New Coach Makes a Big Splash
The Rams hosting the Long Beach Poly junior varsity tournament.
October 20, 2022
The Millikan Aquatics Program has gone through many changes since the 2021-2022 school year. The Millikan boys Water Polo and Swim coaches, Nicholas Beavers and Danely Smith, unfortunately had to step down from their positions for unknown reasons, leaving the team out of the water.
As of June 2022 the new head coach is Randy Wright. He has come ready to take on anything that comes the team’s way. Most of the varsity team graduated in 2022, but Coach Randy and all the players are willing to put in the work, time, and effort needed to make it one of Millikan’s best seasons yet.
“The hardest part of this transition has been the lack of bond between the players and the coaches, but we’ve been trying to be as optimistic about our capabilities regardless of our losses. Additionally I’m looking forward to working with Coach Wright for the next few years since it is evident that he is doing everything possible to improve our program” says varsity player Mazen Mendoza, a sophomore in QUEST.
Coach Randy has partnered with co-coaches Kyllen Carlson and Will Arnsparger to lead the team and make this transition as smooth as possible.
“Changing culture and establishing a new foundation is never easy,” says Coach Randy.
In efforts to make this a great season he is taking a different approach when selecting players for the games. He believes that coaches should not only play to win games, but to win a title. He knows that this year the team is not ready for a title but they are taking the steps to reach the top.
“This season we are starting two freshmen, three sophomores, a senior, and three to four juniors” continues Coach Randy.
Although their journey together has just begun, the team is ready to fight anything that comes their way. The team is keeping their hopes high and their worries low, but more importantly they are working together in order to keep the team as united as possible.
Isabela Menes • Oct 21, 2022 at 1:54 pm
On October 20, Tere Quezada wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash.” The article mentions the loss of old coaches and the recruitment of a new set. I don’t know much about water polo or the rules of the game, but including how and what the team is doing to improve can help those that don’t understand (like me). Giving background context and specific details about the stepping stones of success the water polo team will take can help one comprehend how the overall game works. On a related note, I play soccer at Millikan and with a club team outside. I have similar experiences when it comes to getting a new coach or moving to a different team all together. From my experience with my soccer club and drastic changes from new coaches to new teammates, there will definitely be an initial disconnect from the start. With time and goal setting the team will become more of a unit on and off the playing field, whether it be in the water or on a soccer pitch. In response to the new chapter the water polo team is yet to undergo I think experience and time together will benefit the team the most. I’d also like to take the time to give kudos to the new additions to the team, staff and players. Establishing a new culture and foundation within a small amount of time can be difficult but if any school can do it, it’s Millikan! Best of luck to the boys water polo team this season!
Rylee Noel • Oct 21, 2022 at 12:00 pm
On October 20, Tere Quezada, wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash”. This article informed us about the hardships Millikan Boys Aquatics is having in losing their coaches and most of their team since they were seniors. It’s good to know that even with the loss of their coaches Millikan was still able to quickly get a new one in place who is willing and dedicated to making the team great. I feel that with the interviewing of the actual players and the coach really helped make this article more genuine and personal. This also showed how this new coach is ready to put in his best efforts with the team. Throughout the article you started it with the lows that the team is facing and the struggles they are going through. You then explained with the interviews how they are going to be building to be the best. I feel you really captured the team and their lows but also how they are going to put in the work to become the team that wins titles.
Estrella Rosaliano • Oct 21, 2022 at 11:59 am
On October 20, 2022, Tere Quezada wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash ” The article mentions the change in coaches the Millikan boys Water Polo and Swim team have undergone during the 2021-2022 school year. It highlights the challenges the team will face when it comes to forming the bond between players and coaches with the new coach Randy Wright who has taken over the position after former coaches Nicholas Beavers and Danley Smith stepped down from their positions stating it was for unknown reasons. Regarding this and one of the former coaches, Nicholas Beavers, I was wondering if the reasoning for him stepping down as a coach was really “unknown” due to being unable to interview him the past school year, or if the reasoning was considered too personal for the article to mention. From what he shared to his sophomore Quest classes the year prior, he mentioned that he gained a new teaching position at McBride high school as, what I recall, an AP Statistics teacher which could have been the reason for stepping down as the boys Swim and Water Polo coach. Are there certain rules that Millikan Corydon has to follow when it comes to situations like these in which you can or can not share these reasons? Or was it simply due to being unable to interview him personally as he stopped teaching here at Millikan as of the start of this school year? Thank you for informing on the situation the Millikan Aquatics Program has undergone, and hopefully this could have been helpful.
