When Cooper Cummings’ standout track and field career at Western Washington University concluded in 2022, he didn’t need to look far to begin his professional career.
In addition to being a K-12 substitute teacher, Cummings coaches basketball and track and field at Nooksack Valley High School.
Cummings graduated from Western with a bachelor’s degree in business and quickly accepted a position as head coach for the Pioneers’ boys basketball C-team.
“I decided to take the coaching position because I was finishing up college and I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do yet, career-wise,” Cummings said. “I also figured coaching and teaching would be a great learning experience for me.”
Coaching and teaching helped him learn how to manage and deal with youth on a different level, he added.
“I can say confidently that I have learned quite a bit,” Cummings joked.
Cummings, who was born and raised in Everett, said his interest in sports began at an early age. Passionate and skilled in multiple sports, Cummings said he was fueled by support from his parents and three brothers — all former athletes.
Cummings competed in baseball, basketball, soccer and football as a youth, and transitioned to football, basketball and track and field at Arlington High School.
Following in his family’s footsteps, Cummings landed at Western in the fall of 2018, where both of his parents, Trey and Denise Cummings, excelled in track and field.
His dad also played on Western’s football team before the program was axed following the 2008 season. Cordell, Cummings’ brother, is also a Western alum and found success as a six-time indoor and outdoor Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.
“I decided to follow Cordell and do track at Western,” Cummings said. “I wanted to go to a school in Washington, and Western wasn’t far from home, had a beautiful campus, excellent coaches and great practice facilities.”
Cooper Cummings competes in a pole vaulting event during a Western Washington University track and field team invitational in April 2022 in Bellingham.
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Cairns)
While at Western, Cummings dabbled in the high jump, long jump, hurdles, shot put, discus and pole vault while doing some sprints and long-distance running events.
In 2019, Cummings placed sixth at the GNAC Indoor Championships in the pole vault with a jump of 13-1.5, and 11th at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with a mark of 13-6.5.
Two years later, Cummings placed 10th in the GNAC Outdoor Championships in pole vault with a mark of 13-1.5, and ninth in the high jump with a personal record of 6-1.5.
Cummings also competed in the decathlon and heptathlon, two grueling events.
The heptathlon is an indoor winter season event that features a 60-meter sprint, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run.
The decathlon is an outdoor spring event that features a 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400- and 1,500-meter run, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault and javelin.
“The decathlon and heptathlon are the most physically and mentally draining events for an athlete,” Cummings said. “You really have to be prepared and resilient.”
Cummings noted that athletes who are successful in the decathlon and heptathlon events are the ones who can stay locked in for the duration of two days. Athletes have to know how to bounce back even after a disappointing score.
“Physically, your body is being taxed,” Cummings said. “Ice baths are common practice, before bed, between days one and two. You kind of just lay flat on the ground for 10 minutes after finishing your last event.”
Cummings placed fifth in the 2022 GNAC Outdoor Championships decathlon with a score of 5,987, fourth in the 2021 GNAC Indoor Championships heptathlon with a score of 4,412, and fifth in the 2021 GNAC Combined Events Championships with a personal record decathlon score of 5,916.
While a Western Washington University athlete, Cooper Cummings competed in the high jump, long jump, hurdles, shot put, discus and pole vault, some sprints and long-distance running events.
(Photo courtesy of Eric Becker/WWU Athletics)
Endurance took a new meaning when Cummings became a teacher and a coach. Many of his players had never played basketball before, so he was building a team from the ground up.
“Our basketball record was like 2-18 my first season,” Cummings said. “I learned that I needed to be harder on the players.”
Cummings’ toughness resulted in player improvement, including better ball handling and decision-making on the court, and his team’s court IQ and confidence increased as a result.
“I am a very competitive person, so not winning was very frustrating to me,” Cummings said. “When I realized my basketball team wasn’t going to win every game, I had to find gratification another way, by really getting to know the kids and trying to make them better people on and off the court.”
The ability to instill confidence and self-esteem in students and athletes are two of the most important building blocks in becoming a successful teacher and coach, Cummings said, and he has now been on both sides of coaching.
“As a coach and as a teacher, I run into a lot of the same things: low self-esteem and lack of confidence,” Cummings said. “I realized that it was my job to instill positive self-talk in my kids because, for some of them, that is not a skill they are naturally given, and they have to be taught.”
Now that Cummings has a season under his belt, he looks forward to another season of fostering positivity in the lives of local youth both on and off the field and court.
