Superintendent Jeff Beckwirth Leads By Example As Boys’ Soccer Coach At Woodland High

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Dorchester — Woodland High School is fortunate to be guided by the leadership, focus, and guidance of Dorchester School District Four Superintendent Jeff Beckwirth who actually volunteered to head coach the boys’ soccer team at the school this past season.

Mr. Beckwirth enjoys his day-to-day working relationship with Wood land High athletic director Ty Sibert. “Sibert just understands people,” said Beckwirth. “Not educators, not administrators, but just people in general. He treats everybody with respect in the same way that he wants to be treated. In return people give him the same type of respect that he affords them.

“All of our coaches in the district understand that they are invested not only in the schools they serve, and the team they are coaching, but it most about developing student athletes to be well-rounded productive citizens and less about the final score of a game,” said Beckwirth. “If you put in the work and give the kids the right amount of attention they are going to perform for you. Ultimately you will get positive results.”

Woodland High opened in 1999 and at that time wrestling matts came with the new high school. “We probably should have started a wrestling program much sooner but over the years it just didn’t work out but Coach Sibert has worked hard and we will have a wrestling program this school year for the first time,” said Beckwirth. “We are really excited about the opportunity it will give to many athletes in the winter that do not play basketball.”

Coach Sibert is in the process of hiring a wrestling coach but he joked to the HSSR one time that he might end coaching the sport. “Trust me, Coach Sibert will not be the head wrestling coach,” said Beckwirth. “We have our wrestling head coach in mind but it is not official yet.”

The school held a Meet & Greet activity for new varsity head volleyball coach Riley McCall on July, 19^th.  

Coach Beckwirth said that Sibert gave him a three-year no cut contract to coach the boys’ soccer team. Beckwirth is a former high school and college soccer player who loves to teach the sport to high school student athletes.

Woodland experienced great growth in boys’ soccer this season. “At one point we were one game away from being the region champs,” said Coach Beckwirth. “We should do even better this upcoming season. This year’s goal was to create a team and we had 20-plus kids on both the varsity and junior varsity teams.”

“It is great therapy to get out there with the kids and be around something I love to do,” said Beckwirth. “It is a nice reminder of why we got into the job in the first place. It can be easy to become disconnected to the purpose of our job. Getting out and helping coach the kids help keeps me connected and keeps me grounded with not only the students, but the parents and the community in general.

“Coaching soccer allowed me to see other teams like baseball, softball and track working out all around me on adjacent fields,” said Beckwirth. “It also let me see our facilities for these sports and where we might need to make improvements. When the need arises to make improvements, I will have some insights into exactly what is needed with a good understanding of legitimate costs also.”

“Coach Beckwirth” brought up an interesting point worth sharing. “In South Carolina we are big on AAU travel teams, in all kinds of sports, and coaches are running to get involved at that level of sports and it has created a shortage of quality coaches along with teachers across the state,” he said. “Coaches truly do not get paid what they are worth when you factor in all of the other responsibilities they face in their day-to-day jobs.”

One coach who will be sadly missed at Woodland High this season is long-time track coach Chavez James who has left the school to pursue other opportunities. Coach James had brought state championships to the school.

“Coach James put Woodland track on the map and he made a smaller dot into an even bigger dot and we will miss him a lot,” said Birthwirth. “I have no idea where he is headed but I wish him well.”

 Eddie Ford (97-39) is beginning his 6^th season as the head football coach at Woodland High and the Wolverines will be playing in a completely new region this fall with the realignment that happens every two years.

“Coach Ford is a coach that cares as much about the kids on-and-off the field and their well-being is more important to him then the score of a game,” said Beckwirth. “He is very consistent from year-to-year.”

In an earlier interview Coach Ford told the HSSR, “We are literally in the middle of the region we just left (Barnwell & Hampton County) and the new region (Phillip Simmons & Timberland) that we are in now,” said Coach Ford. “The travel is about the same either way. We were last in a region with Phillip Simmons and Timberland four years ago. Both regions are competitive and I do not have a preference.”

One bit of good news, competition wise, is that Oceanside Collegiate has moved up to AAA after being in the same region with Woodland the past four years. “What is interesting is that in my five years at Woodland we have lost in the third round of the play-offs three times to Oceanside Collegiate, and in the second round to Barnwell twice. Those are the only two teams we have lost to in the play-offs since I have been the head coach at Woodland.”

Big time recruit Kam Pringle has graduated and is now competing for early playing time in the offensive line at South Carolina. Running back TJ Wright has also graduated along with his 1,432 yards he rushed for as a senior including 14 touchdowns and he is now at Wingate College.

Coach Ford and his staff worked out with around 52 varsity football candidates, and 25 junior varsity candidates during 10-days of Spring drills in May. “Our main goals in Spring drills were getting our players familiar with a couple new wrinkles we have added, especially on defense, and getting a full understanding of our schematics,” said Coach Ford. “We were very pleased with several of our seniors showing good leadership skills during our work-outs. Having good senior leadership is very important to a team.”

Woodland finished with an 8-3 record last year and they return 13 starters for the upcoming season.

Veteran softball coach Kim Reaves returns for this season. “Kim is a great person and a well-respected coach,” said Beckwirth. “I know they were really young this year. She is a perfect example of a coach who works hard at building a program.”

The baseball program will once again be under the direction of former HSSR all-state player Keith Lowman. Alston Jefferies returns to coach the girls’ basketball team and Fanontae Hanna will once again coach the boy’s team. Girl’s tennis will be coached again by Gladys Summers and the boy’s tennis team will be coached by Vic Simon. His team won a region title last year.

Beckwirth is very excited about the new Woodland Middle School about to open adjacent to Woodland High School. The middle school’s various sports teams will be competing against middle school teams in the Summerville area for middle school Dorchester county championships. “Our middle school will become a tremendous feeder program for our junior varsity and varsity teams in the near future,” said Beckwirth. “The middle schools cost $45 million  and it is one first-class facility.”

In closing, Mr. Birthwirth said, “In recent years I’ve noticed the majority of our honor graduates were also very good athletes at the school and academics and athletics go hand-in-hand,” he said. “When I sit down with coaches from time-to-time I stress that our students and their needs come first and foremost in all that we do.”