Athletic Director Bob Rodgers, provided an end-of-the-year review of the athletics program to the School Committee on Wednesday, June 7.
“I know a lot of times, when people look at an athletic program, they look at how many championships did you win? How many banners are going up?” Rodgers said. “The athletic program is far more than that.”
While everyone loves to win and celebrate teams that do well, he’s happiest about strong participation numbers.
The program saw 581 students across 27 different sports participating during the 2022-23 school year. The students did more than just keep their eye on the ball, at least 36 participated in community service projects doing everything from helping veterans with yard work, to adopting a widow in Whitman, which one of the teams did, taking care of her by doing chores like mowing the lawn and shoveling snow.
“[Doing] all of the things in the community that will help shape them as they leave Whitman-Hanson – to understand what it means to serve,” he said. “Our teams did well in terms of [athletic] competition as well.”
Fall cheerleading won their 30th straight league title;
Girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball and baseball all won their league titles;
Baseball played to the final four in the state tournament this season;
The wrestling team had three Div. 2 sectional champions – Charlie Lussier, Austin Gamber and Cooper Lucier – with Charlie Lucier winning the Div. 2 state championship.
Among the long list of athletic awards given out this year, Rodgers said Derek Schwede stands out. He served as the manager for several of the school’s teams, including four teams this year alone.
Rodgers also said the Captains’ Council had it’s first meeting of the coming school year on June 6, drawing 56 students who began the process of understanding leadership, service and the impact they can have on the culture of the school and “not just for the athletes.”
Rodgers said he issues an invitation to all students in the school, whether or not they are a captain or even play sports.
“We call it the Captains’ Council because it is about leadership and we do require all the captains to go to those classes, however, we want other students to go as well … as we hopefully help our school move forward through what we have right now, obviously some very tough times.”
He said the council is intended to help students shape school culture into who they want to be and what they want W-H to be about.
Coaches will also be having a pizza dinner roundtable discussion on program development and building strong and healthy relationships with parents to constructively address concerns such as playing time.
“We’ll be talking about some topics that can, hopefully, help our coaches grow … everything from how do we pay attention to the so-called ‘guy on the end of the bench,’ to your best player and how do you incorporate al of them together to make sure that everybody has a good experience regardless of their ability level,” Rodgers said. “[The aim being] at the end of the day, whether you were a starter or were at the end of the bench, that everybody can end the season and say, ‘I’m glad that I was part of this.”
There will also be a push to attract more students to teams, starting a visit with team captains on Monday, June 12. Rodgers said being on a team increases the chances that students will feel more connected to the school.
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven asked Rodgers if any thought was given to bring in a speaker to help coaches, similar to speakers that attend the annual Athletics First Night.
“It seems like everything is getting more and more difficult these days,” he said. “There’s more to be concerned about, there’s more to be aware of, there’s more challenges.”
He said an expert sitting down with a small group of coaches could have a considerable impact.
Rodgers said he is planning a program meeting on mental health with coaches during August, and it has been done in the past, noting that not only is coaching becoming more difficult, attracting coaches is becoming more difficult.