MHS’ new athletics director is former social sciences teacher Champ Wrencher, Wrencher said. This year, he plans to ensure that the athletics department is well-supported and assisted, Wrencher said.
Before switching to the athletics director position, Wrencher had coaching experience by working with the boys basketball team, Wrencher said. He became the athletics director to support athletes and coaches.
“I’ve been coaching for 26 years,” Wrencher said. “I’m always looking for a new challenge at this point in my career. (Being athletics director) would be one of the few things that I’ve wanted to do, and maybe the only thing other than teaching that I’ve wanted to do.”
Wrencher’s passion for coaching stems from how he cannot play basketball anymore and how he likes to be involved with the sport, Wrencher said. Basketball offered him opportunities during his college career; he wants to give players a similar effect.
“When I first got there, I was a non scholarship player,” Wrencher said. “I was invited to come play on the team, and then after a year, they awarded me a scholarship. I got everything paid for (…) Books, tuition, rent, food.”
Wrencher’s experience playing basketball also contributes to why he became a coach, he added. His experience as a player was positive but had some negative aspects.
“We didn’t always have a good team, but it was very competitive,” Wrencher said. “We won half our games. That was only a part that maybe wasn’t so good – not winning a lot of games.”
This year, Wrencher wants to direct more focus on off-season camps to help build a stronger community for students and to give more attention to athletes, Wrencher said. In order to achieve this goal, he plans to encourage coaches to participate in this more, he added.
Coaches should invite “elementary and junior high kids to those camps so they can get instruction from MHS staff,” Wrencher said. “(This way), they (these students) can get a feel for what it’s like to be on campus here at the high school because one day it could be their future school.”
Football coach and math teacher Kelly King states that the camps are also beneficial to students as it enables them to enjoy themselves while also learning at the same time.
“It’s important for kids to get out and have a good time while running around and playing sports,” King said.
The camps are also fundraisers for the athletics department and their specific programs, Wrencher said. Last year, the school had volleyball, flag football, girl’s soccer, badminton and basketball camps; however, some of them had lower turnouts of students compared to basketball and flag football, he added.
“(For) the rest of the teams, I (would) like to see their camps become a little bit more successful,” Wrencher said. “That way, each program can raise money and be able to fund some of their own activities without depending on so much financial support from a school.”
Something new that the athletics department has implemented this year is the athletics leadership class, Wrencher said. The class focuses on assisting with logistics and providing media coverage for all athletics, he added.
“If you want to learn about organizing and setting up athletic events, publicizing and providing media coverage, this is the class for that,” Wrencher said. “We have three teams. We have a team dedicated to events set up to support (athletics), and then we have a website team; their job is to provide photography services for the athletic department. A lot of the photographs you see on the (athletics) website are from that team, and then we have a social media team.”
Unlike the previous athletics media team which only dealt with sharing photos and information, the athletics leadership class is more involved with the athletics department itself, senior Ernesto Sto Domingo said.
“The class is more branched out, and we’re getting more involved with coaches this year,” Domingo said. “The nine students that are in the class were each given a sport to be advisors for. We’re just there to see if they need help; if the coaches need any volunteers, or if they need help setting up any fields or anything like that.”
Wrencher runs the athletics leadership class, Domingo said. He works collaboratively with his students by giving them insight while also letting things be student-ran.
“He helps us out and makes sure that we get our work done and that we’re on top of our work,” Domingo said. “Since he’s the one that’s pioneering this athletics class, he’s doing it really well, especially since it’s the first time the school is doing something like this.”
Since the class was created this year, there are only nine people in the course, senior Ernesto Sto Domingo said. Despite the small class size, the class works well together and has good communication, he added.
“We’ve all gotten to the point that we’ve all bonded already,” Domingo said. “We’ve all bonded to the point that we forgot each other’s grade levels, and all see each other as equal.”
