English Teacher Returns to the Soccer Pitch
The 2023-2024 winter season has brought some significant changes to the Gator Girls Varsity Soccer team’s coaching staff, including the addition of Mr. Jake Moffat, English Department Head, as an assistant coach.
Moffat has over thirty years of experience with soccer, both as a player and a coach. Moffat used to be a “very competitive” soccer player when he was younger, playing in the national pool, and in Spain during his senior year of high school. Moffat has been coaching since he was 17, and previously coached the SHP Girls Varsity Soccer team for seven years. This year, Moffat’s long-time friend and coworker, Mr. Armando Del Rio, Educational Counselor and the new head coach of the team, invited him to be assistant coach. While he has never been an assistant coach, Moffat joined following Thanksgiving break.
Moffat enjoys the “good, cohesive” spirit of the team and appreciates Del Rio’s active and fast-paced coaching style. He says that this is a “well-coached, joyous team that likes each other.” Moffat also values the competitive nature of the girls, allowing them to improve and play their own game. In terms of subsequent victories, Moffat believes that this team “can be great” and “beat any team in Northern California” with hard work, health, and development. So far, the team has a record of 10-3-1 and 5-0 in league, making them the first ranked team in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL). Moffat says that, as long as the team continues to play to their standards and not their competition’s, they should perform well.
Moffat believes that sports are central to the Sacred Heart community and that there is value to being a coach on this campus. He says coaching is a “nice way to get to know students, and see them succeed in different ways.” He further articulates that all teachers “should see their kids when they are successful.” While he is enjoying his time coaching and playing with the girls, he is aware of the “cultural shift” the team will experience with the absence of their nine seniors next year, and is unsure of how long his career as an assistant coach will be. For now, he just says that it’s “better than sitting in [his] office.”
This article was reprinted by permission and originally published in the Heartbeat, February 14, 2024, Publication 5 Edition. The Heartbeat is a monthly (when school is in session) student newspaper distributed on the Sacred Heart Schools, Preparatory campus. SHS Community members* may sign up to have the newspaper delivered to your mailbox. Look for the link to sign up in the SHP Weekly Newsletter or on the SHP Resources tile.
Photos by Eliza Zuck '25.
* SHS Community members include current students and their parents. Other subscribers to the publication may also be requested directly from The Heartbeat at heartbeat@shschools.org.
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Moffat enjoys the “good, cohesive” spirit of the team and appreciates Del Rio’s active and fast-paced coaching style. He says that this is a “well-coached, joyous team that likes each other.” Moffat also values the competitive nature of the girls, allowing them to improve and play their own game. In terms of subsequent victories, Moffat believes that this team “can be great” and “beat any team in Northern California” with hard work, health, and development. So far, the team has a record of 10-3-1 and 5-0 in league, making them the first ranked team in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL). Moffat says that, as long as the team continues to play to their standards and not their competition’s, they should perform well.
Moffat believes that sports are central to the Sacred Heart community and that there is value to being a coach on this campus. He says coaching is a “nice way to get to know students, and see them succeed in different ways.” He further articulates that all teachers “should see their kids when they are successful.” While he is enjoying his time coaching and playing with the girls, he is aware of the “cultural shift” the team will experience with the absence of their nine seniors next year, and is unsure of how long his career as an assistant coach will be. For now, he just says that it’s “better than sitting in [his] office.”
This article was reprinted by permission and originally published in the Heartbeat, February 14, 2024, Publication 5 Edition. The Heartbeat is a monthly (when school is in session) student newspaper distributed on the Sacred Heart Schools, Preparatory campus. SHS Community members* may sign up to have the newspaper delivered to your mailbox. Look for the link to sign up in the SHP Weekly Newsletter or on the SHP Resources tile.
Photos by Eliza Zuck '25.
* SHS Community members include current students and their parents. Other subscribers to the publication may also be requested directly from The Heartbeat at heartbeat@shschools.org.
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
