W INTER 2016
P AGE 5
Courtside Interview with Coach Moore
The veteran coach and teacher is tough but fair.
Carly Goldberg
Contributor
Students at Abington High School
might know Mr. Moore as the teacher
who is serious about history, but
makes learning fun with his many
games and group activities, but players
and fans of girls basketball probably
know him better as Coach Moore, the
longtime coach of the girls varsity
team. Moore has been a teacher for 20
years (16 at AHS) and the girls varsity
coach for the last 12 years. He also
served as athletic director for three
years, just prior to Mr. Serino.
Becoming a Coach
Moore was a student athlete in both
high school (Mansfield High School)
and college (Assumption in Worcester) where he played football. We
asked him how he came to love both
coaching and teaching. “I was lucky
enough to have some of my coaches in
the classroom, so I looked at it as a
fantastic life. They were educators, but
they could switch roles,” said Moore.
This Season
Victories have not come easy, but the
team continues to work hard with two
and a half hour practices, six days a
week. “It can sometimes be a grind on
the coaches and the girls, but our top
goal is to improve everyday. We lost a
lot of kids from last year’s team that
made it to the south sectional finals. So
we know that we have to fill some
pretty big shoes. It’s a work in progress, but we are getting better every
day. By the end of the season, I think
we will be a pretty tough team,” said
Moore.
Coaches Point of View
Coach Moore says that his coaching
style is “tough but fair.” Moore wants
to hold the kids accountable and encourage them to work hard every day;
however he mostly wants to be reasonable. “My favorite part about coaching
basketball is interacting with the kids
on the court and seeing them away
from the classroom. I have some of the
kids in the classroom, and it’s all business there, but, then I can put on my
coaches hat, go down to the court and
see them working even harder,” said
Moore.
bright spot continues to be success of
junior Jenny Worden. Just six games
into the schedule, she recorded her
1,000th career point, a feat only performed by six players in the program’s
history. Her accomplishment was
celebrated by the team, parents and
fans just prior to a recent home game
vs Norwell. Coach Moore describes
Worden as “hardworking, motivated
and dedicated to the game of basketball.”
Varsity Roster
The 2015/2016 girls varsity basketball
team is made up of seniors: Jen Feeney, Colleen Kearns and Hanna Rogers
(C); juniors: Maggie Cawley, Sarah
Cochrane, Olivia Whalen and Jenny
Worden (C); sophomore: Marissa
Golden; freshmen: Cailin Mahoney,
Brianna McCadden, Maddie O’Connell and Kristyanna Remillard; and
managers Megan Reid and Liz Venutti.
Jen Clifford and Tim Clifford are
assistant coaches.
Coach Moore directs his team
during a timeout. (Photo by Bill
Marquardt)
“My favorite
part about
coaching
basketball is
interacting with
the kids on the
court.”
Coach Steve
Moore
Coaching Jenny Worden
Thus far, the team has been balancing
wins and losses, but the undeniable
Construction Update: Activity and Excitement Gain Momentum
While nostalgic thoughts of the current building also take shape
Caitlin Walton
Staff Writer
The construction for the new school
has begun, and AHS students are
buzzing with excitement for the 2018
arrival date. Renderings of what the
final product will look like have been
shown to the students, and expectations are high. The blueprints call for
an auditorium that seats 750 people
with a connecting hallway to the gym,
two cafeterias, a lecture hall and a
library media center in the middle.
The high school classrooms are in the
right wing of the building and lower
grade classrooms are in the left wing.
There are also two synthetic turf
fields, that are expected to open this
August. A live-stream camera is set up
around the outside of the high school
so people can keep track of progress.
(You can access it at Abingtonps.org.)
No matter how luxurious the new
school is, there are certain aspects
about the current high school that
won’t be replaced. From practicing in
the Paul K. Smith Music Room, to
studying in the small and quiet classrooms, everyone has something that
they will miss. “I will miss my sense of
direction,” said sophomore Chloe
Tardanico. “Everything will be so new,
and I won’t know where everything is.
It will be like freshman year all over
again.” The Class of 2018 is scheduled
to be the first class to graduate from
the new school. So, everything that
was once familiar, will be gone. The
classrooms where they have spent the
past three years will be changed, and
there will be all new surroundings.
Another student, Junior Lindsey Collins, said, “I will miss all of the memories made here by past generations.
This new school will be like a clean
slate; it will seem like they never
existed.” Although juniors and seniors
won’t be here to see the new school,
they have still made precious memories in the current one that they will
keep for the rest of their lives: the
competitions at pep rallies, decorating
the hallways for spirit week, or even
just sitting at lunch with friends.
With high tech vent systems and gigantic hallways, it’s hard not to love the
image of the new school. The whole
idea of new memories (and fewer
broken desks) is hard to surpass, but
nothing will ever replace the generations worth of students who have left
their mark on the current school. No
matter how dismal it is to leave one
school building behind, the excitement
of a new one is infatuating. Until then,
students will continue to look out the
windows and watch the construction
progress, and eventually, we will have
a brand new school to have new experiences in.
Workers prepare to pour concrete for the new athletic center
on on Jan. 8, 2016. (Staff)
“I will miss all
of the
memories made
here by past
generations.”
Lindsey Collins