From the outside coaching is the X’s and O’s. It is after-school practices, Thursday night games and celebrating wins with the team. It’s true — coaching is all of those things but it is also so much more. Elmore County girls soccer coach Leslie Hines gets it better than most.
“(Coaching) is an iceberg,” she said. “Parents and fans see the game, but that is just the tip.”
To Hines, coaching is being there for your team off the soccer pitch as much as it is being there on the pitch. To be a coach is to be a role model, a shoulder to lean on, a voice of empowerment and someone to help push past barriers that seem insurmountable. Hines is the 2025 All-Elmore County Girls Soccer Coach of the Year.
“The kids that I coach and the kids that I teach, they’re exceptional, and my job is to help push them further than what they think they can do,” Hines said. “And what better place than high school (to help them) push through the hard stuff, because out in the real world you might not have that type of support.”
It is a huge responsibility, but with the help of her volunteer coaches — Mike Jones, Heath Hines and Elliot Evans — Hines manages it with grace.
This season was historic for the Panthers in more than one way. As the undefeated area champions for the third straight year, Elmore County reached the Elite 8 for the first time in program history.
The Panthers finished the season ranked eighth overall in Class 5A with the highest winning percentage at 93 percent and fewest goals scored against out of 49 teams in the classification. With all those accolades, the success of the seasons speaks for itself.
However, Hines doesn’t only measure the success of her team by wins or accomplishments; she measures it by molding young women who are prepared to face the challenges of the real world.
“I’d tell the girls this season, as crazy as it sounds, I’d say the world does not care about your feelings,” she said. “I need them to realize that it’s not going to be easy, but you can get through it. To build that self-confidence for these young women, that’s one of my main focuses.”
It is a tough lesson that everyone learns at some point or another, and her willingness to teach it illustrates Hines’s dedication and care for her girls — it goes beyond coaching, beyond X’s and O’s, beyond wins and losses.
“High school coaching is a calling,” Hines said. “My athletes and my students think, ‘She's helping us, she’s coaching us.’ But the truth is they’re giving me back more than they realize. I’m contributing to my community and it brings so much joy.”