Daniel Ochoa is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Xavier College Preparatory for AZPreps365.com

In a span of 47 years, Xavier’s Sister Lynn Winsor has not only transformed the environment around Xavier but has become a pioneer for women’s sports around the state, leaving a positive impact on a generation of young women.

Sister Lynn, who is the Vice-Principal for Activities and Athletic Director, started her career at Xavier in 1974 as the P.E. teacher after graduating from Xavier in 1961. She became a coach for golf, basketball and softball before becoming athletic director in 1977, while still pursuing a coaching position on the golf team.

By the time she became an athletic director, her impact for Xavier and the state began to grow. She helped pioneer women’s soccer in Arizona, with Xavier being one of the first schools to incorporate it into their sports program. Additionally, Sister Lynn brought in lacrosse, crew and beach volleyball to compliment her dedication to develop opportunities for students, especially young women.

Alongside her passion of developing women’s sports, Sister Lynn has become an advocate for surrounding herself with the most talented crew to help create and maintain that high standard of student opportunity. She has become the “transformational” coach that shadows unto her crew an energy that provides dedication to withholding those standards.

“Every coach has an opportunity to make a great impact on kids,” Sister Lynn said. “You can either be a transactional coach, which is follow the rules, play the game. Or transformational, where the team gets transformed, you get transformed and the school gets transformed.”

This transformation started with her incorporation of sports programs at Xavier, but also with acquisition of two vital aspects in her transformation in Susan Contreras, Athletics Operations, and Tui Selvaratnam, Co-head coach for golf and Associate Athletics Director.

Contreras has worked with Sister Lynn for 32 years, while Selvaratnam has worked alongside her for 16 years on the golf team and now in the Athletics Department. At the time when they both arrived at Xavier, Sister Lynn’s presence was already a great one and felt the environmental impact she left on the athletes and other students.

“Many of our kids become, not just teammates, but friends, lifelong friends,” Contreras said. “ All of that, in my opinion, comes from her belief and her belief in this school and who she chooses as coaches. They have to be good people, and they have to care for the kids, and they also have to teach that to the kids.”

This bond between teammates is what allowed Sister Lynn to accomplish over 140 state championships since she’s been here and provide that victorious feeling, but also give the young women who join Xavier, an environment more than just wins and losses.

Sister Lynn hosts an annual event for her golf team named “Hit Me.” In this game, Sister Lynn is standing on the second hole of the Phoenix Country Club padded from head to toe, with a sign saying, “hit it here.” The goal is for the athletes to hit her, or in a circle around her to earn a prize. She has only been hit four times since starting the game, but it allows the girls to still play the game they love, but with the burden of competition off their shoulders and just enjoying time with their lifelong friends.

“It’s not just all going out and winning,” Sister Lynn said. “It’s really bonding and making the kids appreciate being on a team and loving their team, and loving their school, and loving each other.”

This bond she wants for all high school sports has encouraged Sister Lynn to become active in the Inside Out Initiative (ISOI), which is partnered with the NFL. The ISOI is a national movement dedicated to evolving the educational element of athletes to help develop students and provide them with the opportunities to become better in life.

“If you are part of a sports team, it’s not just for you, it’s not wins and losses, you belong to the team,” Selvaratnam said. “You learn a lot from other kids that are on the team and then you take that to college… it goes a long way.”

Sister Lynn instituted this mentality in her school and has changed the philosophy of how athletic directors should be and has gone out of her way to ensure other Arizona schools are providing the same opportunities for women’s sports, as she did for Xavier. The NIAAA (National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Associations) has recognized this feat that Sister Lynn has done and has become an inductee, which is only supposed to be for retired athletic directors.

“I love my job,” Sister Lynn said. “Who else would stand out there and get hit by 20 people?”