Coaching curveball Monarch baseball team hit with changeup this season
By Sean Goldy
IJ
ustin Mosakowski ‘23 was having trouble hitting the baseball in the summer. Then, Coach James Thompson came in to help him out. “He definitely helped me fix my swing last summer,” Mosakowski said. “I was not making contact at all, but now I’m hitting bombs.” Mosakowski feels that Thompson is a good fit for the team. “He’s always there for me and he wants to help everyone get better,” Mosakowski said. Coach Thompson has been a part of the Monarch baseball program since 2015. This year, he is the head coach of the varsity team. “It’s a great opportunity to work with the guys and on their goals for the game,” Thompson said. “It’s a great way to give back to the sport, and it’s a great way to stay involved.” Coach Dave Attkin has been at Monarch for 13 years as the assistant coach for the varsity team. He’s excited to work with Thompson because he feels he’s a great fit for the team. “He’s been on the program for six or seven years and makes an effort to really get to know the players on an individual level and provides great leadership,” Attkin said.
Thompson strives to connect with his players in order to make them better as people as well as players. “First and foremost, it goes back to working with players and forming those relationships and working with guys toward their goals,” Thompson said. Row Tucker ‘24 has started on varsity since his freshman year and is now playing under his second head coach at Monarch. “I think coach helps a lot with the players and shows his love for the sport by helping us and teaching us to get better everyday,” Tucker said. The team’s chemistry with Thompson has carried over from previous years in the program. “There’s a lot of passionate players in the program,” Thompson said, “I think passion outweighs talent every single day.” Talent with a lack of passion can be difficult to motivate, so Thompson hopes to harness the passion on the team in order to get the players moving in the right direction. “My biggest goal is to find ourselves playing in districts,” Thompson said. “I want to make sure that our program is back where it belongs, which is in districts every year.”
Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Gathright
DREAMS TO REALITY
Sam Riecken ’22 plays in a home game against Heritage High School on March 14.
Monarch lacrosse player recruited to play collegiately
D Photo courtesy of Sophie Taylor
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The Mix
Coach Dave Thompson talks to Daniel Schenkel ‘22 at Coors Field on March 16.
uring the summer before high school, Sam Riecken ‘22 was cut from his club lacrosse team. “It was a pretty big setback for me,” Riecken said. “It just kind of motivated me to want to work harder. I just didn’t want to leave it up in the air like that.” Four years later, Riecken committed to Yale University, one of the best Division I lacrosse teams in the nation. With a National Championship title in 2018, Yale was always on Riecken’s radar. “From the start that was my top school, obviously they have historically been a good lacrosse team as well as good in the classroom,” Riecken said. “There’s just a certain culture around the team that I really like.”
By Zack Frieder and Sean Goldy Playing for Yale has always been Riecken’s goal, and getting an offer is a unique accomplishment. “I couldn’t believe it, I was just at a loss for words,” Riecken said. “It was just a lot of excitement and I was just overcome with emotion, especially because [Yale] is my dream school.” For the time being, Riecken aims to focus on his final season at Monarch. The Coyote Lacrosse team has reached the playoffs in 14 of the last 15 seasons, so the current players have a big role to fill. “We want to win the league because we didn’t win last year. So winning the league championship is our number one goal,” Head Coach David Auday said.
