Athlete of the Year: Coaches' Thoughts

Our 2011 Athlete of the Year, Kevin Murphy, has had a lot of different coaches in his life.
In his senior year at VCHS, Murphy had five different coaches from five different varsity sports, and they all had plenty of good things to say about such a versatile, hard-working athlete.
Here are their thoughts:

Kyle Kline, varsity boys water polo coach:
I think Kevin is a great choice for Athlete of the Year. I only had the pleasure of coaching Kevin for one season. I have had many athletes show up senior year and decide they want to play water polo and I was skeptical when I heard about Kevin and his desire to join the team. He showed up with confidence and I really didn’t expect him to last more than one day.
Kevin proved me wrong and exceeded my expectations. He was definitely behind on experience and conditioning in the water but that didn’t discourage him one bit. He worked through the tough practices and absorbed as much as he could to try to catch up. This is definitely one of the most coachable athletes I have had and he put everything I tried to teach him to use. I would only have to tell Kevin something once, and I would see him working on whatever it was throughout the rest of practice and the whole season. Kevin is also a natural athlete. He is aggressive and gives 110% with everything he does.
Something else that really defined Kevin was his willingness to face a tough challenge. He never backed down from a tough swim set that would give seasoned swimmers a tough time. What really set him apart was his decision to take on one of the toughest positions in the pool as two meter defense. This position involves defending usually the biggest and strongest player on the opposing team. When I described this position Kevin’s eyes lit up. He knew this was his spot and he wanted to make sure he earned the starting position. He worked hard and earned the starting spot and again exceeded my expectations. This position does not usually get the stats that the offensive two meter player gets. It does not get nearly as much attention or glory as other positions. Kevin was not in it for those things. He was in it for the challenge and to help his team. He handled athletes that had many more years experience than him and did an excellent job.
What makes Kevin a successful athlete is a combination of things. His work ethic is exceptional. He is confident but not over confident. He faces challenges head on and with an enthusiasm that I don’t often see. He is a positive role model for younger athletes and a team leader. He leads by example but is outspoken when necessary. He is extremely coachable and has a great attitude. All of these things are beneficial to a team. He made a huge contribution to my team this season and I can only imagine the water polo player he would have been with a few more years experience.
I am sure Kevin will apply these characteristics in the future and it is these that will ensure success in anything he chooses to pursue.
Kevin’s senior year stats: nine goals, 16 assists, 31 steals, and four blocks.
Thanks for giving recognition to a great athlete, student, and individual!

Clay Clifford, varsity wrestling coach:
Kevin was a three-year varsity letterman for wrestling and was a contributor to our second place finish at the San Diego CIF Division IV Championships. Kevin is good-natured and was a pleasure to have on the wrestling team. He made many sacrifices for the team when called upon, and always gave his best effort. I expect that Kevin will one day be a very good coach, hopefully in the sport of wrestling.

Rick Darland, varsity boys golf coach:
Kevin is a great kid and a team leader, and I had a lot of fun coaching him this season. To be able to do that many things that well shows you what kind of an athlete and what kind of a person he is.
Because of the nature of golf, you can’t just pick up your sticks after taking all winter off, but somehow Kevin showed up this spring and was better than he was last year. He progressed further than I thought he would this year.
He’s a well-rounded person who enjoys life, and he knows what it takes to be successful in whatever he wants to do.

Rob Gilster, varsity football coach:
He played football all four years, and he was thinking about just doing water polo his senior year, but he was such a strong long snapper that we found a way to make it work out for him to do both this year. He’s a really good long snapper, and I’m sure he could have helped us out at some other positions on the football field, but he was really passionate about water polo. He was able to get in some practice time and work with Davey [Last, the football team’s kicker] on his own. And he was able to get to all our games on time, even though he had other games on the same day.
He was also one of my ASB students this year, so I got to work closely with him on a lot of school activities. He’s a great kid, a hard worker, and very dependable. You know he’s going to get the job done.
He’s very responsible, and as a student and as a player, same thing. I know he had a lot of other responsibilities in his life, but he’s committed to doing what he needs to do to be a good teammate, a good student and a good person.
I think the balance and time management that he’s learned through sports and ASB in high school are important skills he will carry with him. That’s what so much of life is—we don’t always get to focus on just one thing, we have to be able to handle a lot at a time, and Kevin is definitely prepared to do that.
And he was good, too. He’s a great athlete.

Laura McCaulley, varsity swim coach:
Kevin did really well this year for the swim team. He fit in well with the boys and helped us out a lot, especially in the relays. He went to league for the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays and got better throughout the year.
His experience with the water polo team helped him be successful because he was already training really hard. During the swim season, he would come to the morning workout because he had golf in the afternoon, so he had a lot of long days.
But it paid off because he did such a great job in the league finals, where he placed in both the relay events as well as the 200 freestyle.
He’s a really hard worker, and that’s only going to help him with whatever he does in life. His work ethic is unreal!