Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 427 - Chas Kok interview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 427 - Chas Kok interview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Readings and welcome into the walcom Prefs podcast. This is
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: episode four, one hundred and twenty seven, and I am
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Tyler Anderson of walcom Prefs. I'm just going to get
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: right into it. We have a guest on the line
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: that I'm really excited to talk to because, yeah, he's
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: got a lot of answers for questions that people around
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the Northwest Conference might have when they start going to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of these games, especially about the scheduling. So
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: let's bring them right in right now. And I want
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to welcome in coach Chas Cock of Blaine High School,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: also the athletic director. Coach, how are you doing today?
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I'm living the dream. I currently helping take care of
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a new puppy, which is always an adventure obviously, but
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: we're making it happen. So yeah, I'm excited for the
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: new school year and excited to talk to you.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome. So now I have the questions, what
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: kind of dog? How old is the dog? All that stuff.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I believe the dog is two months old. They're a
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: little bit older than that. It's a half blue Healer,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: half toy poodle that was given to us by our
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: new assistant principal Chris Bolt, who's a buddy of mine
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: from a long time ago. So yeah, it's obviously it's new. Yeah,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: it's something special.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Wow, it sounds like you have your handful there. But
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about the summertime for an athletic director.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: What kind of things although there's no act of sports
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: going on for Blaine High School, what kind of things
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: you busy during the summer.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Well, obviously I have a little bit, like my summer
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: is different just because you know, i also help run
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: facilities in Blaine, so I'm also keeping tabs on that.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: But then I'm also coaching basketball during that time. And
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: so we just finished we had kids camp the last
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: two days of July right before. You know, we're not
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: allowed to coach or athletes anymore. So I'm kind of
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: full go. I mean, I take a little bit of
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: vacation for myself and my family, but during that time
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I'm coaching and still you know, looking at emails and whatnot.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: So there's not really a downtime in the in the job.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: But you know, I really do enjoy the job and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: it's been really fun just to see some changes within
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Blaine over the last few years.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: All right, coach. I've been looking at your high school stats,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: as of course I like to do, and you were
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: a three sport athlete at Lennon High School football, basketball, baseball.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: But I have an over under for you, over under
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: one hundred three pointers may in your high school career.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Over yep, I have you at one hundred and one.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I was just thinking about. I was like, I feel
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: like one hundred is probably a good number. And I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: think the challenge that a lot of people will probably
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: forget is you know, during my time in high school,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: there was no shot clock, which is funny to say.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Now kids always are like, wait what, And so we
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: had a lot of teams stall against us multiple times,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: so the pace of play was much slower. Much too,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Roper's chagrin, but yeah, we it was. It
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: was definitely a fun time.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So you didn't play too long ago. I mean it
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: was twenty years ago. But back in the day, it
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: would be you know, if your your height six foot six,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: coach would say, hey, get in the low block, get
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in the post. But how did it how did it
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: work out for you in high school to where being
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: your height, you could be from this spot up shooter.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was fortunate, like I mentioned, Chris
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Bolt was on our team. He was a six foot six,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: really good athlete. I mean he was the two Way
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Player of the Year in basketball, runner up in football,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: So he was kind of a post player. And then
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: in basketball, we had a post player that is probably
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: not as well known, by the name of Steve Webb,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: and he was six to three, but the man played
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: like he was seven feet tall. And you know, we
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: played a team called Saint Benedict's Prep from New Jersey
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: my senior year, and Steve was tasked with guarding a
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: guy by the name of Somatos Samuels, who I believe
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: was six ten or six eleven, And I remember just
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: going through practice and Steve basically just you know, pushing
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: his knees under the basket, making sure he doesn't get
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: a catch because if he caught it, I mean, Steve
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: sixty three. But the guy was a workhorse. I think
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: he was an All State tournament team guy. And so
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: when you have a post player like that who can
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: really play in an athlete like Chris, it was, you know,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: I'm on the perimeter pretty much my whole career. At Lindon,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: and then when I went to Skadget, I kind of
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: made the transition to kind of power forward, point forward
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: sort of deal. And then when I played with played
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: in college after that, it was kind of all over
