The 2011 season will be the ninth for Brenda Bechler at the helm of the EMU field hockey program. She is a two-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, winning the honor in 2003 and 2007. The 2003 squad went 17-4 overall, winning the ODAC championship and advancing to the NCAA Championships for the first time in three years. Bechler won the award again in 2007, and guided her Lady Royal team to the ODAC Championship match four straight years (2006-09). During that span EMU has a 26-4 record in conference play.

Bechler has also had several players named to prestigious individual accomplishments, most recently current assistant coaches Alyssa Derstine and Kristina Landis. Landis was a three-time All-ODAC First Team selection and was named ODAC/Farm Bureau Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2007 and 2008. Derstine was the ODAC Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2009, and was named All-America Second Team twice.

Brenda (Kratz) Bechler played four years of field hockey at Eastern Mennonite University. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education, becoming certified to teach Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Bechler spent four years associated with EMU athletics before taking over the field hockey program. She served four years as assistant field hockey coach, during which time the Lady Royals won four conference championships and advanced to the national tournament, including one third-place national finish. She also spent one year as head softball coach at Eastern Mennonite High School and two years as head softball coach at EMU.

In all of her coaching experience, Bechler has enjoyed the opportunity to teach players how to advance their skill level in a sport that they love. She hope to be a positive role model for her athletes on and off the field. Her coaching motto for her players is, "When you want what you've never had, you must do what you've never done."

After graduating from EMU, Bechler has also worked at the Rockingham Memorial Hospital Wellness Center in corporate wellness and personal training. She began work on her graduate degree, earning a Master of Science in Exercise Science from James Madison University in 2002. In 2005, she became a member of the faculty in the Physical Education Department at EMU.

Bechler and husband Dave live in Harrisonburg with their two children, Brett and Shay.