Congratulations to Coach Charles David Leavitt (a.k.a. Dave) for winning the 2020 Varsity Girl’s Cross Country Coach of the Year Award. Leavitt started coaching recreational soccer right out of high school back in 1994. He has always been a coach in some capacity since then. Four years ago, he started coaching Varsity Cross Country at Heritage Academy Gateway.
Coach Leavitt about receiving this award
Coach Leavitt said “If I won this award that means my team did well, so it’s thanks to them! These Girls started running in July in temperatures above 110 degrees, many of them I recruited with the promise that if they worked hard, they would be State Champions. So, to see them standing on the podium holding a trophy meant the world to me.”
Best advice to his athletes
I tell them all to just have fun and be a kid. He says too much pressure is put on athletes these days by many outside factors. For few athletes will their high school athletic successes or failures translate to more than just memories and lessons learned. By the time they are grandparents they can tell their grandkids they won first place in every race and the team only won because of them. The work ethic, positive attitude, and fun they can learn from sports are the important tools they will take with them into adulthood.
His main goal for next season is to help these girls win another State Championship!
* Coach Leavitt is pictured with the Girl’s Runner of the Year, Anna Foley from Madison Highland Prep. Great job, Anna!