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the place. So I was very fortunate to have a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: lot of good teammates around me, so then I could
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: play probably somewhere where I was more comfortable because playing
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in the post was definitely not my thing in high
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: school because I was probably about a buck seventy wet,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: so so yeah, it was I was very fortunate with
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: who I played with.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you had some pretty good runs there
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: at Lindon in all sports. You know some of your
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: teammates Andy Olsen and Brady Bomber. You know, these guys
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: have all become coaches now athletic directors along with you.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Is it something that back in high school you guys
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: talked about. I mean, I don't think that would be
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: something you would talk about, maybe being athletic directors, but
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: maybe coaches someday. It's pretty cool there's this new wave
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: of young athletic directors. Obviously Bryan Michaelson and Meridian has
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: been doing it for a while now. Is it's got
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: to be pretty cool to be kind of working alongside
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: some people that you were friends with in high school.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of one of those things that you know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: the people around here probably know that Brady, Andy and
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: I were really close all growing up, and it's definitely
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: not something we talked about, but it just as we
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: progressed through coaching and through our you know, careers in school,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I think we all kind of gravitated towards you know,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: we all had really cool experiences in different sports growing up.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: We were all fortunate to have people that really cared
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: for us growing up, and so we just wanted to
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: provide that same service. And then you know, it's a
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: pretty cool thing that we're all now in Walkham County.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: And then you add you know, like I mentioned Chris
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: him being our assistant principal, you know, all four of
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: us being in a short area, and then you have
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: my cousin who's the Tumwater ad Jordan McGrath. So it's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: really a really cool thing that we all got involved
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: in athletics. I think that's just because of the experiences
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: we had in youth and in high school, and you know,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: we were all fortunate to have people that cared for
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: us and poured into us.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Another athletic director in Walkham County that everybody knows would
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: be coach Ron Lepper out at Mount Baker High School.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And during these ad meetings and stuff, do you ever
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: bring up to him how many touchdowns you scored against
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: him in one game?
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: No, but I like to remind him every once in
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: a while that I did have four against him, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: it was our senior night and I enjoyed every minute.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: And I actually I also like to remind Chris because
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: coach Cramey I had four that night, and Coach Cramey
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: we ran another fade route, I believe, and he gave
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: the sign to throw it to me, and Chris actually
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: looked me off and threw it to somebody else in
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the end zone. So I should have had five, actually,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: which would have put me ahead of Blair and Wittenberg
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: and all those guys for fifteen as the regular season
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: touchdown record holder. But I ended with fourteen, and I
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: like to blame Chris for that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Let's get into it about this scheduling thing. Now. In
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: most team sports in the Northwest Conference this year, there's
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: been some big changes. I wanted to bring you on
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to talk about this to just kind of explain to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the listeners what to expect this year.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I I mean, I think to football. So
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: football is a similar schedule to what we have right now.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: So just the explanation of it, they are like, your
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: three a's are going to play each other twice or
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: three times, our two a's are going to play each
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: other twice, and our one a's are going to play
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: each other twice or three times in a season. And
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you know, football has been doing this a long time
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: just because of the number of games, and then soccer
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: we did it for a few years and then we
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: went back to you know, playing everybody once. And I thought,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: you know, those two years in soccer, I thought, you know,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: made a little bit of sense, and we were able
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: to come up with a schedule that made sense. And
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: so when I was looking at that and some of
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the challenges that we have in other team sports specifically,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: and just the gaps we have specifically between you know,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: those schools with a ton of kids and those schools
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: who don't have a ton of kids, it was like,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: there's got to be a better way to schedule. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: so in doing that, you know, I kind of took
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: some time to look at the schedule and figure out, okay,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: what you know, what does that schedule look like? And
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: so over a little bit of time on my own,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I took some time to schedule and and we came
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: up with something that's pretty unique. I think.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Explain how this is going to help seating for the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: state tournament because a lot of local one A schools
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: who are playing two A and three A schools throughout
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the regular season, you know, are getting beat by these
