Jamie Wilhite doesn't remember riding in a backpack strapped to her father, Jim, while he coached football, but she's sure it happened. Now, one generation later, Jamie has continued the family tradition, though the backpack has become a frontpack and the sport is soccer, not football, and the rider is a son, not a daughter.

Jameson, now seven months old, displayed little excitement or interest in his mother's success when her Rowland Hall girls soccer team scored a critical victory in overtime soon after his birth. "All my kids were jumping up and down," said the former Champlain Valley Union High School (Class of '93) standout from Shelburne. All except Jameson; he just snoozed contentedly.

"He's been on the bus with us and at games," said Wilhite, who became an all-New England goalkeeper for Plymouth State University. "Even when I play in women's games, he and (husband) Jesse (Keene) hang out and watch me play."

Back in Vermont for an extended summer stay - she runs a soccer camp - Wilhite has never been far removed from a sports venue, whether it was tagging along as Dad coached, competing herself or coaching. The 2008 girls soccer coach of the year for Utah, Wilhite teaches and coaches several sports at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City; her 2007 team won a state championship."It's similar to a Holderness or a Kimball Union Academy," Wilhite said of Rowland Hall. "We draw from all over the place. We turn out a lot of athletes who go on to the University of Utah, Middlebury, UVM, Williams," said Wilhite, who is working on completing her master's degree.

At CVU, Wilhite competed in soccer as a goalie and in lacrosse as a field player, giving her the opportunity to score goals instead of stop them. After graduating from Plymouth, where she also played lacrosse, Wilhite served as an assistant coach at UVM and Gettysburg, coached soccer and lacrosse while teaching health for four years at Vermont Academy and spent a year at the American Overseas School of Rome, serving as head varsity coach for soccer, basketball, and cross country as well as the Club Roma lacrosse team before joining the Rowland Hall faculty.

The transition from competitor to coaching went smoothly, though Wilhite said, "The only thing that was really challenging sometimes is as a former player, you want to be more proactive. As a player, you can motivate...by providing a work rate. It's hard when you first start coaching. You want to go out and still train with the kids. The one thing that's hard is you have to figure out how to motivate in ways other than by demonstrating. You're on the sidelines and you try to relay information," said Wilhite, who played semiprofessional soccer in Italy while at the American Overseas School of Rome.

Wilhite cited two local coaches as mentors for her post-competition career: former UVM/South Burlington High School coach Kelly Blasius Knudsen and former Champlain College coach Sue Rand. "They were phenomenal role models," said Wilhite. "I was really lucky."

Since college, Wilhite has also taken up the triathlon; she completed one when Jameson was two months old. Since Jameson's arrival, Wilhite, a fierce competitor, said she has realized she "has to mellow" and scale back a bit. Still, expect Jameson to spend plenty of time on the sidelines watching Mom coach; at least, until he's old enough to participate.

If you have an idea for a feature on a current or past Shelburne athlete, contact me at TedRyanVT@aol.com