sports
15 Eichinger announces retirement from coaching Panther Prowler • Jan. 22, 2021
Hayden Meixner Staff Writer On Jan. 14, varsity basketball coach Matt Eichinger announced that he will be retiring after four years of coaching at NPHS. It is safe to say that Eichinger will be greatly missed by his athletes. Eichinger has made an incredible impact on all of the athletes on his team. Cooper Lucas, sophomore, has learned many lessons from his former coach. “His lessons about giving it your all and never giving up will carry with me my whole life,” Lucas said. Although Quincy Bentley, senior, only had Eichinger as a coach for one season, it is obvious his coach had a large impact on him during their time together. “He was a great coach and teacher, and I am extremely excited to see him take on this next chapter in life that God is calling him to,” Bentley said. Bentley and the other team members considered their coach to be an inspiration as well as a friend, “He taught me certain things on the court that I could never teach myself, and more importantly, he was a friend to me off the court.” Bentley said. Amidst his departure from coaching, Eichinger had left his athletes with treasured memories. Lucas recalled a special game against Thousand Oaks High School. “We made a 15
point fourth quarter comeback and we shared a special moment at the end of the game,” Lucas said. For Eichinger, it is hard to come up with just one favorite memory, but he loves watching his players grow as both athletes and people. “Seeing players grow physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually - that’s what coaching is all about,” Eichinger said. Eichinger would like to thank Steve Johnson, assistant coach and history teacher, for his leadership both on the court and in the classroom, seeing Johnson as his own mentor and example. “Nobody better exemplifies servant leadership in the way he serves students, athletes and coworkers.” Eichinger said. His presence on the court will be greatly missed, but his athletes and the rest of NPHS wish him the best of luck in what comes next. “NPHS truly is a special place, and I couldn’t have asked for a better spot to spend the last few years coaching,” Eichinger said. “I’m excited to see what the young men I’ve been blessed to work with the last few years will be able to accomplish… I look forward to continuing hearing about their journeys moving forward.”
Contemplating Eichinger and some of his former athletes share a nerve wracking moment during a basketball Contemplatinggame. “One of the best parts of being a coach is the relationships you get to build. Those come as much from the lows as they do from the highs,” Eichinger said. Richard Bateman/With Permission
NPHS plans for live sports broadcasting Parker Bohl Staff Writer COVID-19 has not been kind to high school sports. Most games have been completely canceled, but there remains a strong desire for people to watch high school sports. Luckily, Newbury Park High School’s newly installed broadcast cameras will allow students and families to enjoy sports games through live TV. Sports broadcasts are not completely foreign to NPHS, but they have been a novelty. “I believe we’ve had Fox Sports West to televise a game, but those were very, very few and far between,” Michael Godfrey, assistant principal of athletics, said. “That’s only like maybe once or twice a year for football, once or twice a year for basketball, girls basketball, some of the sports that are more popular where they think they can get a lot of people tuning in.” There are many reasons for the school to implement broadcast cameras. “The idea is to have streaming capabilities in each one of our athletic venues, so the tennis courts, the pool, the gym, the baseball stadium and softball field,” Jason Klein, athletics coordinator, said. “Panther fans or families that haven’t been able to see games will be able to access games and see their kids and loved ones play.” This would also allow students to take an in-depth look at sports broadcasting. “The other thing I’m really excited about is what
Prasheetha Karthikeyan/Prowler
this means for our multimedia classes... we’ll have students be able to run some of the hardware and also add some commentary,” Klein said. Ethan Miller, freshman, is currently taking broadcasting as a class and believes there are benefits to giving live-streaming capabilities to high school sports. “Right now, we’re mostly just creating news packages and stuff like that but the live sports would be really different, commentating and stuff like that,” Miller said. “Definitely some of my classmates will be interested.” On the road to installation, the athletics department has encountered numerous challenges. “The biggest challenge is infrastructure. First of all, [we need to put an] Internet tower [in] every one of these areas that we want to film,” Klein said. They have to balance their budget against potential losses due to the coronavirus while accounting for the numerous unique installation challenges they have been met within each venue. “That’s kind of the fine line that we’re walking right now,” Klein said. The plan is to have this fully implemented sometime this year. While some challenges still need to be creatively overcome, there is a bright future for sports fans and broadcasting students alike. “If all goes as planned, we will have it for our spring season,” Godfrey said.
