As the fall sports season kicks off, University High School is welcoming several new coaches to the school.

The cross country, football, and bowling teams are thrilled to have new coaches to lead them to success this upcoming season. Many of these new coaches are looking forward to following coaching strategies that have improved performance in the past. “We have a unique method of coaching at UHS. The coaching staff is very involved and completes the runs with the team. We stand by the “lead by example” mentality, and you have probably seen us running after school,” said new Cross Country Coach, Regan Diez.

Chelsea Van Horn, a senior and four year Cross Country runner is excited to have a new coach for her last season at UHS. “Throughout my years at UHS I haven’t had a cross country coach that has run alongside us and motivated me like Coach Diez has. She is an experienced runner herself who competed in high school and college, so it’s nice to have someone not only to motivate us from the sidelines but who is willing to be there right with us, helping us through our workouts,” said Van Horn.

Football’s new head coach, Mark Barrett, teaches weightlifting, which allows him time during the school day to work with his athletes off the field. After a series of challenging seasons, Coach Barrett is tasked with winning important games while also teaching his players skills that will benefit them in the future as well. “We try to reinforce all the positive things that we want our kids to exemplify. Our 3 pillars are brotherhood, toughness, and integrity, so one of the things we do is our Cougar [Paw] program in which every Friday we email the entire faculty here and we ask for affirmations or instances of good character that our football players have exhibited throughout the week,” said Barrett. As the annual homecoming and ‘Crush Colonial’ games approach, the team continues to work hard at daily practices, hoping to secure a win.

As for the bowling team, the loss of Coach Duncan, who moved to Orange County Virtual School created multiple openings for coaching positions. “ I think the team was upset about losing their coach and that’s understandable, and it’s gonna be two years in a row with a new coach, but we’re working through it. We’re just starting the season now so we’ll see how it goes,” said new bowling coach, Mr. Ed Lebeda, who formerly helped with the volleyball team. The team also gained Ronald Greene, who’s excited to coach bowling at UHS for the first time, after years of coaching baseball, youth basketball and football. “My favorite part about coaching is probably seeing the light bulbs go off, when kids finally get the strategy we teach them, that’s always a great.”