Wingin’ It with Benjie Colberg: From Alumni to Coach

In this episode of Wingin’ It, Covenant alumnus and varsity boys lacrosse coach Benjie Colberg joins the podcast to talk about returning to Covenant after nearly a decade away. He shares stories from his time playing college lacrosse, working in boarding schools, and what led him back to coaching here. Benjie also reflects on this season’s lacrosse team and the culture he’s working to build with his players.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everyone, this is Callie. This is Ashley.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

And this is Brady. And welcome to Wingin' It, the Covenant School podcast. All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our next episode of Wingin' It. Uh lucky number 13. We're 13 episodes in. Can you believe that? Um, thank you all so much for tuning back in. So excited. Um, we are nearing the end of the school year, which is wild to think about. We have like two, three weeks left. Um, but the year's flown by and we're so excited to continue to talk about it. So I'll uh kick it over to Callie. I know we have a lot of news to cover.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So much news. Okay, a couple recaps. Well, just one. It's about prom because prom happened last weekend. It was on May 2nd. Um, a great success. I heard lots of good things about the DJ, which was a win for me personally because they always complain about the DJ. So very happy that they enjoyed it. It was at the Paramount. Just is such a great time. Um, so prom was super awesome. Thanks for all the people that helped out with that. The seniors got their moment. They got to dance on the Paramount stage with one of their parents, which was very sweet. So just crazy that it already happened. I'm like, how are we in the middle of May? Um, next up coming up for student events, something really fun we have next Tuesday, which when this comes out, it will have happened a day ago. So you know what I'm saying. Um, the fifth graders from Birdwood get to come to Hickory to get their house placements. So fun. And I was just explaining to Brady that it's like bid day. Yeah. Like when you find out what sorority or fraternity that you're in, because we have them like run, we say their name and then we have them run to the house that they're getting placed in. And it's incredible. Like they lose their minds, they're so excited. So that's happening. And then honestly, the last thing for student events that's coming up is field day, which is the last day of middle school for the middle schoolers. That's on May 28th. If you are a parent of a middle schooler, Ashley's birthday.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

And Ashley's my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

That's right. Yes, the queen of field day. Um, if you are a parent of a middle schooler and you're listening and you want to volunteer for field day, hit your girl up because we have jobs available. You could be, are you ready for this?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Ready.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

A kickball referee. Oh exciting.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

The highest honor.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yes. You could man the slip and slide. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Slightly lower honor.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I mean, that sounds way better. We put we put like soap and baby oil on it. Like it goes it goes hard.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So there's kind of no coming together. You did.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

It's I mean, kickball referees, like they get into it. I know. So you gotta have a backbone.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

I know.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Um, you can make snow cones, you could help pass out water. The the the the limits, the options are endless. So if you want to help out with field day, it's a great time. Let me know, please. Um, that's it for me for right now. No, I'll talk about let me talk about the rest of my stuff and then we'll go to Ashley just to make it streamlined. Okay, so merrily we roll along. Yeah, we already talked about this. I know.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Uh that's our bad.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Yeah. Sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

I feel like honestly, we found out. I found out that it was showing this weekend like two weeks ago. So it's fine. I think it will be a huge success. The kids have been working super hard tonight. The day of this recording, May 7th, is actually the opening night, and it plays all weekend long. So I hope you went and saw it.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

I know the kittens did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yeah, the first time ever we're doing two musicals in one school year. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

So that should be really fun. And then we've got all the normal end-of-year events, which we kind of touched on in the last episode. Um, Baccalaureate is May 19th with the Keely Doyle.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

She's the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

She's the speaker, which is really fun.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

I texted her uh to confirm because last episode it was still unconfirmed when we were recording. And I was like, Hot off the press. Hot off the press. I was like, hey, are you are you still doing this? And she was like, Yeah, I have no idea what I'm gonna say. LOL. So um she's gotten till the 19th, so she's got 12 days. She's gonna invert her wisdom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Um, then we have senior celebration, which is always really fun. That's the day before graduation. And then graduation is Friday, May 22nd, which is literally two weeks away. Not literally, almost literally. Um, so that's just crazy. I yeah, I can't believe it. And yeah, that's all for me.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Kick it over to you, Ashley. Um, well, I'm gonna kick it back to Brady. Never mind. Yes, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Professional operation here.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Obviously, we're waiting in today. Um because I think it'd be important to introduce our guest for today before we move into our sports updates.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

We'd love to because he can speak on some sports updates. Because joining us in studio is head boys varsity lacrosse coach, uh, class of 2010. That's right. Benji Colbert. Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Good to be here. Yeah, thanks. Of course. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Benji, do you want to start off and just give us a little update on your team and how you guys have been doing?

