It seemed as if New Trier coach Teri Rodgers had never left.
Rodgers took last season off and returned with a bang Monday night in the Trevians' season opener in Winnetka. New Trier upset No. 8 Marian Catholic 46-41 and led by as much as 11 in the fourth quarter. Marian never had the lead.
For Rodgers, returning to coaching was like riding a bike. She didn't have any problems adjusting and fell right back into a routine.
"It feels great; you miss it but you get the year off and get perspective and get reenergized," Rodgers said. "Having a good person who took over for me [in Carrie Sowa] really helped the transition back. It was a great game and I thought they played excellent.
"It's like getting back on a bike and I stayed involved in it last year."
During her year off, Rodgers went to New Zealand for about a month and did a lot of bike riding, and also spent a lot of time with her family in Indianapolis. Helping to put things in perspective, Rodgers worked in an Indianapolis soup kitchen for most of her year off, which she found very rewarding.
But she also didn't stray far from coaching. Rodgers attended practices at DePaul, Berkley and Butler to better herself when she returned.
"I wanted to improve my ability to be an offensive coach," Rodgers said. "One of our strengths is our coaching of defense and [offense] is what I concentrated on last year."