Peabody High has announced its next varsity volleyball coach in Sherrill Erickson, who takes over for longtime coach Lisa Keene.
Keene announced her retirement after 20 seasons in charge of the Tanners, amassing more than 300 wins. Now, it’s time for a new chapter, and Erickson is ready to write it.
Although Erickson has plenty of coaching experience, this will be her first season as a varsity head coach.
“I coached volleyball in Chelmsford for six years and basketball there for 13 years at various levels. I was never the head coach, but I got a lot of experience as the assistant coach at both sports,” she said. “I’m so excited and can’t wait for tryouts.”
When asked what made now the time to go for her first head coaching job, Erickson said she’s been debating it for a while.
“Once I saw the position was posted a couple of different times, I felt, maybe, they didn’t have the ideal candidate. So, I figured I would throw my hat in the ring and see what happened,” she said. “I wanted to get back into it, but I wasn’t sure if it was the right time.”
You could say most coaches, when taking over a program, look to instill their own brand. For Erickson, she wants the transition from Keene to be as smooth as can be.
“It’s been a great program, so I don’t want to change too much right from the get-go. I want them to be familiar with how they run things and I’m going to go and talk to Lisa and talk to the JV coach and make sure I’m doing similar things that they were doing because a lot of change isn’t good,” Erickson said. “I’ve been through that experience, where I’ve had a new coach thrown in the mix and it can be tough. Over time, I’ll see where I can implement some things that I want to do, but I want to make it as easy as a transition for the kids.”
According to Erickson, you might not see her yelling and screaming on the sideline. She’d rather impact her players with calmness.
“I’m usually on the calmer side of things. I’m very dedicated and committed and motivated to get these girls to work hard,” Erickson said. “I think I’m very caring, so I want this to be like a family. I know, as a head coach, you have to be a bit more serious at times and have things structured and run well, but you want the team to have fun at the same time.”
With tryouts coming up this month, Erickson has seen the schedule and is looking forward to a matchup against Central Catholic.
“I know we are playing Central Catholic, which is going to be fun because Central and Chelmsford were in the same league, so I’ve gone up against them a lot,” she said. “That’ll be an interesting game for sure.”
And although Erickson and her players haven’t had much time together, she has her eyes set on the state tournament.
“We definitely want to make the state tournament. I know under Lisa, they consistently did that,” she said. “I want them to be able to have that goal in mind and see where we can go from there.”
