When Cooper Cummings’ standout track and field career as an athlete ended at Western Washington University in 2022, he did not have to look too far away to begin his professional career.
In addition to being a K-12 substitute teacher, Cummings spends his time coaching basketball and track and field at Nooksack Valley High School.
Cummings graduated from Western with a bachelor’s degree in business and quickly accepted a position as head coach for the boys basketball C-team at Nooksack Valley.
“I decided to take the coaching position because I was finishing up college and I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do yet, career-wise,” Cummings said. “I also figured coaching and teaching would be a great learning experience for me.”
Coaching and teaching helped him learn how to manage and deal with youth on a different level, he added, which was a new undertaking in his life.
“I can say confidently that I have learned quite a bit,” he added, jokingly.
Cummings, who was born and raised in Everett, said his interest in sports began at an early age. His passion and skill in multiple sports was fueled by support from both his parents and his three brothers — all former athletes.
Cummings competed in baseball, basketball, soccer and football as a youth, and transitioned to football, basketball and track and field at Arlington High School.
Following in his family’s footsteps, Cummings landed at Western in the fall of 2018 where both of his parents, Trey and Denise Cummings, excelled in track and field.
His dad also played on Western’s football team before the program was axed following the 2008 season. Cordell, Cummings’ brother, is also a Western alumnus and found success as a six-time indoor and outdoor Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.
“I decided to follow Cordell and do track at Western,” Cummings said. “I wanted to go to a school in Washington and Western wasn’t far from home, had a beautiful campus, excellent coaches and great practice facilities.”
While at Western, Cummings dabbled in the high jump, long jump, hurdles, shot put, discus and pole vault while doing some sprints and long-distance running events.
Cummings placed sixth at the GNAC Indoor Championships in 2019 in the pole vault with a jump of 13-1.5 and 11th at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with a mark of 13-6.5.
In 2021, Cummings placed 10th in the GNAC Outdoor Championships in pole vault with a mark of 13-1.5 and ninth in the high jump with a personal record of 6-1.5.
Cummings also competed in the decathlon and heptathlon, two of the most grueling, physically taxing events.
The heptathlon is an indoor winter season event that features a 60-meter sprint, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1000-meter run.
The decathlon is an outdoor, spring event that features a 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400- and 1500-meter run, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault and javelin.
“The decathlon and heptathlon are the most physically and mentally draining events for an athlete,” Cummings said. “You really have to be prepared and resilient.”
There are parallels between the struggles Cummings endured in college and what he experienced early in his coaching and teaching career.
His first year coaching was not easy. Many of his players had never played basketball before, so he was building a team from the ground up.
“Our basketball record was like 2-18 my first season,” Cummings said. “I learned that I needed to be harder on the players.”
Cummings’ toughness resulted in player improvement, including better ball handling and decision-making on the court, and his team’s court IQ and confidence increased as a result.
“I am a very competitive person so not winning was very frustrating to me,” Cummings said. “When I realized my basketball team wasn’t going to win every game, I had to find gratification another way, by really getting to know the kids and trying to make them better people on and off the court.”
It’s those life lessons that helped Cummings find success in college athletics, and now he is paying it back.
Cummings noted that athletes who are successful in the decathlon and heptathlon events are the ones who can stay locked in for the duration of two days. Athletes have to know how to bounce back even after a disappointing score.
“Physically, your body is being taxed,” Cummings said. “Ice baths are common practice, before bed, between days one and two. You kind of just lay flat on the ground for ten minutes after finishing your last event.”
Cummings placed fifth in the 2022 GNAC Outdoor Championships decathlon with a score of 5987, fourth in the 2021 GNAC Indoor Championships heptathlon with a score of 4412, and fifth in the 2021 GNAC Combined Events Championships with a personal record decathlon score of 5916.
The ability to instill confidence and self-esteem in students and athletes are two of the most important building blocks in becoming a successful teacher and coach, Cummings said, and he has now been on both sides of coaching.
“As a coach and as a teacher I run into a lot of the same things: low self-esteem and lack of confidence,” Cummings said. “I realized that it was my job to instill positive self-talk in my kids because, for some of them, that is not a skill they are naturally given, and they have to be taught.”
Now that Cummings has a season under his belt, he looks forward to another season of fostering positivity in the lives of local youth both on and off the floor.
