Oceanside Collegiate looking for more growth in future
Mt. Pleasant – As the athletic director and girls soccer coach at Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Mark Meyer wears many hats and stays pretty busy.
Meyer directs one of the top overall athletic programs in South Carolina. While many detractors say the charter school has advantages over traditional public schools, the fact remains that Oceanside Collegiate wins championships.
Oceanside Collegiate won seven state championships during the2022-23 school year, equaling the total from the previous year. In their seven-year existence, the school has captured 25 state championships. While it may look easy, Meyer says OCA faces obstacles like every other school.
“There are plenty of challenges, things like budget and facilities, just as other schools might have,” Meyer said. “We’re a charter school but we operate under the same rules as the public schools. We try to provide what is necessary for our teams to play games, things like uniforms, officials and whatever else we need. But our teams have to fund raise and our coaches are told that during the interview process.”
In terms of on-site facilities, Oceanside is still chasing options. There is a gym for basketball and volleyball. The school recently put in a turf field for soccer and lacrosse. Baseball and softball still practice and play games off site, and the football team plays their games at The Citadel. Those three teams pay a fee to practice and play games. The track program also has to practice off campus.
“We have a big wish list but it’s going to take a while to get what we want. Until then, we just do the best we can to give our kids a great experience.”
Meyer says one misconception about OCA is that most of the school’s student body participates in athletics of some kind. That is not true.
“Fifty-six percent,” he said. “That’s how many of our students here are athletes. We’re not like IMG Academy. Our model (education) attracts a lot of students who may work jobs in the afternoon or have family situations where they benefit from the half-day model.”
While the majority of the varsity coaching staff returns for the coming year, Meyer is seeking a new baseball coach. Richie McCullough stepped down after two state championship seasons,
“We’ve had a lot of interest, a lot of good candidates,” Meyer said. “We’ll settle on the best guy sometime soon, early August hopefully.”
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