Coach Leoni

By Andy Cochrane, Grade 11

From 5th grade to present day, I see Coach Leoni almost every day and seeing him makes my day just a little better just from us saying hey and joking around. Every day I try to fake him out by saying “hey, your shoes are untied” or “you dropped your pen on the ground” just a little joke to make us laugh and smile for a quick second.

Besides, from the jokes he pushes me during practices and becoming a better person. In practice he's a hard coach and there's slim to no time for jokes, and to me that's what makes him a great coach to be there for you outside of practice and to push you during practice. 

Well as time goes on, he can’t always be my head coach and so I moved up to varsity and he isn’t my coach anymore. The last two years on varsity have been a tough time for me during the basketball season by the rotation situation, and not having confidence in myself. He found out how I was feeling about the whole situation and pulled me aside and talked to me about how to get better and how to persevere through it and take it one step at the time.

Took me into his classroom and told me “This is the same situation my son went through” having someone know kind of how you feel and learn how they got through it makes you feel like you can get through the tough time. 

As time has gone on, I have felt more confident in myself, and I am so glad he found out about the situation and helped me out.

Thank you Coach for helping me.