From the controversy surrounding the men’s volleyball team to the back-to-back successful season of the badminton team, the sports program at City College has had its share of highs and lows.
City’s athletic director, Kathy McGinnis, takes pride in the job as she has guided her student athletes throughout the year.
“This year, as with every year that I have been Athletic Director, we have excelled both on the field and in the classroom,” McGinnis shared through an email interview.
“Supporting approximately 160 student athletes is very rewarding. From my viewpoint I don’t focus on the bumps in the road but more on our continued commitment to the quality experience we provide for our student athletes,” McGinnis said.
While the athletes competed during the 2012-13 season, achieving successes both on and off the field, McGinnis talked about the achievements made throughout the year.
“Many of our Sophomores will move on to 4 year institutions. Our female Athlete of the Year (Tessa Butterfield) has accepted a full ride to Univ. of Alaska for Volleyball. Softball’s Jonna Kalstrom was named to the Academic All-American team as a catcher,” McGinnis said.
Some of the coaches also took home some conference trophies during the spring season.
“Women’s Cross Country Coach Kylie Edwards and Badminton coach Son Nguyen were chosen as Coach of the Year by the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC),” McGinnis said.
The coaches not only performed for City College on the field but have also been heavily involved in the community.
“The coaches are also big advocates of community service with their teams,” McGinnis said.
Highlights include participation in the “Making Strides” breast cancer walk (which raised over $1,000), the annual food pantry challenge (collecting more than 1,500 cans of food) and the “Shop with a Jock” holiday trip, where ten children from families receiving CalWorks each got a $100 shopping trip to a local Target (funded in part by the American Federation of Teachers).
One of the yearly fundraisers for the athletics department was the annual Harry West Golf Tournament, held on May 2, providing funds for the Harry West scholarship fund and adding funds to the co-curricular program budget.
As for the outlook for the 2013-14, McGinnis is not certain but she does have some plans in the works.
She explained “As for next year, the coaches are already recruiting, as this is a year round necessity. There is no way of predicting the outcome of our season.”
“Our conference has accepted a petition from Mt San Jacinto college to join the PCAC, taking our conference to 10 teams beginning with the 2013/14 seasons,” McGinnis said.
“This is good news as it improves the quality of teams that we face throughout the year. Also, Women’s Sand Volleyball is being considered as a sanctioned community college program by our State Association (California Community College Athletic Association). Dede Bodnar, head womens volleyball coach ran a club team on the sand this spring and was very successful,” McGinnis said.
