Ten seconds left on the clock and the girls’ basketball team is tied with their rivals in the last regular season game. Head coach Maggie Dyer calls a time-out and draws up a play to win the game. Returning back to the game the senior captain steals the ball from the other team and passes it out to her teammate. Her teammate scores the game-winning shot just as the time runs out. Dyer and the rest of the team celebrate their win and are ready to enter the playoffs.
Dyer teaches basketball at the school, but outside of school, she has different hobbies as well. Dyer runs a basketball camp called Higher Level, she is the head coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team and she works at the soccerplex on weekends. On top of all of these activities, Dyer also makes sure to spend time with her kids. She has a son and daughter in high school and, “I spend a lot of time with my two kids and they are very involved in sports so I spend a lot of time at sporting events,” Dyer said.
Dyer’s love for basketball started when she was young and she was a varsity starter for all four years of high school. She continued to play at a Division Three school called Lander University. This is Dyer’s 21st year as the head varsity coach of the girls’ basketball team. Last year the team was successful and made it all the way to the regional finals with an upsetting loss against Churchill. This year the team is down eight players and only has four returning, but still, “I’m very excited. Every team is different and every year is different and this year we are going to rebuild,” Dyer said.
Dyer tries to make meaningful and deep relationships with her players on and off the court because being close is what brings teams together and helps them perform better. “The coaching is awesome and Coach Dyer pushes us to be the best version of ourselves because she loves basketball and is eager to share that love with us,” sophomore Maya Bellamy said.
At school, Dyer is part of the Physical Education team as a basketball teacher. She teaches her students different moves such as dribbling skills, post moves, shooting drills, free throws and more. Throughout the year she has her students play 1v1s, 2v2s, 3v3s and 5v5s. Every day the students are expected to be actively participating in the game. “My favorite days are Freedom Fridays because we are allowed to do whatever we want as long as it is related to basketball,” junior Matthew Haile said.
On weekends Dyer helps out at the Adventist Healthcare FieldHouse and helps organize AAU and youth basketball tournaments as well as fall leagues. Over the summer she runs an all-girl basketball camp. There are four week-long sessions where each day is devoted to a different basketball skill. Her high school players work as counselors to help Dyer manage all of the kids and receive SSL hours. The kids and counselors enjoy the camp because Dyer makes it a fun and energetic environment. “I like being able to make friends with the kids and teach them something I love,” Bellamy said.