Ryan Cuffaro • Oct 21, 2022 at 10:02 am
On October 20, Tere Quezada wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash”. This article talks about the changes to the boy’s water polo and swim teams due to their previous coaches stepping down and how they are approaching this upcoming season. I found it entertaining and cool that you were able to include terms that correspond with the theme of water such as the title and also the sentence, “…leaving the team out of the water.” I also thought it was smart to include the makeup of the starting roster because it shows how young the team is and that there is a lot to look forward to as they improve in the next couple of years. I also liked how you structured the article by including the struggles and hard parts of this new coaching transition while also keeping it positive and optimistic. Hearing what the player had to say about the new coach and team shows that they understand that it hasn’t been the most successful season but yet they still have a positive mindset on trying to improve the water polo program and team. Thank you for writing and giving us some context about the boy’s water polo team and the new look of the program.
Lucian Rankin • Oct 21, 2022 at 9:50 am
On October 20th, Tere Quezada wrote an outstanding article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash” It was about our new head water polo and swim coach, Randy Wright. I’m on the water polo team, I’m number 17 in the cover photo, I can attest overall the article is well written and mostly accurate in its information. The quotes cited are well chosen and help give the article life. Good job Tere! However, I did want to point out Nicholas Beaver’s and Danely Smith’s reasons for stepping down is known. Danley Smith wanted to spend time with his growing family, and Nicholas Beaver’s was ‘Let go’. Both still had a passion for teaching the team, and they left due to their circumstances, not a lack of desire. Pointing this out in the article would help shed them in a better light for the great coaches they were, and pay tribute for their work over the years to the program. (although the out of the water pun was quite good)
On a separate note, I want to talk about an interesting point about Nickolas Beavers. He was let go from our school, and found work at Mcbride, a smaller school focused on specific career paths, one of many popping up and growing in popularity nowadays. This appears to be a new phenomenon occurring, where big schools such as Milikan or Wilson, that focus on general education, are downsizing and losing students and teachers to smaller more focused schools, such as Renaissance, Mcbride or Sato, which absorb these students and teachers. Talking about this could make for an interesting article, unless you have talked about it.
Hope this letter was helpful, and keep up the good work!
Gabriel Martinez • Oct 21, 2022 at 9:44 am
On October 20, Tere Quezada wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash”. The article talks about the coaching situation in Millikan’s Water Polo team. As a member of the team as well I would like to agree with the fact that although it is hard adjusting to two new coaches, we are still working hard to get better and win more games. I also agree that we are in this as a team and that no one is alone when it comes to this situation. One thing I would like to mention is that the reason Coach Danely Smith stepped down is that he was retiring. At the previous banquet, he gave a speech on how he was retiring from coaching and that coach Nicholas Beavers would take over. However, Nicholas had been transferred to a different school to teach so being a head coach was a no-go. A final thing I have to say is that coach Randy Wright and co-coaches Kyllen Carlson and Will Arnsparger are working very hard to train us to be the best. And although I don’t plan on being on the team next year I hope the best for the team. Thank you for writing this article and showing the efforts of the team and coaches.
Aaron Mata • Oct 20, 2022 at 1:50 pm
On October 20, Tere Quezada wrote an article titled “New Coach Makes a Big Splash”. The article talks about the arrival of coach Randy Wright, the new head coach of Millikan boys aquatics. Prior to reading this article, I had no idea that a new coach was required for boys aquatics and didn’t realize that so many underclassmen were being fielded in competition. It is exciting to see the building of a new team culture as well as efforts being made to prepare to win a championship. I thought this article was a great primer for the start of aquatics season and gets the reader excited about watching the team compete to be the best. The article was extremely interesting however I would have appreciated more depth into what the team was doing regarding team culture. How are they preparing the many underclassmen for the start of a fresh season? Are the seniors and juniors on the team taking charge in a leadership role to prepare a passing of the torch once the team feels they are ready to go for a title? How is the lack of bond between players and coaches being fixed? Quezada’s article does a great job of creating hype surrounding an underdog Millikan team that gets me excited to watch both boys and girls aquatics during their season. I’m ready to see what Coach Randy is able to do with such a young lineup.
Elias Hershfield • Oct 20, 2022 at 1:47 pm
Good Afternoon, Corydon Editor. On October 20th, Tere Quezada posted an article called “New Coach Makes a Big Splash” This article contains a lot of fascinating facts about the Millikan Aquatics program. After analyzing this article I have come to the conclusion that the Millikan Aquatics program is really giving it their best efforts to have a successful season. I really liked how the writer talked a lot about the team’s mentality and teamwork. It gives you a sense of how hard each individual is trying. It is said in this article by an actual player that “we’ve been trying to be optimistic about our capabilities regardless of our losses” I also enjoyed how she included the names of most people mentioned in the article proving that she is putting in the extra work to specify all the details mentioned. I do have a few questions about the Aquatics Program since I am not in it but I do have a lot of friends participating in water polo and swimming. How big is the Millikan pool ? I figured that since water sports is very popular here in Long Beach there would be a lot of players. Also, how often is the pool thoroughly cleaned and sanitized ? Some of my friends tell me that the chlorine in Millikan’s pool is way too strong and that it damages their hair.