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: bigger schools, but they get a state birth, they go
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: into state tournament with the losing record maybe, and they're
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: automatically going to get sixteen seed because of that. So
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: explain how this scheduling can kind of help those kinds
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: of things.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think too. I mean Nooksack Valley boys
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: basketball is a perfect example. You know, they're under five
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: hundred this year, but they're a good basketball team. You know,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: I'm on the seating committee for the state and looking
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: around the state, and you know, coaching boys basketball, I
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: knew if we got through our district, we had a
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: pretty good chance of winning that first game, and then
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: who knows what happens in the sun doome Sokaid goes
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: under five hundred because they play a challenging league schedule
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and then they get seated as sixteen and they go
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: and beat the nine right on the road. And so
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: that's one example. Meridian Soccer this past year. I believe
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: they were seated twelve and they make a run at
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: it and they almost win it. And so it's I
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: think with the new schedule, you know, naturally we're going
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to have a better chance to be seated highly in
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: some of those one A three a's. And I think
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the other benit to this is you know, the three
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: a's get an opportunity to play some West Coast schools,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: so you know, maybe they get better seeding throughout their
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: district tournament if they perform well. And so I think
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of positives to it. And obviously, you
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: know it's gonna be the first year and this first
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: two years will be interesting to see the both positives
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: and negatives. But I'm hoping there's more positives than negatives,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: because you know, I do think it'll be really good
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: for some programs within the Northwest Conference.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it could rekindle some rivalries as well.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You play each other multiple times in the season and
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. But like a sport like baseball,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: say it's in the one A you know, Blaine versus Meridian,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: they're going to play each other three times in a season,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: but it might be three times in a row, like
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: three times in the same week. Is there any truth
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to that?
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So I think the cool thing that we can
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: do with this schedule is we can be a little
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: bit more creative. So like in basketball, next year, the
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: one A's are planning on every basketball game being a
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: boys and girls doubleheader, right, And so that brings, you know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: that rivalry feel I mean speaking, I'm pretty fortunate and
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: that I went to Lindon, I coached in Burlington, and
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: now I'm the athletic director and coach at Blaine. Like
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: I've seen Walkham County, but I've also seen Skadget County
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: and what they do with their rivalries. Yeah, you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And so when I was at Burlington, you know, there's
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the Battle of the Bridge, there's the Tiger Hawk, there's
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: the Chicken Fest, and those are always doubleheaders. They're really
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: big events and those are really memorable moments for those kids.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: And you know, Bryant and I have talked a lot
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: about how do you bring some rivalries back to Walkham County.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: And obviously there's the big ones like Lenland and Christians
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: an obvious one, the Bellingham schools, those are obvious ones,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: but getting some more of those rivalries within you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Walkham County and some of those smaller schools. It was like,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: this is a really cool opportunity, so we can be
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: creative and do double headers every game in basketball, and
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: then speaking to baseball, like, that's the plan right now
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: is to come up with, you know, a schedule that says, Okay,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the one a's and the three a's they're going to
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: play each other three times in a year because they
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: have the room in their schedule. Okay, what does a Monday,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Wednesday Friday series look like? Which would be really cool.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: It really challenges you're pitching. It adds an element to
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: the to the coaching aspect of it. So like I
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: think that's another really unique thing that we can do
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: with this schedule that we couldn't do with the previous schedule.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: And so, like I said, I think there's a lot
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: of positives to what we're trying to do.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: See, I love hearing that because you know, the boy
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: girl double headers is gonna be It's gonna be fantastic
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: for me personally, and just because every night, especially in
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the winter, I try to get to a boys and
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: girls game every night, and so now if there's double
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: headers a lot of the time, then I can just
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: find the best double edder and stay there and get
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: pictures at both games. So that makes it a lot
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: easier for me. So going forward, I'm curious about you
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: know these classifications that are these teams that in different
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: classifications that probably won't play each other anymore, but there
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: probably will still be games. For example, obviously Lynden versus
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Lendon Christian and boys and Girls basketball, is that considered
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: still a league game? A non league game? How is
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: that going to be going forward?
