Angela Righeimer, women’s soccer volunteer assistant coach, has brought her talents to NIU after serving as a team captain on the 2010 Toledo Rockets, who had the best regular season conference record.

Righeimer was a youth soccer coach and worked in the business world before coming to coach at NIU and work on earning a master’s degree in sports management.

Northern Star: What’s the biggest difference between coaching and playing?

Angela Righeimer: The biggest difference is … you don’t know what goes on off the field as a coach, like the dynamics and the chemistry. … As a coach you’re kind of far removed from that. What you see on the field is pretty much what you get; you just have [to] assume the rest.

NS: You’ve coached quite a bit of youth soccer. How is that different from coaching college players?

AR: It’s different just because [of] the commitment level. A lot of the club players do play multiple sports at that age; they’re younger. So, the commitment is so much more intense at the college level. A lot of girls, right now for instance at club, are conflicting with volleyball and dance, so it’s more of a priority at the college level.

NS: How does having the experience of playing in the MAC help you with coaching here?

AR: I think it’s been a couple years, so things have changed in terms of which teams are leading the MAC right now, but as far as the physicality of the conference, the grittiness of the games, that’s pretty much stayed the same. Going into the games, I know how the games are going to be played: lot of overtime, lot of grinding it out, lot of low-scoring games, as well.

NS: You had a lot of success at Toledo. How does that experience help with coaching?

AR: It’s just knowing why we were successful and the expectations that we had as players and just how discipline on the field and discipline off the field, how that translated into success on the field. I have some ideas that I remember worked for us, so it helps coaching because I can bring that to that level.

NS: How does it feel to coach in the MAC, as opposed to playing in it?

AR: It’s awesome. It brings me back to the days of playing. But it’s really nice getting to coach in the MAC, kind of reminiscing on the past and seeing how far the conference has come. It really has made a big stride with being one of the top conferences in the country, besides obviously the big schools, … and it’s cool to see that a couple years further on.

NS: Were you excited for the game against Toledo?

AR: … We went back to Toledo, and it was really exciting to be back. And we got a win, so it was kind of exciting to be on the my old home field and get a win there. It was [a] cool feeling.