Interview: Edward (Coach) Silva
I am happy to introduce Edward Silva, the head coach of the University of New England’s Men’s Basketball team. Some background on Coach Silva, he’s originally from Lowell, Massachusetts and for undergraduate he went to Eastern Connecticut State University and for grad school, University of Connecticut with a background in sociology and social work. He’s been a head coach for 21 years, 11 years at Elms College, and 10 here at UNE.
I asked Coach Silva a series of questions regarding advice and tips to incoming freshmen. My first question asked, what is something that is frequently overlooked when entering college. Coach Silva replied “always make sure to manage your time and have a system.” He explained that in high school, your time is managed for you by teachers and home and in college, we don’t have that same structure. Making sure you get a good system down, knowing when having class works best for you, what study tips help you most, and setting apart study time and so forth help manage your time greatly. Another question I asked covered tips on how to help you through your first semester away at college. As Silva expanded on the topic he said that “staying connected with advisors and identifying resources benefit and support you more than you think.” Being a coach, he talked about student athletes and how staying connected with coaches, professors and advisors can be really helpful while trying to juggle school and sports. Same rules apply to non-student athletes. In addition to that he said to “make sure you don’t put all your things in the same pot, have an even balance,” meaning between school and leisure time. I posed an important question of why is it important to make sure to have relationships with students and faculty. He clarified that these connections at this level create the opportunities to learn from other perspectives and have new experiences. He added that we meet so many people from different backgrounds in college that it really benefits us to invest time into listening and learning these things we may not have where we are originally from.
Lastly I asked coach, what is the best piece of advice he could give someone in college. His answer was simple yet the most impacting. Without hesitation he said “No matter what you’re good enough, and know you’re good enough.” He elaborated on this by explaining that it is very easy to feel overwhelmed in college but that you’re not alone in feeling that way and that teachers, coaches and even other students are here to understand and help you navigate one of the biggest changes in your life.
