Our guest this week on Five Questions is Missy Foote. A member of the Athletic Department for more than thirty years, Missy currently serves as Director of Physical Education, Senior Women’s Administrator, and women’s lacrosse coach.
Our questions come from a variety of sources, including the women’s lacrosse team.
On December 3, we will be profiling Gary Margolis (Executive Director of Counseling; Associate Professor of English), and Karl Lindholm (Dean of Cook Commons; Assistant Professor of American Studies). If you would like to ask Gary and Karl a question (or two), please send your submission to vpadmin@middlebury.edu.
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1. You’ve coached a number of sports during your career at Middlebury. If you had the chance to coach a sport which you haven’t yet coached, what would it be and why?
Since I’m a wanna-be Nordic skier, I would love to coach that sport. Of course, the problem is that I know nothing about Nordic skiing from a coaching standpoint, but I do love that the sport demands that the athlete be in great physical shape while also focusing on the intricacies of both classic and skating technique. I think it would be a fun challenge to figure out how to best prepare athletes in those ways. Besides, without a doubt Nordic ski coaches own the best gear!
2. For what fault do you have the least toleration?
Seeing someone with lack of passion might be the thing I have the least tolerance for. It probably boils down to the fact that I like being around people who simply say “yes” to more things than “no”, and who live their lives with intention, willing to dig in to see the possibilities of most situations.
3. How do you think athletics contribute to the overall culture of Middlebury?
Whether for the spectator or for the participant, athletics gives one the chance to lose oneself in the simplicity of an arbitrary goal. For Middlebury students, where intellectual pursuit can sometimes feel all absorbing, athletic events can draw people into the joy of being physical or the commonality of rooting for ones classmates towards an uncomplicated end.
4. What’s your favorite childhood memory?
My dad was a Navy pilot for the first 16 years of my life, so my family moved every 3-4 years while I was growing up. I loved living in different states and making new friends wherever we lived, but I especially loved the constancy of visiting my grandparents in Alabama for summers and holidays. Those days seemed endless, filled with the ways of the old south; gathering for big mid-day dinners, making home made ice cream, sitting on the front porch on hot summer nights listening to the grown-ups talk, water skiing and fishing on the lake, and walking on endless stretches of deserted beaches on the Gulf.
5. What do you think about when you run? What’s your favorite run near/on campus?
I think about NOTHING and EVERYTHING at the same time when I run! The reason I love running so much is that thoughts float in and out during the course of the run. There is no conscious effort to choose a topic, or solve a problem, but inevitably by the time the run is over the problems have diminished and my outlook is always more positive. And, what is my favorite run? That’s easy. It’s Chipman hill. It’s a playground with all kinds of possibilities and challenges, and I always feel so good when it’s over!