March 31st, 2022 | Josh Adelman
Soldiers to Sidelines is proud to honor military spouse, Dr. Kella Price, as the STS Coach of the Month for March 2022. Kella has unlimited energy and dedication to coaching in every aspect of her life as a professional, as an Army mom, 23-yr Marine Spouse, and as a coach in several sports. When Dr. Price wants to make an impact, she super-commits and achieves tremendous success helping others.
Dr. Price has been coaching for over 20 years. She has coached lacrosse at the youth level all the way up to the collegiate club lacrosse level. She loved lacrosse while in high school, but her school did not have a team. So, she petitioned the school district and the recreation department and successfully launched high school boys and girls lacrosse teams. As a result, she was able to play high school lacrosse for two years and then eventually play at the University of Pittsburgh. Then it was a natural decision to also begin coaching her high school alma mater as an assistant lacrosse coach. While pursuing her master’s degree, Kella went on to coach lacrosse at Eastern Carolina University and started a girls lacrosse program in North Carolina ages 2nd grade – 12th grade.
Kella Price was bitten hard by the coaching bug and realized she could develop many coaching skills to have a greater positive impact on people from all walks of life. She says, “Coaching is so rewarding to me because I’m teaching people skills. I love the training aspects of empowering others and seeing their growth, their success–and the positive impact of sports on their life.”
The top skills Dr. Price focused on developing were mental health, wellbeing, fitness, and nutrition. Through these skills, she has been able to establish several initiatives and volunteer across a wide variety of organizations to coach people to a better version of themselves. Kella describes her inspiration for coaching from this perspective and how she activated her inspiration:
“I’ve been coaching for the last 20+ years in a variety of capacities. As a fitness nutrition life coach, I think one of my most important jobs as a coach is to help empower individuals to create positive healthy lifestyles. This process is so rewarding because you see them create sustainable changes in their life, building up their self-esteem and feeling better about who they are, from the inside out. It’s so rewarding to help people set and reach their goals.”
“One of the aspects of my job that I think is most important and often overlooked is mental health. I advocate for mental health and its importance to overall wellbeing. After the loss of my sister to a lifelong battle with Cystic Fibrosis, I realized the impact of mental health in one’s everyday life. I overcame depression with strategies of exercise, nutrition, mindset, peer support group, and counseling.”
“As a foster and adoptive parent, I have worked with families to equip them with the knowledge and resources to support their kids’ mental health to cope with trauma and be able to identify the signs and symptoms of a mental health crisis. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for youth and that’s just not acceptable. I want to share my story of recovery and resiliency–that there is hope and things will get better.”
“As a military spouse and Army mom, I have worked with many veterans to equip them with resources like yoga and meditation as positive coping strategies for post-traumatic stress. I am also a mental health educator, teaching Mental Health First Aid courses. This past year, I have created partnerships worldwide to provide this important training and increase awareness about mental health. The more conversations we have and open dialogue, the more people will recognize that they aren’t alone. Let’s #endthestigma of mental health so people are willing to step forward when they are struggling.”
“I have worked with multiple organizations for my platform including Team Red, White, and Blue, NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness), Stop Soldier Suicide, Million Mile Project, and Inspire Up Foundation. A big element of my social media presence is educating people about mental health and sharing my daily strategies for positive mental health. I have a Facebook free challenge group with fun health and wellness challenges each month: https://bit.ly/HFchallenge”
“Last month, we partnered with Inspire Up Foundation for a kindness challenge–because being kind improves the mental health of others (and makes you feel good too!) This month, we are supporting Stop Soldier Suicide with their 250-mile cycle challenge. I am also posting mental health tips and education in conjunction with the challenge to support suicide prevention, as suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death of post 9/11 veterans, and I want to change that.”
“Additionally, I provide mental health education for the Million Mile Project last month, which is an organization that supports exercise for positive mental health and suicide prevention, specifically for the veteran and military community.”
“I am also on the Semper Fi and America’s Fund team for the Marine Corps Marathon again this year (4th year) with my 14-year-old son. I have enjoyed advocating and supporting this organization and the services it provides to our veteran community–and the positive health benefits realized through sport.”
Soldiers to Sidelines is filled with joy to highlight the work of Dr. Kella Price and award her the March 2022 Coach of the Month honor. She has deeply committed her life to serve others as a coach in every aspect of her life. She sets the standard of how we should all strive to empower others to feel good and do good.
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