As the new sports season was set to begin, some teams looked into new leadership in order to find success. This season, the boys volleyball team hired Rod Nubgaard, the current Varsity girls soccer coach and the outdoor track team hired Andre Butler, former Poolesville track star, as the sprinting coach. 

The boys volleyball team decided to hire an experienced coach from within the current Poolesville athletic program. Nubgaard has the credentials as a high school coach. He has been coach of the Varsity girls soccer team for the past five years and has been an athletic coach and trainer for over 20 years.

“My coaching principles and philosophies have not changed between the two sports.  My goal for season one was to show I do know the game and I do know how to coach,” explained Nubgaard.

 He also has experience playing volleyball as he played competitively in college. He used to be a multisport athlete, but has chosen to focus more on volleyball recently. He connects his experience as a volleyball player to his coaching style.

“Mental fitness and adaptability is hard to teach if the coach does not understand the sport and lacks experience in various scenarios – Mental fitness is one of the four pillars I believe a player needs to be adept in,” stated Nubgaard.

The track team also decided to hire a new coach with a history at Poolesville. They hired a former member of their team. Butler graduated from PHS in 2013 and remains in the record books for several track and field events. He has the 2nd best 100 meter, 200 meter, and high jump in school history. In addition, he and his team are in the record books for the 4×400 relay. Butler attended a Division 3 school, Bethany College, for track and football from which he graduated in 2018. He was hired this year to assist head coach Mr. Prasad Gerard, but specifically for sprinting. He does not have any previous history as a coach but his history as a high school and college track runner allows him to share advice with current members of the team.

These new coaching hires did get to hold tryouts and practices with their teams but the official seasons did not start. The volleyball season was set to start on March 20th and the track season was scheduled to begin on March 24th. When it was announced on March 12th, that all Maryland schools would be closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the seasons had to also be put on hold along with school itself. This was disappointing news to both the players and coaches.

“After getting past the bar that I know volleyball and can coach it, the rest started falling in place.  It was unfortunate that we closed shop  just as we started to build those team bonds and were a couple days out from our first scrimmage,” said Nubgaard.