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Sure. Yeah, we just finished conference playoffs. We lost North Cross, unfortunately. Uh-huh. At North Cross on Monday. That was the semifinals. Um, so we are waiting to hear about states. But it looks like we'll be the two seed, which is great, which implies that our first round game will be at home.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

But if we win that, it would be at home as well. So, but we're 12 and four. We have awesome guys, awesome coaching staff with two Covenant alums out there, Luke Heinzon, who I played with. He graduated in 2009, and then Jay Gaffney, who my younger brothers, Nathan and Michael, played with. I know Brady knows Jay well, um, along with other staff members. Um, so yeah, it's been an awesome season. My first season here back at Covenant. Um, still feel feels weird to be a coach on the sideline and not a player, but that's it's pretty special. So yeah, it's been an awesome season. Just gotta stay healthy and uh take care of what we need to take care of. I think we've got a really good shot at maybe winning a state championship this year. We'll see. Let's go. That'll be really fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

That's awesome. No, I couldn't agree more. It's been really fun watching you guys. It's like a well-well machine out there. So thank you. Um, but no, I mean, like Benji said, we're wrapping up with spring sports. This has been conference week. We're moving into states next week. Um, our baseball team last night beat VES in the semifinals at the Brack tournament, which was a little bit of an upset. They were the lower seed, they had to travel there. Um, four to three in the seventh inning. We've been like seventh inning Warriors the last couple games. Um, but yeah, so we play Miller tomorrow in the championship, which is awesome for those guys. I know that hasn't happened in a while. Um, and then our boys' tennis team is also in the BRAC championship tomorrow. They're traveling down to North Cross. So hopefully we can we can get a North Cross win um with the boys tennis team. But um, yeah, just want to give a shout-out to all of our teams. I went to Stab, gosh, what was it, Tuesday evening, and it was just so fun because we have multiple teams playing there. And um, our JV girls soccer team who they just had like a lot of games canceled this past, I don't know, month. And um, so they had their last game at Stab. Typically for JV teams, you just end in a tie, but the officials were awesome and they let the girls do PKs at the end of the game. Correct. And we won off of PKs. Oh, yeah. And it was awesome for them. And they were so excited. Um, so yeah, just want to give a shout out to all of our teams. I know spring is fast and furious, it's also long. The kids are tired, it's been a long year. Um, but very excited to see what we do in states next week. As Benji said, we'll be hosting a couple games Tuesday night. I think we're hosting Girls Lacrosse and Boys Lacrosse. So that will have already happened, unfortunately, by the time this comes out. But if you're here Thursday, come support the boys, assuming they hopefully win on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

