When Coach Coral Sage had a baby last June, she decided to take the following semester off to spend some time with her infant son.

But now, the head coach for women’s basketball has returned and has hit the ground running for her players and students.

“Besides being off with my son, having the chance to step back and think about how to move forward in the next phase of my career was really nice,” Sage said. “I think I needed that time to take a breather and rejuvenate a little bit.”

Sage has been at Cosumnes River College for 14 years and along with being a head coach for over a decade, she also teaches kinesiology, fitness and health classes. Having spent a lot of time at CRC, she’s said that she missed her colleagues and the atmosphere of the campus.

“Obviously, I’ve built some friendships and some bonds up over the last 14 years so me not seeing them everyday was a little bit strange,” Sage said. “Just being back in the space with them and my students has been great.”

During the head coach’s absence, Assistant Coach Jennifer Jacobs stepped up to lead the Lady Hawks for the first half of the women’s basketball season.

“It was definitely a learning experience. I learned a lot about myself as a coach and learned a lot about the administrative side and what you’re supposed to do,” Jacobs said.

The missed presence of Sage was felt on the court by the players as well.

“It was hard trying to fill in what [Sage] was used to, like her standards,” Hawks Point Guard Lexi Liddell said. “Just trying to remember what she wants so that way when she comes back, it would be an easy transition.”

Now that the head coach is back in charge, Sage is ready to pick things up and push forward harder than before.

“I run this thing that I started a few years ago called ‘Hawk Academy’, which gives us a chance to come in the classroom and just talk about goal setting, standards and those kind of things so we’re gonna reinstitute that this spring and hopefully get things back on track,” said Sage.

Jacobs is also fully committed to the team and working with Sage to get the job done.

“I love coaching with Coral; we have a great chemistry on the court,” Jacobs said. “I would rather coach alongside her though, than be in her spot.”