Janine Tucker: Sweethearts Off The Field And Pit Bulls On The Field

**Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives, and other major sports figures and academics who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.**

This 1-on-1 interview features Johns Hopkins University Women's Lacrosse ([@HopkinsLacrosse](https://twitter.com/hopkinslacrosse)) Coach Janine Tucker. A five-time IWLCA Regional Coach of the Year, Tucker is the all-time winningest coach at Johns Hopkins.

Tina Syer ([@tinasyer4](https://twitter.com/tinasyer4)), PCA's former President, talks to Tucker about her evolution as a coach, starting with her multi-sport youth, during which her father coached her. A key piece of advice he imparted: look for "truth-tellers," coaches and others who tell you what you *need* to hear, not what you *want* to hear. Now, she says, she strives to be that truth-teller for her athletes.

Tucker's coaching evolution entailed her learning how to be more demanding, realizing that it is a coach's job to help players improve as athletes and as people. She addresses the importance of athletes' body language and tone of voice.

Other key topics and concepts explored include: the coach's role in guiding players' use of social media; working with players' parents -- realizing that they express concerns out of love for their children, but that ultimately the coach must own those conversations; recruiting players who are "sweethearts off the field and pit bulls on the field;" and her preference for players with multi-sport backgrounds, rather than those who specialize too early.

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