And that's the hope. Yeah, I would love to add that our middle school boys lacrosse team went nine and one this year. Woodbury's freshman team. They beat Stab yesterday. So lots of people. A lot of kids out there, some great coaches. Um, so really positive momentum from that group, which is which is sweet.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Yeah. We were just talking in the hallway with uh Coach Estes, a former wing and it guest, about how awesome that um that middle school team is. So it's just gonna be fun to see like what comes through over the next couple years, and hopefully we can just keep building the foundation and um yeah, exciting things to come in athletics.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Awesome. And lots of exciting things going on in advancement. Um, I know I brought up last time uh we were on the heels or the eve of Grandparents' Day. Um it happened, it went great. We had pretty much 400 on the dot uh exactly uh grandparents come to Burkwood, which is just uh that's a lot bigger when you think about it. So many people. And you know, uh we talk a lot in advancement how um we wish we had a little bit more space around our facility. So we were like packed to the brim at Birdwood, but you wouldn't have known it because it felt like such a smooth operation, and I can't like credit uh Kelly Thomas more with just planning such a smooth event, and then also the Birdwood staff and faculty. Like we we heard from multiple faculty and longtime attending grandparents that it was the smoothest that they felt it went. So when you couple like the the words highest attended and smoothest like shouldn't always go together, um, but it did. And that's just a testament to the people who who helped make this event possible. Um, we had so many people uh adjacent to advancement help out on Thursday, Callie being one of them, Heather being a huge part of it. Um, like it just this event um is uh a lot, but it is so worth it because we get to showcase the best of Covenant with our lower school students and faculty, and um, it's just a testament to what being third is there. And um, yeah, I I I loved being a part of it. Um something that was a lot of fun is at every musical performance, um, the grade levels put on a musical performance for their grandparents, and so we hand out gifts for grandparents who both traveled the furthest and who uh have attended the most grandparents. And at one of the performances, a couple raised their hand. Uh, they traveled from Ghana to be there for the event, which was awesome. Like so cool. That's amazing. They would come from Ghana to the to Birdwood. Wow. And then uh another grandparent, uh I believe it was Lisa Wood. She's a former um lower school teacher.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Former kindergarten teacher. Oh my gosh, that's so special. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Um my gosh, wow. Shout out Lisa. Um, but I think she said that she had been to 12 grandparents' days. Uh huh. Um, so a lot. And that's that I don't even think she was counting the ones that when she was a teacher. So just really cool. Uh that's that's it for grandparents' day, but just like can't reiterate her much as enough, um, just how special that that day is. Um, a couple more things. I'll kind of go quickly through this. Uh, we currently are running our faculty experience auction through the spring. Um, that will also be over by the time you are listening to this, just like merrily we roll along. But um, you know, I hope you got a great gift. So I hope you you bid. Um so that's going on. Uh our all alumni reunion is coming up uh in like three and a half weeks. So uh we're really excited about that. Um, Benji, hope you'll be there. Um, you won't. We have a table. You already told me to take it. Sorry. It's okay. I knew you wouldn't dang it. It's okay. I'll be there. Um bummer. Um, and then we'll have our end of the year picnic celebration at King Family Vineyard on Sunday, May 17th. So please come out. That's it for me.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Amazing. Done with news.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Done with news.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Perfect. Okay, next up faculty is the school. We've got two this episode because this is our last episode. And wouldn't you know it? These were the last two submissions. So we got everybody in.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Timed it perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Who is being celebrated? This is a really special one because this is her last year with us, which we are all so sad about. It's about Robin Eiler. She teaches government for the seniors. She also does yearbook. Um, she's done a number of things when she's been on this campus, and she's just beloved. So this is what uh actually, Mrs. Schrader, Nikki Schrader submitted this about you, Robin. So this is what she said. Mrs. Eiler is always working to do something for others. She is a model of humility and generosity. She sees all of us, loves all of us, and serves all of us. She's fantastic, and it's so true. I think that's why we are all so sad to see you go. But we're so grateful that we got to have you here. Um, and are just yeah, so glad for the impact that you had on everybody and the wisdom that you've imparted on us and yeah, your servant's heart. So we'll miss you, Robin.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Thanks, Robin.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Um, our next one, it's short and sweet. It's about the coach Mark Noble. And all these words are true. Um, Missy Divine submitted this about you, Mark. She says it's very short and sweet, very English teacher of her. Always humble, always serving, kind, encouraging, and faithful. Yes, that's all I have to say about that. Is I mean, you are like the backbone of the middle school, and they love you, and you do such good work. Um, yeah, and you are just, I don't know, if we ever need somebody. If I ever need somebody, I'm like, oh, I'll just ask Mark.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Mark does everything. Everything, yeah. My man is everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Like he could run this school like single-handedly by himself.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

He was in uh, I know it's like the cardinal sin to reveal who was in a mascot costume. I apologize, but I think people know by now. Mark was in our eagle costume for grandparents' day, uh, and it was so fun to just like grandparents would come up to him in the eagle and just get a solo picture with him. Like grandchildren would not even be in the picture. And I loved it. Um and so that's also just a testament to Mark. He's like enthusiastic and passionate about our school and willing to just jump in and do whatever's needed, uh, including get in the eagle costume and do a heck of a job doing it.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, he's so steady. We're grateful for you, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Thanks, Mark.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And that's it for the faculty of the school.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Sure is. All right, Benji, it's time. You're in the hot seat. Okay. Thanks so much for being here once again. Um, it's fun just now, like you were a couple years older than me in school, but I've loved how our friendship has evolved, and now we are peers. And like, um, that's been really fun for me. Obviously, your younger brother Nathan is one of my best friends, but um, I have to share, I was kind of reflecting, um, thinking about um you being on the podcast, and was like, I wonder when the first time Benji and I hung out was, and I I have I have a memory of being at your parents' old house. And it was me, uh, Nathan, and Hank Keeler playing you, Joe Nelson, and Alex Keeler in three-on-three basketball at your parents' old house. And uh this is probably really boring for everyone listening, but I'm getting to the point. So we at the Colbert's old house, they used to have the basketball hoop lowered to like eight feet. Oh, yeah. And at the time, me, Hank, and Nathan are probably in like sixth or seventh grade. And so three years at that point constitutes a large height difference. And so we were just getting dunked on left and right by the three of you. So my first memory of you is like throwing alley oops and dunking all over me.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Yeah, we yeah, we needed some confidence. That's right. I think that's why we did that. Happy to talk about that. No, that's fun. That was a lot of good basketball.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

A lot of good memories on that on that court. But now Brady dunks on me. So things have changed. I think my dunking days are behind me. Um I never had dunking days.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

