Teacher by Day, Star Coach by Night
Spotlight on Mr. Cutter
The Ultimate Frisbee coach and English teacher at Abington High School
May 16, 2018
Mr. Cutter is a new Ultimate Frisbee coach at Abington High School. He stepped in as the new coach when Mr. Scott stepped down after 13 years as the coach. Mr. Cutter also came on as a teacher in the English department when Mrs. Louko became the Assistant Principal.
Ultimate Frisbee is Mr. Cutter’s first coaching experience, and his first experience with Ultimate Frisbee was during the first practice at AHS.
He says that he “has always wanted to coach.” Mr. Cutter loves sports and “appreciates the cooperative strategy that goes into it.” He really wanted to be a part of that. Furthermore, he appreciates how “smart” people must be playing a game, especially Ultimate Frisbee.
When asked if he plays sports, Mr. Cutter said that, “I’ve always been an athlete. I love hiking. I play tennis all the time.” He played tennis at Whitman-Hanson High School and has been playing it recreationally since then. He also goes to the gym “regularly. I love being active. It keeps you healthy.”
People are more likely to do stuff for you if you are nice to them.
— Mr. Cutter
Currently, the Ultimate Frisbee team is seven and zero. The captains are all returning varsity players: juniors Jason Kinniburgh and Mohammad Zaidan, and sophomore Bobby Molloy.
When Mr. Cutter was asked about the outcome of the season he said he “believes the team has the potential to get into the championship and win the SSL tournament. As long as the players keep up the good work they will go far.” He also believes they are going to have a fun season.
He is very happy with their progress so far. “Ultimately, it’s not about winning.” He just hopes to keep having fun, keep playing games, and keep succeeding.
Mr. Cutter’s overall goal for the team is to make sure everyone feels some sort of personal sense of accomplishment, regardless of how they do. He also hopes that “they will stick with it for the rest of their lives.”
His ideal player is someone who has a mature attitude and who can roll with punches “because most of the time a lot of bad things happen.” He believes that if somebody is the type of person that lets the bad stuff get to them, then they are not going to be a successful player. “If you let something get to you, you start to freak out or you start to get frustrated and that skill is going to go out the window; whereas, somebody who is not necessarily skilled, if they can keep a cool head and play smart and not get frustrated with the little things they can’t control, [is] a more valuable player” said Mr. Cutter.
A typical Ultimate Frisbee practice is that they meet outside, warm up, do a few laps, some static stretching, and some drills, focusing on things they need to work on in the game. Then they play a fun game or two and call it a day.
Mr. Cutter pushes his players to do their best, but he’s not extremely tough on them. “I’m not the type of guy who would be screaming at them, making them do 800 push-ups for no reason. I think there is value in not being that person and so far it’s worked. People are more likely to do stuff for you if you are nice to them. It has always been my kind of philosophy.”
His experience as a new coach “feels awesome, a lot of fun. I’m not used to attention. So like being tweeted about. Random people I haven’t met walk past me in the hall and say congrats on the win. It’s weird, but it’s cool. I like it.”
For those interested in doing a sport, Mr. Cutter suggests “obviously do whatever you think would make you happiest, but also Ultimate Frisbee is a lot of fun.” He adds that “it’s a good group of kids.”
