Coaching is a Lifestyle
Suneeta Eisenberg (Coach Suni) wants to prove people wrong when they say that coaching isn’t a profession, because for her it’s not only a profession, it’s a lifestyle. Coaching has been part of her life since 1998 and is core to her identity. “I love learning and I love helping others learn and figure out their paths,” says Coach Suni.
As the Passport to Careers coach for the NW coastal region, Coach Suni works with students who have experienced foster care or unaccompanied homelessness and who are attending 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. She brings to her work seven years of experience in education as well as a Master’s degree in education for instructional design, deep connections to the community as she has lived in Bellingham for 21 years, and a passion for coaching which she sees as part of how we are going to figure out our future as a society.
How did you get started in coaching?
My journey is very much one of following the legacy of my family. My aunt and uncle are instructional coaches for the Philadelphia school system which they’ve been a part of for 35 years. My dad has been a teacher at the University of Washington Medical School, where he was selected as teacher of the year. He has been a trailblazer in his own way and he has also been a coach.
I started coaching in 1998 as a Skyhawks camp counselor. I was in charge of first graders and we did sports like soccer and relay races as well as team-building activities. I continued being involved in leadership and volunteering throughout high school with activities such as the Girl Scouts and sports. In 2017 I earned assistant coach of the year from the Bellingham School district as a first-year teacher who also coached tennis and basketball.
What surprises you about coaching?
What has surprised me is how much I learn through coaching others. Every day I learn something new about something or someone.
What is challenging about coaching?
Usually, when I tell someone I am a coach, they ask what sport you coach. This is always a fun question because while I do I coach sports, I get to explain my work with coaching college students and also share that I am a business and leadership coach. I wish people understood that coaching is a lifestyle and that it is heart work. It’s really about being with someone for a long period of time, being able to see somebody’s potential, and then activating that intrinsic motivation inside of them to achieve their goals with a little bit of pushing.
What would you tell someone who was interested in becoming a coach?
I think I would encourage them to really understand what motivates them. From there it will be clear what they want to coach, who they want to coach, and most importantly why they want to coach. There was one person I coached in JV basketball that later ended up coaching with, which was pretty inspiring. I would encourage someone to follow their path and understand how what they believe guides them, and also that what they believe can change. I think I would also want them to understand that being a coach requires significant cultural awareness and humility as well.
What would you be doing if you weren’t coaching?
If I weren’t coaching, I’d like to enjoy more time with my goats and chickens, working on my land, and making art. I used to volunteer often and would like to return to that. I also run a non-profit, Whatcom WAVES a women’s empowerment organization, that was started in 2021 and I would give more time to that.
What else do you want people to know?
We need more licensed foster families. We need to change the dialogue around what foster care is and what it looks like, what a “chosen family” is, and what it is to be a caring community. It’s a huge indicator of where we are as a society.