So dunking days.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Um but again, thanks for being here. Um we talked a little bit how you're an alum, um, and now you're back coaching, but just would love to hear just a brief background what brought you back to Covenant um and how that has been so far.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Yeah. Um, well, I grew up in Charlottesville on the Pantops area right by Dardentow. And I have three brothers that all went to Covenant as well. Um, Andy graduated in 2009, and then Nathan and Michael. What were you guys? 13. 13, and I think 16 uh were those two. Um my parents still live in town, but yeah, I loved Covenant. It's kind of all I knew. Got to grow up at this school. And I mean, I I was at Covenant initially when like neither like when this building didn't exist, and so it's cool to see what it has become. And when Birdwood was the high school initially, and we had another campus that actually is like two minutes from here. Um, I don't even know what it is now. So, yeah, been a long time. Um, lots of amazing memories. But I worked at Christ school. Well, first of all, I have a wonderful wife, Allie. She is from Charlottesville too. She went to Albemarle and JMU, and we have a son, Walker, who's almost eight months old, which is crazy. Uh, but we are just loving being parents. We've been married since July of 2022. So coming up on four years. But um yeah, I feel uh so grateful and lucky to have her and to have Walker. Um just that's pretty wild. I still pinch myself. Um but yeah, I was uh in Asheville for the last like nine or ten years, working at a school called Christ School, um, coaching uh lacrosse. I coached soccer for a while. Uh and then I worked in the student life office for the last six years, kind of overseeing the boarding school experience, uh, which is wild. And it was all boys school. So it was a lot of fun, but it was um just I was ready for a bit of a change, but I love schools, I love uh education, which is funny because I didn't love school when I was in school. I just uh loved sports and doing other things. Um so I think if my 17-year-old self knew that I was had worked at a school in some sort of a disciplinary enroll, I mean he would have yeah, been really embarrassed about that. But I've loved it, and I think there's so much in um those conversations with guys when they've kind of slipped up um to encourage them and affirm them, but also hold standards. I think those are really, really, really important. So yeah, loving being back. I love coaching lacrosse. And I think it's uh where I was met most. I think I learned a lot about what it means to be in my experience, like what it means to be a man, what it means to be a good man, and what it means to work really hard and to be a part of a team and to to lose and to win and and all those things. So it's cool to try and develop a program where where that's what we're talking about a lot. Um and if we win, that's great. But I think focusing on the other things, that stuff kind of takes care of itself. So yeah, that's I don't know. I can talk for a while about myself, and so let's be careful here. But I uh that that's where I'll stop. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Um I'm I am gonna ask you one more question about yourself, and that's your college lacrosse experience at Denison. So you said you played at Covenant and then played at Denison in college. Um tell us a little bit about that experience. Um did you always know you wanted to play on the next level? Um, did you enjoy playing in college?

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Yeah, yeah. I always thought I would play soccer. So I played year-round soccer through soccer. I think it still exists. But like that's what I did. And then when you got to freshman year of high school, um, the public schools played soccer in the spring. And at that time, it was a little bit less intense, so there was no travel soccer in the spring. So all of a sudden there was this gap. And so my older brother Andy had played lacrosse, and so I played lacrosse, and the program was in a really healthy place at that point. Um, and I loved it, but yeah, soccer was my like primary love, and that didn't work out for a litany of reasons. And I actually went back to high school when I graduated from Covenant. So I went to boarding school for a year in New England called Loomis Chafee. And um when I was there, I I was playing a lot of lacrosse. It was very like the league was really, really, really good. And so I was loving it, and an opportunity came up to play at Denison, and that was like spring of my postgrad year. So it was super late. Um, but I had a friend who had played at St. Ann's who played at Denison, and he was like, You gotta come visit. It was a great program. Um, my coach just got inducted to the Hall of Fame. He was there a long time. He was a four-time All-American player at UVA, and then he coached at UVA and at Brown before he took over the Denison program. So he was incredible. Um, and yeah, it was an amazing experience. I can't I can't really imagine going to college without that. So when I think of my brothers who went to UVA and Clemson, just such different experiences. But I loved the team, I loved being a part of something like having a goal that we're all trying to accomplish together all year long. Um yeah, that was really, really special. Um, and it was hard. Like at Covenant and at Loomis, they weren't gonna bench you if you had a bad practice. And then at college, you realized very quickly like everyone else is really, really good. And if I don't play well, I'm not gonna play. And so like it took me a long time to get onto the the field. Um, but I think that taught me the importance of hard work, uh, not giving up. And um, yeah, it was it was amazing. I I I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

So very cool. So you went to a boarding school?

SPEAKER_04 21:58

I sure did for hot sack. Yeah. Which I would tell it was weird because you graduate high school and you want to be telling people you're going to college. So it's kind of a weird thing. And then you went to So what I did is called a postgrad year. Okay. And it's a whole thing in New England where it's actually quite common. It's just not common down here. So what happens is people, for whether it's academic, most times it's an athletic reason. They will have been told, like my roommate, for example, went to play lacrosse at Duke.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

He was told if you take a postgrad year, we have room in next year's class, but we don't have room in this class.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

So those boarding schools will take kids like that. Gotcha. Because they're usually great kids. Hopefully, they're really good athletes and like everyone has them up there.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

So that's what I did. So I graduated from here in 2010 and then graduated from Loomis in 2011.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

And then went to Denison.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

So did you take, was it more like high school classes?

