Melissa Power-Greene is surrounded by Northampton girls lacrosse. 

Her eldest daughter Kyla Power is the varsity coach, her husband Ousmane Power-Greene is the JV coach, and her youngest daughter Imanni Power-Greene is a sophomore star attack.

Normally, Power-Greene serves as the Blue Devils’ top supporter. She spends her days as the director of Northampton High School’s Alternative Learning Program, which assists students with social, emotional, and/or academic challenges. After school, she tries to catch every game she can. Power said that through her own career with the Blue Devils a decade ago, Power-Greene never missed a game.

This winter, a group of players on the Northampton girls lacrosse team wanted to compete in a winter indoor lacrosse league at Sports World in East Windsor, Conn. But Power and Ousmane couldn’t coach them because of MIAA restrictions on offseason coaching. So in stepped Power-Greene; helper, organizer, motivator, facilitator and supporter.

“She’s such a teacher at heart, in the most beautiful way,” Power said. “She gets out there and she makes every kid feel like they could do anything.”

Power-Greene’s high school didn’t even offer lacrosse. She had no prior exposure to the sport before meeting Ousmane at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he played as a midfielder on the lacrosse team.

As Power grew up and started her own lacrosse career, Ousmane served as coach. Though Power-Greene didn’t have much familiarity with the sport, she was always there for support, Power said. When Power decided she wanted to be a goalie, Power-Greene walked the sideline during every game and talked to herself the whole time, “the ball’s coming, the ball’s coming, watch out.”

When Imanni began her own lacrosse career, Power-Greene served as her main cheerleader as well. Fittingly enough, Imanni’s first day with the Northampton varsity team back in 2022 was Power’s first day as head coach. Watching her eldest daughter coach her youngest was a full-circle moment for Power-Greene.

“To see them both on the same field makes me swell with pride each time,” Power-Greene said.

Power-Greene is now the “go-to” parent for questions when other parents in the stands are unsure of a rule, Power said. At the beginning of the season, she asked Power for printouts of the roster so she could hand them out at games. And when Power’s partner attended their first lacrosse game, Power-Greene was right beside, explaining all of the rules and strategy.

So this winter, when Northampton needed a coach, Power-Greene stepped in, despite no coaching experience. Imanni was there by her side to work with much of the Xs and Os and the substitutions, and Power-Greene leaned on her teaching background for the rest. The Blue Devils played on Sundays in two sessions stretching from January to March, mostly against local teams they play in the regular season.

“She brought her great teaching skills, facilitation skills, community building skills to the team and everyone appreciated it,” Ousmane said. “Having her step up and step in to that role to allow us to have a team was really great.”

With no lacrosse coaching experience, she approached the season much like a teacher would.

At halftime of the first game, the team asked if they could run a play, and so Imanni began explaining an offensive play to the team. Power-Greene asked the group if they all understood it, but one shy ninth grader spoke up and said she didn’t. So, Power-Greene explained it.

Only later did Imanni tell her that the girl who asked for the play was a defensive player, and she wouldn’t be involved in the play anyway. 

“She’s always trying to make sure everyone’s included and that’s really just a prime example of it,” Imanni said. “That just shows her personality.”

Though Imanni handled most of the tactics, Power-Greene said she surprised herself with how many times her observations turned out to be correct. 

“It was kind of just neat and fun for me to say ‘hey, I actually do know some things after all these years of watching games,’” Power-Greene said. “I have picked up some things and learned some things and I do have some valuable insights I can share sometimes.’”

Northampton went undefeated for a stretch in the winter and advanced to the championship game against one of East Longmeadow’s teams. Through it all, Power-Greene emphasized that she wanted to allow her players to have fun and bond with their teammates in the offseason. Imanni and Power could both tell the difference when the spring season started, and Power said the team loved playing over the winter and really enjoyed being coached by Power-Greene. She called it a “low stakes, high fun” environment.

“I just really, really enjoyed it, both with my daughter and the other girls on the team,” Power-Greene said. “I feel a connection with them, and I feel proud of all of them, and a little protective of all of them, and I also feel like I got to know some of the other girls a little better and it’s actually neat because I get to stay on the sidelines and really cheer them on too.”

Power-Greene loved learning more about the girls on the team, and said it makes school feel different when she says hello to lacrosse players in the halls at Northampton High  School. And she treasured the chance to work with  Imanni. She said she would coach again over the winter if Imanni asked her to, but would also be very understanding if someone else wanted to take over the team.

She’s been invested in the Northampton community for decades.

“These connections make you feel like you’re part of a community and you belong, and people are paying attention and care about you,” Power-Greene said. “And I hope I gave that.”