Soon-to-be-opened Castaic High School continued to roll out its new coaching hires, naming four new head coaches in baseball, boys basketball, cheer and boys soccer on Wednesday and Thursday.
Longtime Santa Clarita resident and Saugus High School alumnus Darrell Davis will coach the Coyotes baseball team in its inaugural season.
Davis played baseball at College of the Canyons as well as one year at California State University, Northridge. With over 25 years of coaching experience, he has extensive knowledge and experience with travel ball teams.
“For me, I just want to be able to teach the kids the right way to play the game,” Davis said. “Our league out here in Santa Clarita is probably the third or fourth best league in the state, in regards to baseball.
“Just starting off with a freshmen group, I want to make sure I bring in a good coaching staff to teach the fundamentals in their freshman season and to make sure that these kids understand and know how to play the game with good sportsmanship and try to bring a winning tradition to the school.”
Maysen Bagge will be at the helm of the cheerleading team focusing on the growth and development of the children in every aspect if their lives.
“The biggest thing with this program is that I want the cheerleaders to not only succeed in high school and have the best time of their life in high school, but I want them to succeed after they’re done with high school,” Bagge said. “The main focus will be to grow, not only in the sport and as a person, but after high school as well.”
A West Ranch High School graduate, Bagge was a captain and four-year member of the Wildcats cheer squad and moved on to cheer at the collegiate level for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
She is currently an instructor for the Universal Cheerleading Association, coaching and developing children from youth through high school levels and is ecstatic about guiding the cheer team.
“I’m very excited to be a part of Castaic High School and I’m very excited to start the cheerleading program from the ground up and I can’t wait to see how many future cheerleaders there are in the program. I have a very extensive background and cheer has been such a huge part of my life that I want it to continue. I want to not only move forward in my life, but also have cheer move forward with me.”
Future cheerleaders who are interested in cheering for Castaic should email [email protected] for more information.
Former Hart point guard and current Master’s University women’s basketball assistant coach Levi Wenrich leads the Coyotes boys basketball team into battle in their inaugural season.
Wenrich understands that establishing a culture and platform for the kids is as important as ever for this year’s players and the future players to come to reaching their potential.
“Every game we will always play and compete to win,” Wenrich said. “We owe it to ourselves, to our opponent and to our school to always compete to win. Our goal for this season will be the same as every season moving forward which is: to reach potential as players and as people. I believe if we focus on that, the wins that we are capable of will come with it.”
Being a former player, Wenrich believes he has the ability to relate with the players and reach them at a level that they will be the most effective.
“I have been the last guy on the bench who wasn’t sure if he deserved a jersey and I’ve been an all-conference returning team captain and everything in between,” Wenrich said. “Wherever my players are at on their journey and wherever they are on their roster, I can can somehow relate to what they are going through mentally, physically and with some the challenges that they will face and hopefully be able to guide them through that adversity.”
Adam Yassaman, who has held coaching positions at Golden Valley and various private schools in the valley was named head coach of the boys soccer team.
Currently a fourth-year physical education teacher at Rio Norte Junior High, Yassaman has taught in the district for nine years and coached for the better part of a decade throughout the high school level. He understands that this summer will be crucial in gauging what the level of interest and commitment of the players and community will be, but so far it’s looking good.
“The feedback that I’m getting from the administration is that boys soccer is the most requested or most interested sport as they are pulling the incoming freshman,” Yassaman said. “I’m expecting a pretty good number of kids to come out.
“I’m expecting to get quality players at the freshman level that can compete and can find an organized way to play and play competitively with anybody in the valley and that might not be in wins the first year, but if it does then that’s just icing on the cake.”