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: So the way I kind of looked at it when
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I first started creating it was so your one a
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: versus one A, your two a versus two A, and
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: your three eighth or versus three are going to be
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: your league games, and so those will count towards your
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: district tournaments, which I mean it could change your district
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: tournament format and make it a little bit more fun
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: in some sports, which I enjoy and so when you
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: play against the team within the Northwest Conference that is
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: not in the same classification, those are going to be
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: considered non league games. And so I called them conference
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: games when I made the big schedule, just because it
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: helped me with the scheduling, but they are essentially non
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: league games. And so what I've done is I've paired
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: the teams up with like a it's from the last
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: two years. So Lynden, Lin and Christian for example, in
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: boys and girls basketball, well they've both had really good records.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And so the way it worked out was the two
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: a's were all together in a group, the one a's
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: and three a's were all together in a group, and
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: we matched them up with like opponents over the past
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: two years. And so some of those were naturally built in.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: But also the positive to the schedule was it added
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: some flexibility within the schedule. So like if there was
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: a game that they wanted that wasn't in the in
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the built schedule because we had more non league games,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: they could go ahead and add that game as a
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: non league game. So if Lynn and Lin and Christian
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: weren't matched up in that in that cross game, they
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: could go ahead and add that game, and it wouldn't
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: impact them with regards to the schedule. I mean, the
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: only thing it would do is take away a non
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: league game outside of of the area. But I mean,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: if they want that game, they're gonna play it. And
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: part of the reason why this schedule I started working
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: on it and I liked it was because you know,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I'm big into rivalries. Some of my fondest memories are
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: against you know those rivalry teams. You know, for us
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: at London it was Lynden versus Ferndale Football, and so
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: even though we lost that game, it's still a really
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: cool memory for me, And so I want those rivalries,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: and so I didn't want to create a schedule that
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you lose those rivalries. So, I mean Burlington has the
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: opportunity to play all three of those teams. You know,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Mount Vernon, they have an opportunity to play Seedro even
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: though they're not the same classification because of the flexibility
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of the schedule.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, see, I look at it as a win win.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I think that this is a great thing, you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: for the conference for teams, rivalries, fans. Is there anything
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: that you can think of that would be a negative
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: with this new scheduling.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's going to challenge some programs
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: in different ways. And I mean it's not lost upon
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: me that the Northwest Conference is a very good conference.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: In playing somebody twice is a challenging thing. I know.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: The coaching part of this is going to be interesting
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: because now it's not a one and done. You're not
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: seeing what a team once, and so now the scouting
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: and stuff is going to be a little bit different
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: because you know, if I'm seeing Meridian twice in a year,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: do I give the full gambit of what I do
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: or do I hold some of it right? And so
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I think that's going to be different. But it's going
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to challenge coaches and programs in a different way, which
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited about.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been in on those football meetings at the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: one A level and where they've discussed the possibility of
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: going back to playing each other twice a season with
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: there being only five schools in that Northwest Conference in
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the one A, and it's usually about eighty percent four
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: out of five that say you know, no, you know,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: playing each other once is enough because it is a grind,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: it's a meat grinder playing each other twice, and you
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: played those three sports football, basketball, and baseball. Do you
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: see the other two sports they're being kind of a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: difference in playing multiple games against the same opponent in
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: those seasons in those sports.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean football is really hard because they're so
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: limited in the number of games they can get. It
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: makes sense not to play each other twice, just because
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: like you need that those non league games to kind
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: of see what else is out there. But I mean,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: when you're talking about the other team sports like volleyball,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited that we're playing everybody twice. Soccer is
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: another one that I'm really excited we're playing everybody twice.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: And it's like I said, I think the challenge is
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: going to be in the coaching and what coaches decide