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Yeah, you are like a high school student.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Again. So it's an opportunity to raise your GPA. It was a very hard school. So like I learned a lot. I got my SAT grades up. I was 17 when I graduated too. So I was pretty young. Um and so it was helpful for me to grow up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Okay. So you went to a boarding school and then you worked at one. Yeah. Tell us more about your time at Christ school.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

Yeah. I well, I never would have worked at a boarding school if I hadn't gone to boarding school. Like that wasn't a part of my world at all. The only ones I knew of were Woodbury and Blue Ridge. Um Miller, I guess, too. But yes, I majored in econ.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

That's a longer story. Did not like it.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

And when I was graduating, I just was in a place where I felt like I needed a reset. And my college friends were going to work in Charlotte and Chicago. And I remembered that I had great dorm parents and coaches at boarding school. And so I looked into whether or not that would be an option for me. And I ended up taking an internship at this school in Asheville that I had never even heard of called Chryschool. So I was, I lived with 48th and 9th graders my first year out of college. I was a dorm parent. My gosh. I just did whatever they needed me to do. And uh it was awesome. They paid me like nothing, but I felt so wealthy because I lived for free and I could buy Chipotle whenever I wanted.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Amazing.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

And uh yeah, so that was a great experience. And then a job opened up in the admissions department. So I did that for two years while coaching soccer. And then I oversaw a dorm. So I moved into an upperclassman dorm and like ran that dorm. And then um got to work on the honor council for two years. That was really fun. And then I actually did the Trinity Fellows program. So I have a weird story. Yes, did that when I was 25, 26, and then ended up going back to Christ school because of a job that opened up. I didn't really say that. That was never the plan.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

I thought I would move back here. I thought I would stay here. And then I got a call about at the time it was called Director of Residential Life, which was overseeing the dorms. So I did that. And then the lacrosse coach had an incident and they needed a new lacrosse coach. Okay. And I was there and I was this I was the main assistant. And so I was then the head coach at CrySchool for three years. Then I stepped away from that to move into a different leadership role at CrySchool, doing strategic planning and other fun stuff like that. So it was amazing. The school was incredible to me. They were very supportive, gave me lots of opportunities to um try new things. And yeah, I as a result, I really love education. I think trying to create an environment where kids can can grow up and can thrive and can learn who they are is really, really important. Probably more important now than than ever. Um, so yeah, it's been fun to be back around that year at Covenant. But yeah, Christ school was great.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Cool. You wore so many hats.

SPEAKER_04 25:52

I wore a lot of hats. Yeah, that's boarding school though. It's like, you know, all hands on deck. All hands on deck. And so, yeah, like in the evenings, once a week, I would oversee, like I held the school phone and I had to make sure everything was going well. And then if a kid is sick at 2 a.m., that's who gets the call. And so it was fine when it was just me. And then when, you know, Allie's having to wake up at two. Cause so it was a lot, but it was you get to know people really well. It's uh it's a pretty special environment.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Great, great practice for parenthood.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

Yes, that has happened a lot over the last seven seven months. A lot of wake-ups at two in the morning. That's awesome. So we felt prepared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

You're doing great. Oh, thanks. I was so uh something that I love about our friendship is I'm also friends with your parents. Yeah, I know your parents, Craig and Ann, really well. Um, and I was talking to your mom. I forget when this was, but it was recently, and we were uh Nathan was brought up, and she made the joke how Nathan was the only Kohlberg sibling to never win a state championship. That's our coming. You want to say that again? Yeah, Nathan, you were the only Kohlberg sibling to never win a state championship. It's really tough. Yeah. Um, but uh so I know that you won one while you were here, and you also uh won one as a coach at Christ school. Um I'm curious from just an outsider's perspective, uh what that was like, both like the similarities and differences between those experiences, one as a player and one as a coach, how that felt to achieve that goal. Um, and then similarities and differences between those teams that you saw um through those championship teams.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

