Seeing the process through

Madison Thompson didn’t realize it, but it was always in the proverbial cards for her to return to her alma mater one day.

After Thompson graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 2008, she didn’t think she would return as a teacher and coach seven years later. However, the coaches she played for hoped she would.

Brigid Littleton coached Thompson’s soccer teams to a pair of state championships in her four years. Now, Littleton calls Thompson one of her best friends.

Stephanie Meadows coached Thompson’s basketball teams during her junior and senior seasons. Now, Meadows said it is a blessing to have her back with the team. 

Mandy Burgess was a basketball assistant coach in Thompson’s senior year. Now, Burgess said Thompson is one of her favorite people to talk to.

All three of those women were coaches while Thompson was a student-athlete, and all three are still there today. They each remembered her competitive drive, selflessness, intensity and ability to relate to others. That’s why they all wanted her to take a job at Vestavia Hills three years ago.

Burgess recalled, “When the opportunity came up and we had an opening, several of us were like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve got to apply for this. We’d love to have you back.’”

Thompson spent two years as a student manager for UAB’s women’s basketball team and conducted her student teaching at Hewitt-Trussville High School. After graduating, she spent a year at Hueytown and a year at Helena before the chance to return to Vestavia Hills arose.

“I couldn’t say no to it,” Thompson said.

More than wins

In her playing days, the Vestavia Hills High School soccer team won a pair of state championships and the girls basketball team advanced to two Final Fours. 

“My teams had a lot of success when I was here, and that means a lot to me,” Thompson said.

The teams she was on emerged victorious far more often than they lost. Winning was certainly a priority, but that’s not what she remembers most. The pride of community was emphasized to players from a young age, and carrying the school name on a uniform was given great esteem. 

“When you play here and you realize that tradition and playing for the front of your jersey, it meant a lot as a player and it still does,” Thompson said.

On the soccer field for Littleton, Thompson exhibited leadership skills that immediately earned her coach’s trust.

“She’s always been a great leader,” Littleton said. “She’s going to do what she’s supposed to do. I never had to worry about her.”

On the basketball court for Meadows, Thompson was the epitome of the player who was loved by teammates and hated by opponents.

“Madison was the kind of player everyone wants on their team,” Meadows said. “She was a hard worker, a team player and one who never quit, regardless of whether we were winning or losing. She was a pleasure to coach.”

Continuing to learn

In her first two years back at her alma mater, Thompson pulled triple duty, serving as an assistant coach for the volleyball, basketball and soccer teams at Vestavia Hills. This school year, she scaled back to just volleyball and soccer — along with teaching physical education and a sports officiating class — but she loves her job as the head coach’s go-to person.

“You have a whole different role,” she said. “You have a different relationship with the kids than the head coach does. It’s always about finding that balance. I really enjoy it.”

The most challenging part of coaching all three sports was that she was unable to go through a full set of preseason practices with basketball and soccer, due to overlaps in the seasons. “You’ve got to step in, and you don’t know much about the situation you’re stepping into,” Thompson said. “It takes a minute to learn what’s going on.”

Thompson said she enjoys “being part of the whole process” as a coach, seeing a team improve and come together from the first game until the season’s end. She also harkens back to her playing days and hopes her players’ growth will replicate her own.

“I had such a positive experience; I want every kid to have that,” she said. “That’s been what’s really cool being a part of it, now being on the other side, I’ve got to teach these kids exactly what was taught to me.”

Thompson claimed she has no active desire to become a head coach — whatever the sport may be — and she is content continuing to soak in as much knowledge and experience as she can. 

“I’ve learned so much from all three coaches [Burgess, Littleton and current girls basketball coach Laura Casey] that I’ve coached for,” she said.

But the people around her believe the sky is the limit for her future.

“She’s going to do great things, and I hope that doesn’t take her away from us,” Littleton said.

Making an equal impact

Thompson is in a unique situation, now working alongside some of her most impactful mentors during some of the most important times in her life. That is not lost on her.

“I don’t know if I would be here if it weren’t for all them,” she said. “They molded me as a professional and all that. I went through some hard times when I was here [as a student], and they are the reason that I continued growing to get to where I am now.”

Most of her former coaches kept tabs on Thompson while she was in college and during the early stages of her career in the education field. They saw the potential from the day she showed up as a ninth-grader.

“All of my coaches never gave up on me,” she said. “They always believed in me and had faith in me, and I just want and hope to have even half of the impact on athletes I coach that they had on me.”