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: to do, which again, I really enjoy the scouting aspect
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: I always have as a coach, and I enjoy the preparation,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: and I think it's gonna really challenge coaches to have
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: an identity and they're like, are we gonna hold stuff?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Are we gonna show everything? And it's just a new
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: element that I think it will be new, which will
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: be fun, but it's gonna be new.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: How will district tournaments look as far as well, anything
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: about the new schedule change how the postseason looks.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I anticipate like some of the district stuff will change,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: just like for and we're going to start having those
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: conversations when we meet in August about the district schedules.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: But I mean, when you're looking at it, and when
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I was looking at it, you know, at Burlington, I
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: had to play a team four times every once in
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: a while, which was challenging, and so for me, scheduling wise,
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I try to avoid that as much as possible. Three times.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's kind of the max in a team
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: sport that you really want to play. So like your
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: one a's in your three is, if you play each
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: other three times in a year, like that makes sense
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: to me. The fourth is a really tough deal. And
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: so like your three a's, they're playing each other three
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: times in a year, well they're playing in the Westcoat
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Tournament and it's not very likely they'll see each other again.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, that makes sense to me. Sure, And
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: baseball is obviously a little bit different because of pitching,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: but some of those other sports, like avoiding four games
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: against the team I think would benefit the league. I
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: think three is kind of your cap number, and so
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: my hope is that we can avoid that fourth game
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: in whatever way that we need to. But I mean,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the other thing that I think is unique about the
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: schedule is the Northwest Conference is such a big league,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: and our district tournaments are different times and sizes, right,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And so what this schedule does is, Okay, now it
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: allows us to change our district tournament where we can
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: push it forward or back depending on the league schedule,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: where in years past we haven't been able to do that.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: And I think we're going to get better at it,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: you know, as years progress, and trying to avoid like
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: a team having a week off before a state tournament
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: or two weeks off, like I know that's been done before.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: So I think all these things are give us flexibility
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: and a little bit more creativity, and my hope is
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: that we can just continue to get better as the
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: years move on.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: As of now, does this new scheduling locked in for
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: two years?
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah, from my understanding, Yeah, so after the.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Two years going forward, how does that look? Do you
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: do you stay with it? Can you lock it in
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: for more than two years? Explain how that works?
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Well? The challenge is, you know, every four years we
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: have a classification cycle, and so typically you have to
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: be a cognizant of that. You also, like when you're
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: making a schedule, you kind of want to go two
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: years because you have a home and away and then
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: you also can schedule non leagues and then you can
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: change like the order of who you're playing and whatnot.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: So two years is kind of the sweet spot. And
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: so yeah, we'll have to see. It's going to be
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: a fun two years of seeing what it looks like. Obviously,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: you know, if we need to or have to, we can.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: We can look at it after one year if it's
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: a just a catastrophe, but the goal is a two
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: year change.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's going to help a lot of ways,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: especially you know, think about in one a, you know,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: all these schools are up here in Walking County and
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: instead of you know, going to Oak Harbor on a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: school night to play in a volleyball game, you know
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: you'll be staying around and driving down the road to
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: you know, Linda Christian or something like that. I think
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it's going to help on travel. I want shift gears
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: here for a second. Being an athletic director since you've
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: been an athletic director, what sport have you learned the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: most about?
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Soccer? For sure? I mean, I'll be honest. I when
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I first got the job, one of the first people
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: that I talked to was Geo, who is our soccer
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: coach for both boys and girls. And he does an
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: incredible job. He knows the game in and out, and
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: so it was funny. I was getting ready to coach
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: my daughters in soccer like a year and a half ago,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and I said, you know, Geo, what does what does
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: like a four year old need to know in soccer
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: a five year old? And he got out his cones
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: and he's showing me all these triangles and I'm like, Geo, like,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: you're really smart. I need you to make this a
