Font Resize
The nice weather has given him a chance to get his coaching career off the ground quickly because he's been able to get his new team on the field right away.
Davis, the new coach of the Chambersburg girls soccer team, said, "The good weather has really helped us get off to a good start. We didn't want to start off in the gym."
Davis was hired in August after Shawn Stenger, the Trojan coach for the previous eight years, resigned after the season.
Stenger set a high standard -- Chambersburg was 90-53-7 under him, won a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division title and appeared in the PIAA Tournament in 2004 and 2007. In addition, nine seniors graduated last spring.
"I think we have three starters back -- Lexi Lentz, Kylee Bricker and Jade Flory -- and Kayla Hepfer split time in goal," Davis said.
"But from what I've noticed, the girls are pretty focused. We're a young team and they know it, but they seem to have the mentality that they want to go out and play hard in every game in order to have some success. They look ready to go."
Davis was a volunteer assistant under Stenger last spring, so he already knows most of the personnel.
He also assisted Mike Wenzel for the junior high boys team for two seasons, and having Wenzel as his assistant now has been a big help.
"I've learned a lot from Mike," Davis said. "He's very organized and that's a huge help, because he's helped a lot with
At CASHS, Davis played soccer, wrestled and was on the track team. He said he always thought coaching was something he wanted to do.
When he graduated from West Virginia University in 2008, he got a chance to coach under Wenzel and took it. Now that he's been coaching for a few seasons, he's hooked.
"It's just a blast working with the kids," Davis said.
He's been so enthused that he's applied for graduate school, hoping for a degree in counseling.
When asked his philosophy of coaching, Davis said, "I think you play like you practice, so we'll do a lot of game-like practices.
"I also like keeping things positive, with the staff and the players. It encourages a lot of learning. I think it makes kids want to keep pushing to learn."
Davis started conducting open gym sessions after Christmas and for the past month or more he's had his team working on conditioning. All but about five or six players did not play winter sports and Davis said, "I think we'll be in better shape to start the season than we were before."
Davis, at 24, is one of the youngest head coaches in the area.
"I've caught some grief about that," he said. "Shawn (Stenger, who has a shaved head) said that in a couple of years, I'll look like him."
----------
Ed Gotwals may be reached at 262-4755 and egotwals@publicopinionnews.com.
New Trojan boss
Caleb Davis is beginning his first week of practice as the Chambersburg girls soccer coach. Some facts about Davis:
Age: 24
School: CASHS graduate (2004), West Virginia University graduate (2008)
Soccer background: played 4 years for the Trojans
Coaching: 2 years as Faust boys assistant; one year as Trojan girls assistant
Job: works at Osburn-Hessey, a warehousing logistics company in Chambersburg
