Debra Beach, New Hampshire – 2014

After graduating from Keene State College with a BS in Education in 1977, Debra taught and coached at Lebanon (NH) High School for the next 40 years. She has been the junior varsity or varsity field hockey coach from 1977 to the present, the junior varsity basketball coach from 1977 to 1985, and the junior varsity or varsity softball coach from 1977 to 2006. She has also been the assistant softball coach at Keene State College since 1986 and coached ASA softball (U16 and U18) from 1993-1996.

She has been a member of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Softball committee from 1996-2007, and the NHIAA Field Hockey Committee from 2004-present. She is also the current (since 2006) President of the NH Field Hockey Coaches Association.

Debra was co-director of the RJ Sports Softball Camp at Keene State College (1990-2004) and is currently (since 1993) co-director of the RJ Sports Pitching & Catching Clinic. Both of these camps were the “first opportunities for girls in our area.”

Debra has received many honors. Among them are: NH coaches Association Hall of Fame (2003), NH Union Leader Walter A. Smith Award (2013), and the NHIAA Advancement of Girls Sports Award (2013). Her Lebanon High School field hockey teams have been State Champions twice (2006 and 2012) and she was Coach of the Year twice (2006 and 2011). Her Lebanon High School softball team was State Champs in 1995 and her Keene State College softball teams have been NECC Conference Champions (1994), LEC Champions (4 times) and ECAC Champions (5 times). In 1996, her ASA team won the NH State Championship, the Regional Championship and participated in the National ASA Tournament.