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: little bit easier for me. And so I would say
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: soccer is probably the sport that I've really focused on,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: just because it was the sport that I knew nothing
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: about early on. I mean, I played a bit of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: volleyball in high school, so I will definitely not say
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I'm an expert. I knew a little bit about it.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Wrestling was also very foreign to me. But I feel
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: like I've learned a lot in wrestling from coach Hines
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: and Coach Higgins, and so it's been fun in my
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: job just to get to know some of these sports.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll be honest, I didn't know how much
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: work a track meet was when I first got the job,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: and so, you know, one of the things that I
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: did was, Okay, I'm going to take on the timing
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: system because that's kind of the hardest thing. And so
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I have some knowledge and timing systems in track, which
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I did not anticipate it as a baseball guy knowing.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: But it's been really fun. It's been really challenging, but
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: it's definitely been Uh, it's been fun learning about all
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: the different sports.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love going to track meets. There's something kind
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of special about it. You get to kind of well,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I get to walk around and see all these athletes
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and and even from different schools. You know, they're they're
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: they're they're cheering each other on, especially in like the
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: jumping events or the throwing events, and you know, just
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: high school sports in general is just so important in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: this area, and you know, I feel so blessed to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: be able to be a part of it. I Mean,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I covered you when you were an athlete when I
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: was at the Billy M. Harold and now you as
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: a coach and an athletic director as I'm doing Walcome preps.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: This circle that we live in is really something special
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: and it's just a lot of fun.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it'll be uh. Like I said, I'm
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: really excited to see what the schedule does for all sports,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: and not just at the one A but the two
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: A and the three three A levels, just because you know,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: there was a lot of discussion about the schedule by
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: all of the eighties, the positives and negatives to doing
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: a big change like this, and so you know, I
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: commend the athletic directors for all coming together and having
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: honest a conversation about it, because you know, a big
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: change has to be talked about more than once. It
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: can't be just something that you do on a whim.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And I was really proud of the process that we
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: went through.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Another thing I wanted to touch on is you know,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: with you being at Blaine, Blaine is a unique one
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: A school to where it has tennis and other one
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: A schools don't. You have a bowling team where a
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: lot of one A schools don't have it. I believe
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Meridian has it as well. You have state champion swimmers,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: you know, where a lot of one A schools don't have. That,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: you know, is explain kind of the positives and about
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: having those athletes as well, and they're competing against a
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: lot of these bigger schools.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, I think we're trying to do our best to
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: support all of our kids and give them an avenue
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: into sport in whatever way we can. And so you
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: look at tennis. I mean, Marcel's our head coach. He
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: does an awesome job and you know, the athletes really
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: enjoy having him around. He has an in depth knowledge
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: of tennis. And so yeah, it's a challenging schedule because
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: we're playing only two a's and three a's, right, But
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: then we get the opportunity to host a district tournament
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: at our place and we have a summer camp. And
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: it's just one of those things that's a lifelong skill
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: that you know, I never did, but you know, I
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: imagine I'll pick up at some point in my life.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: And I think that's kind of what high school athletics
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: can do. And you know, you look and Blaine, like
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: you had mentioned, we have We've had swim, We've had bowling,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: We've had tennis, and you know, you do get some
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: athletes that you know, do those sports and so they're
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: not participating in the other sports, which can impact those
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: other sports. But ultimately, you know, we're providing an avenue
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: for athletes to do something that's lifelong. I mean, I
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: was I loved baseball growing up. It was my dad's
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: favorite sport for me to play. But now I don't
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: play baseball. I play golf. That's what it's like. You know,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: in high school, should I played golf?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Maybe?
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And so I think it's a really unique thing that
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: we do where you know, we can provide different avenues
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: for kids to have a lifelong experience and enjoy that
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: they can find.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Is there any talk at all about possibly adding girls
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: flag football?
