senior helped the transition,” Turner said.
According to the UIndy Athletics website, Turner was one of the leading defensive specialists in UIndy volleyball history. Turner also helped lead her team to the finals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. Additionally, she earned one of the top three single totals while playing for UIndy, and served as a team captain during her senior year.
Turner earned several awards while playing for UIndy as well. She received the 2009-2010 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award, the NCAA Elite 88 Award and the Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Turner said the hardest part of the transition from team player to coaching was handling the girls emotions. She said that it is difficult to balance the highs and lows throughout the season.
However, Turner also said that there are greater rewards to coaching than just winning.
“[The most rewarding part of coaching is] seeing something the girls have been struggling with [and then] seeing them succeed,” Turner said.
Overall, however, Turner explained that the fact that she can still work on her master’s degree in Business Administration at UIndy and still do volleyball made coaching worth it.
“I think since I’m around [volleyball] all the time, I do not miss it as much,” Turner said.
