Author: Henry Meier
Among several changes to Oxy Athletics, the department has hired five new Head Coaches this year. Each is ready to pounce on the competition.
Women’s Basketball
Heidi Vanderveer, the new Women’s Basketball Head Coach, said she came to Oxy to work with goal-oriented young women who “have a greater purpose” and “want to compete.”
For over two decades, Vanderveer has coached at the collegiate and professional level. Her first head-coaching job was at Eastern Washington University in 1994. Vanderveer also held coaching positions for the Sacramento Monarchs, Minnesota Lynx, and Seattle Storm. “I have searched for the perfect fit, and I believe this [Occidental College], is it,” Vanderveer said.
To uphold the competitive tradition that characterizes Occidental Basketball, Vanderveer says the team will work on individual and holistic improvement aimed at developing “fundamental skills.” Though Vanderveer believes that athletes are self-motivated, she indicates that her positive personality and ability to communicate expectations to players also drives them towards success.
“Occidental is a tremendous academic institution with tremendous opportunities to compete on the basketball court. This is the place you can come to get a great education and a great basketball experience,” Vanderveer said.
Women’s Volleyball
Mike Talamantes is enthusiastic about his position as Head Coach of Occidental’s Woman’s Volleyball Team. “I really enjoy working at a school that stresses academics, because then you are going to be working with athletes who know what it’s like to work hard,” Talamantes said. “When I saw the position was open I jumped at the chance.”
Before coming to Oxy, Talamantes coached at the high school level for 12 years.
Talamantes epressed that he is willing to exert the time and energy necessary to continue this success at Oxy. “My goal for this season is to build a foundation that will help us become a national power.” He indicates that the program inherited a talented group of players who are already moving the team in the right direction.
Men’s Baseball
Jason Hawkins began his coaching career when he was a college student. More recently, he served four years as Head Coach at Redlands College and led the Bulldogs to a 2006 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship.
Hawkins is excited to devote all of his energy to Oxy Baseball, and is impressed by the rich baseball tradition that has existed at Oxy since the 1980s. “I always wanted to get to a place where I can do baseball only [. . .] and this is it,” Hawkins said.
To familiarize himself with the team, Hawkins has met with each of the returnees “to gather their perspective about what Oxy baseball is.” Along with this personal touch, one change Hawkins noted the players will see is a larger coaching staff consisting of himself and five Assistant Coaches in order to “share the responsibilities of the daily instructions.”
Men’s Soccer
New Head Coach D.J. Waddington has played soccer all over the world, including Paris, Belgium and England and has spent three years at the Torino Calico Youth Soccer Academy in Italy.
His experience with professional soccer is extensive, having played with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a competitive Los Angeles soccer team. He also played at Occidental in the 1990s, and has been an Assistant Coach here for the past two years. In addition to coaching at Oxy, Waddington will be coaching at Wilson High School in Long Beach.
Swimming & Diving
When former coach Peggy Carl departed just before the beginning of this fall semester, the department had little time to find a new coach. “They managed to find me, and when asked, I jumped on it,” new interim Head Coach Glen Myer said. “I think it is an amazing opportunity to coach a remarkable group of student athletes and I can’t wait for the season to start.”
He may be new to Oxy, but Myer is far from new to the sport, having over 20 years experience coaching swimming, diving, and water polo-including ten years coaching at Cerritos College and at various high schools in Southern California.
Although Myer may only be with Oxy for one year, he is excited to work with the Tigers and has set an ambitious goal for the season. “I am hoping to train the entire team to reach a personal best this season,” Myers said. “If we can do that, we should have a very fun and successful year.”
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