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: There's always I mean there's always talks about adding sports
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: and taking away sports, and the challenges you know, doing
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: the positives and negatives for all programs and your entire
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: athletic department when you add or take away to sport,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: because it's really difficult to continue adding in this current climate.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: And so typically when you add something, you're gonna have
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: to take away something, and that's not an easy conversation,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and so, you know, I think the Blaine and other
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: school districts are going to evolve every year, and as
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: sports continue to be added within the WIA, it's always
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: going to be a conversation. But specifically at the one
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: A level, it's hard to have a ton of sports
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: and so you have to be a bit selective, and
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll speak to you know, we've had a
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: couple of girls go to state the last couple of years.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: In bowling, we've won an academic state title three straight
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: years and a couple of district titles. And had you
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: had mentioned swim, like, we'd had a three time state
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: champion in swim. So those are three sports that we've
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: been highly successful at and we're also providing lifelong experiences
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: for those kids.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Another thing I wanted to bring up is, you know,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the new football stadium. I guess it's not super new anymore,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: five or six years old, but having the new turf field,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: it's been able to do. It's been able to host
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of things district soccer, state soccer, state football.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Talk about how that has been a benefit for Blaine
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: High School.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I that
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: I really focused on when I got the athletic director
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: job was how do I get more of those events
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: than Blaine, Because I think once you get to Blaine,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: it's a really cool community, and I do think it's
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: really good for our community to have some of those events.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: And so I think the biggest thing for me was
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: finding people around me that we're going to treat people
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: with respect and give that kind of state or district feel.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: And so I mean, we even have a parking lot
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: attendant during those games by the name of Rick Shackey
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: who has gotten to know some of the coaches and
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: some of the schools, and he used to be our
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: golf coach and he loves doing it. And so like
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: we've we've tried to add all these little things that
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: make it a little bit a better experience, is what
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: we're thinking. And so we're able to host like we've
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: hosted district soccer, we've hosted state soccer, we've hosted state football.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: And I think with our facilities the way they are,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: and adding the fact that we're taking a lot of
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: care into who comes into our buildings and helping them,
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: you know, have a good experience, I think we've We've
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: done an awesome job, and we've added a lot of
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: opportunities for our school district to be noticed as a
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: place that can host those types of things. And you
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: know it, there is some benefit to our school. I mean,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: obviously we make a little bit of money as a
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: school district, and then you know, we get to open
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: up our concessions stand which helps our different programs. But also,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: like I said, I think it's just representing Blaine and
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: the community in a way that's positive to the state,
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: that's very visible. And I think we've done an awesome
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: job of that, and I'm hoping we can continue to
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: host different events throughout the year.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, coach, I love going to those events. It's a
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: it's a fantastic facility. You guys always treat me so
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: well there, and so I just want to thank you
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: for that, and also really want to thank you for
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: your time today. I know you've been really busy, so
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: we'll be able to We'll be able to catch you
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: down the line here pretty quickly.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just want to give you one more
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: one plug here at the end. You know, I growing up,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: as you and I had talked about growing up in London,
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I would. I vividly remember being in a digital tools
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: class with Brady Bomber, and you know, there was no
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: platform like Waltcome Preps. I mean, obviously there was a Herald,
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: but there was nothing covered with professionalism and just care.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I mean we were looking at message boards and people
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: were talking about sports on message boards and Brady and
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I would look at it and go, Okay, whose dad
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: is that? And it's not. It wasn't nearly the same
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: as what kids are provided with nowadays. And so I
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: know you have lots going on in your personal life
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: and the way you cover Walkham County sports is a
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: serious plus for our communities. And I don't know, you know,
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: being as an athletic director, I know you don't always
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: get a lot of the positives, and I'm sure you
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: get some positives, but I just wanted to make sure
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: that people are aware, like, we're very fortunate to have
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: you and Walkham County and all the work that you do,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: because I know you spend a whole lot of time
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: on it, and so I just wanted you to hear
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: it from me, and I hope I can bring some
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: light to that that we're all very fortunate to have you.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Well, that means a lot, coach, you know, I always
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: say that. You know, I'm just an ordinary person that
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: works in an extraordinary community, and I love what I do.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I'm so lucky to be able to do what I
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: do and because if you know, if it was a
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: different community, it wouldn't have the buzz and this one
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: really does. So thank you very much. It is good
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: to hear. And yeah, I'll be uh, I'll be catching
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: you down the line sometime in the fall.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah sounds good. Thanks a lot.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: There is Blaine Athletic director Chas Cock. I want to
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: thank you again for joining me and uh, and that's it.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: This has been a short episode. I wanted to bring
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: to everybody's attention the new scheduling and and why it's
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: here and how it's here and what to look forward to.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: So yeah, you've been listening to episode four hundred and
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: twenty seven of the Welcome Preps podcast. Be sure to
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: look out. In the next few days we're going to
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: start the football previews. I believe the first one will
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: come out I think Friday, Thursday or Friday. I think
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be Friday, So probably the first two will
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: be Bellingham and Lyndon Christian because those two teams open
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: up the season on Thursday night, will be Thursday and third,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: so they'll look out for that, and of course all
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the teams will all the team for this will be
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: coming out after that two birthday until we lead up
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: to the season. So I thank you for for listening
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and all at time to later this week. Yeah,