OFF TO A ‘GOOD’ START

ATHLETICS 10. ATHLETICS

Coach Rick Good leads the football team to a successful start to the season

WORDS: Sharon Austin, Kai Blankenship, Madison Carter, Claire Chiabi, Natalie Genovese, Parneet Gill, Fariha Khaja, Jacqueline Perez and Isabella Simkus DESIGN: Kevin Aharrah

PHOTO: Alison Irace

Football Coach Rick Good kicked off his first season by leading the team to multiple victories, and has since been proving the team’s great promise for a bright future. “I look forward to finishing off my senior year strong, having a better record than years prior and bringing LC back up to a powerhouse [team]. Coach Good brings a lot of success to the team. All he wants for us is to win, and be well-mannered and respected men,” Mateo Cortez (12) said. The team started off their season with three consecutive wins, and hope to keep improving themselves to better reach their goals for the rest of the season. This is the first time since 2012 that the team has started off on a 3-0 record. “We hit a couple of our goals. We wanted to win our first game, which we did, and we wanted to win our first Duneland game against Portage, which we did, so that was really nice,” Good said. Besides leading his team to victory on the field, Good also makes an effort to develop his players’ mentality off the field by encouraging teamwork and communication. “His intensity at practices and him trying to get us to do community work, and stuff like that, just trying to overall get us closer as a team, [has impacted our success],” Diego Garcia (12) said. This season, players like Garcia appreciate the work ethic that Good brings to practice. With Good’s prior coaching experience, it brought a new work ethic to the team. “We got rid of a lot of old habits that would cause you to lose a lot of games, so I feel like as we keep on going, we are going to keep on building on and getting good habits, rather than bad ones,” Good said. Developing new, positive habits isn’t the only way the team has progressed. The team has also seen improvements in overall skill level. “You could ask any other player, we’re all on a different level compared to where we were last year, with knowledge of the game and how we feel about the coaching and everything,” Luke Neidy (12) said. With time still left in the season, Good continues to push his boys towards the best versions of themselves, both on and off the field. The team hopes to end their season on a high note and win their final games. “We want to finish strong. We started pretty well, so we just want to be able to finish strong here in these last six weeks,” Good said.

“COACH GOOD BRINGS A LOT OF SUCCESS TO THE TEAM. ALL HE WANTS FOR US IS TO WIN, AND BE WELLMANNERED AND RESPECTED MEN.”