That's a good question. I've never I've never honestly thought about that, uh the similarities. But in high school, yeah, that was 2008. I was a sophomore, and we that was a crazy season because we lost in the regular season to Highland 10 to 2 and we lost to VES, and then on the way to the championship, we beat VES in the semifinal, and then we beat Highland in the state championship. So it was really cool to have that experience where you lose and then you flip the script and win where it matters. So yeah, that was really fun. It's really fun to get to win a state championship. I mean, I have really fond memories of playing soccer and we never won, and playing other like lacrosse in other seasons where we didn't win because we actually moved up to division one for my junior and senior years, um, and then lost in the quarterfinals each time. So that was a different type of fun because it was like more challenging. Um, yeah, as a player, you feel coaching's so weird because there's only so much you can do. You try so hard to prepare and you try so hard to help the guys get out there, and then they're out there and you call timeouts and you try and coach. And um I think it's more like can you navigate the mental roller coaster of a game and can you keep them focused and can you encourage them and can you call them up when they need to do that? So yeah, um similarities in the teams, just like kids that don't give up, kids that work really hard, guys that like have a goal we all wanted to win. Um people that are okay taking things seriously. I think that's one of the hardest things that I had to learn when I was young is it's okay to try hard. Sometimes, I mean, if you have a culture where try hard's that that's like deemed negative, uh, that's problematic. You're probably not gonna be very successful. But if you have a culture where that's really cool, yeah, like getting after it, um it's likely that you'll have a better team and a more competitive team. And so I th I felt like that was in the water back then at Covenant, and that was certainly in the water at Cry School. So yeah, that was a really cool experience. I've also lost multiple state championships as a coach. That's really hard too, because you're trying to um it ultimately like doesn't matter. You know, like it just doesn't. And if you're if I'm a 33-year-old, you know, yeah, I'm gonna brag to my little brother about it, but I'm never gonna walk into a room and introduce myself as like a state champion in high school. Um, so it's more like the memory, the understanding that you've accomplished something challenging. Yeah, uh, but you still accomplish a lot when you get to the state championship. And um you hopefully are trying to teach the guys that their worth and value is not right in winning a state championship, even though it feels like it. Um, even as a coach, you have to remind yourself like right now, I'm reminding myself it's okay if we don't win.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:20

It would be really awesome, but it's okay. So yeah, I don't know if that answers it, but um that's that's what I would say.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

It absolutely does. And I I think like I totally relate and resonate. Kind of like what you were saying at college, like the best teams, like talent is every you guys everyone's talented at that top level, but it is those like cultural um commitments and core values, the like persistence and resilience that gets those teams over the top. Yeah, so yeah, totally agree for sure.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Um, so at your time at Covenant, obviously you just said you won a state championship. Um, I'm sure that is at the top of your list of favorite memories. Do you have any other memories that stick out? It could be on low cross soccer field in the classroom.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

I have a lot of memories that I'm not gonna talk about that are no, I loved covenants. I mean, yeah, yeah. I just think of like some of my friends like that we just doing silly stuff as middle schoolers. And um, yeah, it's like funny to see people that you messed around with for so long be like full-on adults and like have jobs and just become responsible, wonderful people. Um, and I think covenant has a lot to do with that. Like what they're what the kids are subconsciously picking up um is is pretty cool around here. I mean, I I was in the play my senior year. Oh wow, yes, I didn't have a single line, but I was in the play, and I felt more nervous. It was Suzical the musical. Yes, they brought that one back. But that was the play, and me and my friend Eric Dixon, we were hunters, and so we came on, like we snuck up the side through the crowd, and we would capture, I think it was Horton, the elephant. It's incredible. I was I honestly was way more nervous for that than any athletic event that I ever took part in. So that was really something that pops up. Um I swam my senior year. Like my I don't know, that was that felt like it was the culture back then, was like you just did something. Yeah, you didn't really go home. And so I was not good enough to play varsity basketball. Um, that stopped at JV level for me. And then I swam. And it was like brutally hard, but but also super uh enjoyable and have some really fun memories of of that. Um and then playing for Coach Rebruggy, playing soccer for a couple of years at Covenant was awesome. Um yeah, yeah, lots of lots of great, great memories here. Felt like a I felt very lucky to be at Covenant.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

Um it was it was a great place then, and it still is a great place now. So yeah, that's what I would say.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Do you have a favorite teacher and or coach from your time here?

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Favorites tough. Yeah, they're all all great. Uh I mean I think of like Coach Rebruggy, yeah. And I think of uh my advisor was Senor Sawyer, who's still here. He doesn't look a day old.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

I don't get it podcast.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Yeah, yeah. Um, which is funny because I actually subbed for like the seventh grade science class for a couple weeks, and the kids would like ask me who I knew, and I'm like, I've actually known these people since before you were born, which is so weird because they weren't born in 2006 when I started high school here. Um, but yeah, Seniora was great, he was my advisor, and then Coach Rebruggy. I think he's such a uh a wise, calm person. That's what I remember it the most. It's like he in the most intense moments of soccer, he was just steady. And I think you take your lead from the coach. Um, and if the coach is freaking out, then you're gonna be more prone to freak out. So yeah, I I I don't think I realized I admired it then, but I do now as a coach, as because you get into those moments and you want to lose your mind, and you you're like, I don't think that's actually gonna be very very helpful right now. So that's who that's who comes to mind. And and a lot of them too. I mean, Mr. Colmus obviously um had him. Uh yeah. So another former podcast guest man. I didn't listen. Sorry. I listened to the first one, I think. No, I just don't listen to podcasts all that often. I should, I should.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

