WS Chronicle

By Tevin Stinson

The Chronicle

Sports history was made last month when the junior varsity squads from Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy (WSPA) and Parkland High School faced off at Deaton-Thompson Stadium.

According to the N.C. High School Athletic Association, Angela Lambson, head coach for the Winston-Salem Prep JV team, became the first female to coach a high school football team.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Lambson. “I honestly never thought I’d be coaching on the high school level.”

Although new to the bright lights of the high school football stage, Lambson has proven over the years that she has what it takes to win football games. Before becoming the head coach at Prep, she made a name for herself coaching local youth teams.

In 2013, Lambson turned the Winston-Salem Tiny Rams 8th Grade Unlimited Division team into champions when they brought home the American Youth Football League (AYFL) National Championship.

Lambson, better known as “Queen” throughout the city, has playing experience as well. From 2000 to 2003, she was a member of the Carolina Cougars, a local women’s professional team located in Greensboro.

During a recent practice, she said the transition to the junior varsity level has not been that hard because most of her players are 14 or 15 years old, the same age as the division she coached in 2013.

“The transition to high school football hasn’t really been that hard. You don’t really see a dramatic change until you reach the varsity level,” Lambson said.

Richard Watt, principal at Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy, said he is excited to have Lambson as the school’s first junior varsity football coach in school history.

“She really has a connection with the student athletes,” said Watt. “A lot of the players knew her from the community, but even the ones who didn’t, came right in and connected with her right away.”

Lambson, who is also a teacher at WSPA, said she teaches her players real life lessons through the game she loves. Most importantly, she makes sure her players know that school comes first.

“Many of the players see me as a motherly figure,” said Lambson. “I treat them with respect and they do the same in return.”

“Because I’m a woman, I have that motherly instinct, we’re just like a family.”

Lambson’s former players sometimes stop by practices to see how their former coach is doing. Earlier this week, J.T. Surratt, a former defensive lineman at the University of South Carolina, stopped by to speak with the players.

The same things Lambson teaches her players today are the same lessons she passed on to Surratt when he was younger.

“Coach Lambson has always done a good job of making sure school comes first,” said Surratt. “While I was at South Carolina my first goal was to get my business degree now I have the tools to get a job anywhere I want.”

Watt said that when they hired Lambson, gender was not a factor. She knows the game and was the best fit for the job.

“She is very passionate about the game and really knows the game of football,” said Watt. “We just look at her as a coach just like any other.”

Last Thursday, Sept. 24, Coach Lambson earned her first victory at the high school junior varsity level when the W-S Prep defeated Walkertown 50-0 in the first conference game of the season.