While Her Coaching Career Takes Flight, LA Grad Stays Grounded In Community

While many kids may dream of becoming a college or professional athlete, Brie Wajer told her parents she wanted to be a coach when she was 6 years old.

Now, that dream is a reality as Wajer, a 2017 Lincoln Academy graduate, is in the middle of her first year as assistant coach and director of player development for the women’s basketball team at Army West Point, a NCAA Division I program.

Wajer cited her family as the biggest inspiration for her love of coaching, the origins of which date back to when she was watching a Celtics game with her father, Chris. In addition to the players on the court, Wajer found herself watching the coach.

“Then, when I was 6, I was on the sideline at one of my siblings’ games loudly suggesting ways the players could improve and yelling at the referees,” Wajer said. “My dad and my mom Christine could see my passion, and ever since my whole family has supported my path toward being a coach.”

Being the youngest of three siblings has also helped her succeed at playing and coaching sports, Wajer said. Her sister Alex played softball at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. and her brother Ethan played soccer at Curry College in Milton, Mass. When she and her parents went to their games, Wajer picked up more about coaching dynamics than she realized at the time, she said.

Her parents also coached her teams growing up. Her father was her travel team basketball coach while her mother coached Wajer’s youth softball team.

“I was super fortunate that my parents were always so involved and continue to give me good advice,” she said.

Wajer was a three-sport athlete during her time at Lincoln Academy, but she is perhaps best remembered as a standout basketball player. A dynamic 1,000-point scorer, Wajer led the Eagles to back-to-back regional finals her junior and senior years and was team captain her sophomore, junior, and senior years. According to Kevin Feltis, the varsity girls basketball coach during Wajer’s high school years, she could have been captain her freshman year as well.

“Brie is the ultimate competitor, and from the minute she walked onto the court at Lincoln her freshman year, she took over,” Feltis said. “It was like having a coach in the game, on the court leading the charge. She could have gone to a prestigious national prep school, but instead she chose to put everything into her hometown team and she still makes an effort to be an important part of the community today.”

Years after she kissed the gym floor after her final home game in 2017, Wajer said Lincoln Academy’s Nelson Bailey Gymnasium is one of her favorite places.

“My best memories playing for Lincoln Academy were of the rivalry games with Medomak Valley,” she said. “The atmosphere in the gym is crazy. Back when I was a senior, I remember arriving for a game and seeing a line out the door – and the crowd was wild.”

Wajer still gets to experience the rivalry games from the sidelines. While on holiday break, she volunteered near the entrance of the gym to sell tickets to the LA-Medomak boys basketball games on Dec. 17. Two days later, she got to watch the girls varsity team, now coached by Wajer’s former teammate Cagney O’Brien, defeat Morse 61-34 in Newcastle.

After graduating from LA, Wajer continued her basketball career in college first during a brief stint at Wingate University in North Carolina and then as a non-scholarship walk-on at Villanova her sophomore year. The following year, Wajer earned a full scholarship on the team.