So that's it's a lot of commitment. Uh Rebreggi is, I don't think that man is shakeable. No. No. What did we say? Flappable. He would like he would thrive in a zombie apocalypse. Yes. Didn't we say that? He would. Yeah, but it is true.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Like the kids pick up on so much, and when you're like, yes, calm in those high stress moments, like the kids are gonna be calm.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah, not too high, not too low is what we try and talk about. Um, so academically too, like having his class senior year was like a breath of fresh air, I remember because that's such a stressful time, especially in the fall with college applications. So yeah, um, yeah. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

I called him Brian. Yeah. I'm like, I'll just keep with coach.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Whenever I go up to talk to him, I have to like take it down like several notches. I'm like, hey, did it then? And he's like, huh. And I'm like, okay, we're not on the same level. I need to let me try that again. Let me regroup. Uh you have seen Covenant through a lot. How has how have you seen it change and grow and what's different and what's the same? And anything? Yeah. Anything that's stuck out to you since being back?

SPEAKER_04 35:49

Um I don't I don't know. I mean, I yeah, like physically, the school has changed a lot. Like there's different the Sankor Commons, this whole area out here with the basketball court and the turf and all that is really cool. Um, and then yeah, this didn't exist when I first started going to Covenant. Like when they built this basketball court, they asked everyone to come in and write on the ground underneath of it. And I remember like doing that and write, I don't even know what I would have written as a what was this, 2002? Is this when this was yes? When I was 10. Probably I hope someone was watching me to make sure I didn't write anything inappropriate.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Um, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

I it's fun to be back and what I have told people is it's just such uh I love the balance of seriousness and fun at a school, and I think Covenant does that well from what I've watched. I think I remember them doing that pretty well. Like they had high standards, and they said if you don't do this, or if you do this, this will happen. And I think that's really important. Like life is not always that black and white. There's certainly gray area that you need to navigate, but that was helpful for me as a high school. Like, I needed to know that if I stepped across that line, like this is what will happen. And I think that can be really helpful for I'm speaking from a boy's perspective, like that was helpful for me. And I needed that in college. Like, I needed attendance policies to get me to go to class. I just wasn't that mature at that point in my life. So I think Covenant set the stage for that really well. I think they're still doing that really well. Um, and at the same time, there's like a a fresh air in the halls of kids, like they just look like they really like it here. You can tell when you walk around in school where they don't want to be here. Yeah, and they do. And that's that's really, really cool. So yeah, that's that's what I would say. So yeah, changing and growing, less so, but more it feels very similar just with the 700 different kids than were there when I was here.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

It's a tough question to answer. I feel like I get this a lot also in our advancement meetings. Um, and yeah, they'll ask, since I'm also class of 2013, like how has Covenant changed? And it's I I have a really hard time answering it because I think missionally and vision, like we have remained pretty constant in who we are. Um, you know, Christian liberal arts and sciences, um, academic excellence under the sovereignty of God, teaching the next generation to live well. I think that's while those like mottos and statements have evolved over the years, I think that theme has resonated throughout the school's history. Um, it's a lot easier for me to point at like we got a new tennis court complex and baseball batting cage, and like point to the facilities changes, but um, you know, I think I think our heart has remained the same. Um obviously there are things that like we've evolved for the better as a school, as our mission. I won't like say that we're perfect, and I think that's important that we as a school recognize ways that we can improve. Um, and I think we have, but it's it's harder to do that on like a macro scale. Yeah. You know, because I think overall, looking at a 30,000 foot view, it's remained pretty, pretty similar, um, which I think is a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I like watch the boys and think I was I was you. Yeah. Like the jokes they make, the dumb stuff they laugh at. Yeah. But I'm like, I can't laugh at this right now. But I'm like, this is exactly what it's fun. It's just so, it's so it will always be weird to be an adult and to watch and think like they I remember thinking that guy has no idea what I'm going through. And I don't really know what they're going through, but at the same time, I think it's still like I remember what it's like to be that age. And I I I tell them, I'm like, I'm one day you'll miss everything you're complaining about, you will miss. Yeah. Yes. There's a freedom in being a high schooler that I think is really fun. There's also huge pressures. Yes. But I think um, yeah, I look back fondly on that time for sure. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Awesome. Um, okay, a couple more things. I'm curious. I I think kind of the what this is a nice segue into one of our final questions, but um, we asked Nikki Schrader this question uh a couple weeks ago when she was on. But I'm curious from your perspective too, now through your role at Christchurch, through being a coach um and experiencing a lot of what it means to be a high school administrator and um person. Um what do you think if there's one thing that you could boil it down to that a covenant graduate leaves the school knowing, um, what do you hope that that is?

