There’s a lot you could say about the new Needham High School girls head basketball coach Lindsay Miller: that she was a basketball star at Westwood High, a key player at Harvard University, an assistant coach at Harvard under legendary coach Kathy Delaney-Smith and a coach at the Rivers School. But if you focus too much on what she’s done, you lose sight of who she IS. And that, says Miller, is someone who coaches with love in her heart.
“I think all of us need people who can be rocks of positivity in our lives and that’s what I aim to be for the girls on my team. It goes beyond X’s and O’s. It’s someone who is going to be in their corner and believe in them in times that they don’t necessarily believe in themselves.”
In addition to being a basketball expert, Miller, who lives with her husband and three children in Needham, is a mental health counselor who specializes in helping athletes and coaches. When she coached at Harvard, she realized that what the players sometimes needed from her was outside the scope of sports. “I started to feel not as equipped to help people get through some of their life lessons. I was the person they came to in crisis and I was only 26 years old.” So she went back to school at Boston University to get a degree in counseling and sports psychology. “We know that mental health is the foundation of peak performance,” she said. She decided to help athletes grow in all areas of their identity in a way that supports them as a team and makes them all feel like they belong.
Miller’s focus on total well-being and performance has brought new excitement for the upcoming season according to Co-Captain Hannah Levine, who also happens to be one of the captains of Needham’s state-ranked women’s soccer team. “You know that even in those moments when a good coach is hard on you … you know they want what is best for you,” said Levine. Co-captain Annie Camozzi said the team’s goal is to be state champion, and Coach Miller told the girls if they want to BE champions they have to ACT like champions and put the effort in.
Co-Captain Dani Deroian believes the new coach will inspire them to play hard, play faster, improve their defense, and take the best shots. Dani was one of five returning seniors who played a role in the interview process. “We played slow and not consistently,” said Deroian. “Now we’ll be focused on a new style.” Miller agreed. “We need a change in mentality and buy-in to defense. The talent on the team is remarkable, and there has to be a commitment to making people guard us, to play team basketball and to play fast and smart.” But it’s not all about basketball. Camozzi said she believes Miller will help the girls learn how to be women outside of the game: how to be good leaders and good people.
Former Needham High School star Cerie Mosgrove, who currently plays professionally in Europe, knows firsthand what a positive influence Miller can have on a young player. “Growing up, Lindsay was always a player I looked up to,” Mosgrove said. “She took me under her wing, inviting me to pickup games with her team at Harvard while I was still in high school. Those experiences shaped my own journey as a player.”
Miller has met individually with returning team members and believes they are a special group. “This is a deep team with great athletes and a lot of really good basketball players,” she said. “We’re like a lion pack,” said Deroian. “We travel in a group all together and trust each other.”
Tryouts and the season don’t officially get underway until after Thanksgiving. Miller is feeling short on time to prepare. But she’s very appreciative of the opportunity. “It’s amazing to be in a place like Needham where the girls are supported by their families and the whole community. I have coached and played in big arenas but none of those experiences, as wonderful as they were, compare to playing in front of a hometown crowd. It’s a feeling that’s unmatched. I’ll ask the team to play fearlessly,” said Miller.
Maybe, like a pack of lions.
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