Starting the early morning practice, new swim and dive coach Kyla Gargiulo informs her student-athletes of their next set, giving them tips to help along the way. Gargiulo looks forward to keeping the swim team competitive and improving throughout the year. “The thing I love most about coaching is getting to be a part of the sport that I fell in love with,” Gargiulo said. “[I also love getting to] help the current team achieve and surpass their goals while having fun.” Photo by Kaydence Wilkinson

Volleyball, basketball, swim and dive, wrestling, cross country, football, soccer, and track and field: these are just some of the sports that are available to students at a range of levels from freshman to varsity teams. Such sports require years of practice and hard work from the athletes, but good coaches are just as necessary to make a great team. 

This year, there have been many new additions to the athletic department coaching staff with various levels of experience, interests, and ideas for coaching. For instance, Richard Eckley is now the head wrestling and assistant football coach. Eckley has wrestled since elementary school and has coached wrestling for 12 years and football for 15 years. Eckley said he is impressed with the student spirit and involvement this year.

“The kids are much more motivated and involved in extracurricular activities than the other schools I’ve worked at,” Eckley said. “Our student section for Friday’s [football] game was unlike anything I’ve seen before. Everybody seems to want every other program on campus to succeed.  It is not like that everywhere.”

New swim and dive coach Kyla Gargiulo previously taught and coached in St. Johns Florida, where she worked for three years. Gargiulo said she looks forward to keeping the swim team competitive and improving throughout the year.

“The thing I love most about coaching is getting to be a part of the sport that I fell in love with,” Gargiulo said. “[I also love getting to] help the current team achieve and surpass their goals while having fun.”

According to Gargiulo, everyone has been supportive and helpful, and she hopes to make changes that will be better for everyone.

“There [have] been a lot of changes so far,” Gargiulo said. “But the most important [changes] are trying to make sure that all the swimmers [and] divers feel included and supported by both me as well as their teammates.”

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This year’s new head boys soccer coach and assistant volleyball coach Kevin Fleming has been coaching for 12 years and teaches Psychology and Sociology. Fleming said he is looking forward to connecting with the students and making the soccer program more successful and has had a positive first impression of the school and its students.

“I worked closely with the [high school] coaching staff last year being a [middle school] coach, and I just loved the environment and the culture here,” Fleming said. “It reminded me of my [high school] back in Virginia and I wanted to be a part of [this] tradition. My main thought was that I wanted to leave a legacy with the soccer program that will last forever.”

New head cross country coach and head girls track and field coach Jake Alexander teaches World History and has been coaching for four years. Paperwork is the hardest part of coaching, according to Alexander.

“The hardest thing about coaching is staying on top of all the administration work,” Alexander said. “My old boss once said ‘they pay us to do the office work and let us coach for free.’”

Alexander enjoys helping his athletes improve to be their best selves, he said.

“Watching students push their bodies to the limits in a healthy way is my favorite part about coaching,” Alexander said. “We live in an era where life doesn’t have to be overly hard on people, so when a student wants to push their body and mind in athletics, I enjoy helping them in that process.”