“He came up to me one day and said, ‘Do you know what mock trial is?’ and I responded no,” Bernstein said. “Then he said, ‘Well, you’re going to coach high school mock trial.'”
Since then, Bernstein has taught some 600 students during his 35 years as head coach. And like White Station itself, the mock trial
program has also seen its changes.
“It has ebbed and flowed. We started out as a really powerful team, and over time the team became less powerful,” Bernstein said. “Most years we’ve had extremely strong students. It’s just a matter of effective coaching…There’s probably a correlation between the ages of my children and the success of the team.”
In the beginning, the same few public schools dominated competitions. Over time, however, the program has grown to include schools, both public and private, from across the city. This past year, a total of 24 teams competed in Memphis’s district competition alone.
And of course, Bernstein has also experienced growth as a coach and teacher.
“Frankly, I think there have been no big challenges [with the team]. There have been lots of little ones,” he said. “I think over the years, my
own ignorance and ineptitude as a teacher has been the biggest challenge—learning to manage my expectations, figuring out what was important.”
To become a more effective coach, Bernstein didn’t have to look far. He found inspiration in his White Station teachers, a few whom Bernstein remained friends with for years after graduation because of mock trial.
“I’ve tried to emulate teachers who sought and found the spark in students or who provide the spark in students,” he said. “I always wanted to be the teacher my students looked at and said, ‘He’s very hardworking, and he’s working for me.’ That’s what I’m after.”