SPEAKER_04 40:38

What do I hope it is, or what do I think like that's such a question? Gosh. Um I mean I would say it's certainly like most important that they leave with an understanding and an awareness of like the fact that they're loved by a God who made them. I don't think that's necess like I I'm not sure that's what I left so focused on. Like it was something I like kind of knew in the background, but it certainly wasn't like I'm so glad I know this at that point in my life. But it was there, I think, in the background. Um, so I mean I think that ultimately is the most important thing. And then, you know, I would just add, I think to that they would have hopefully picked up the virtues that you want them to have to live a good life and to to to make decisions that um yeah are are honoring to the Lord and to themselves and to their families and and to their friends and and all of that stuff. And and like just a sense that life is kind of hard and that's okay. And uh hopefully they've been challenged here and been stressed here and and learned how to advocate for themselves and to push through things because that's what will lead them to a lot of uh relational success and like vocational success and hopefully a life that's worth uh yeah, living one day. So that that's what I would say, like a combination of those those two things. I think they go hand in hand. So awesome.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

I think that's pretty similar to what Nikki said too.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

I was thinking that too.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yeah, if nothing else, even if they don't like believe it necessarily or like subscribe to it, like this is actually a truth that you can take with you. Yeah, chew on it forever or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

It might not be like that. Uh yeah, it took me a while. And I grew up in an amazing house with amazing parents and went to church, and I just I had my journey.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yeah. So yeah, we all do.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

I think that's I think that experience is is true for a lot of our graduates and just a lot of high schoolers in general. Like you might not like that might not be the prime thing that you leave here like thinking about when you graduate, but it it is there and likely, hopefully, and we prayerfully hope so, will manifest. And like you will look back 10, 20 years later and be like, I was really loved. And like you can also like see that that comes from the gospel and that that is very true. And yeah, um, those seeds are planted and and just uh sprout at different times in everyone's life.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Yeah, it's a great ending. Wow, wow, mic drop.

SPEAKER_00 43:22

Before we get to Gen Z, I I want to shout out uh a certain group chat that Benji and I are part of. We're part of uh Commanders fans group chat, major tutties. Let's go, baby. It's me, Benji, his brothers Nathan and Michael, uh, Matt Goodrich, and Jay Gaffney, another Covenant alum. A lot of Eagles. A lot of Eagles, go Eagles, baby. Um, real quick, how are you feeling about the Commanders?

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Oh, I feel great. I always feel great in the offseason. Then the season comes around and um everything I hoped for falls apart. But I do feel good. I think we have, you know, we got Jaden. He'll be healthy. I like how we drafted. I'm just trying to learn to hold it loosely and not let it impact the way my Sundays go. There have been some really, my wife can attest, like bad days in the house where I've had to look in the mirror and um think about why I care so much about a bunch of 25-year-olds running around hitting each other. But for whatever reason, it's like near and dear to my heart. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Why do I care so much that Frank Yuluvo missed that too? Why do I care?

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Yeah, yeah. Why do I care? It feels like an identity issue that I'm still navigating, but it's good awareness. But I'm glad about our new jerseys, the new stadium coming. I need to get a new jersey. So if there's any generous people out there, I can send you my address. I'd love a Jaden Daniels jersey.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

You know, Ashley and I have a really good friend who is one of the photographers. Photographers.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

Really? Yes, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

That's what we can contribute to this conversation.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

Yeah, I would be happy to connect with them if that's what you're offering. She's incredible. She's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

Actually, I want to give her a shout-out because she was our sports photographer last year here.

SPEAKER_04 45:04

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

So I've known her for a little bit, um, just through Charlotte's Hull and my brother. And I was like, hey, would you ever want to shoot at a high school? And she was like, Yeah, I'm trying to build up my portfolio. She had been just kind of like freelancing in town, and so she was committed last year. She did all the media days for all of our teams, all the action shots. And um she uh told us at the end of the year that she had gotten this job with the commanders, and I was like, Okay, we'll allow you to go. I guess it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Um she was a Trinity fellow, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Oh, who was it?

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Her name is Emily Faith Morgan. She was class of 2022.

SPEAKER_04 45:36

Oh, wow. Yeah, okay. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

She goes by FM, FM FM Creative. Yep, you should check her out on Instagram. She's like so talented. So talented.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

This will probably only resonate with a small niche of people, but last year uh Commander's wide receiver, Traylon Burks, made like one of the most incredible one-handed catches I've ever seen. She photographed that corner. Like if you've seen like the NFL's like top pictures from last year, she's it's one of them. Any photos I'm talking about. I remember the play very well.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

It's shocking.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah, any photos on their Instagram, she's probably taken. Wow, that's really cool. Yeah, she's a she started out here. So I just want to make that make that known. Yes, huge shout-out. She's the best. Maybe we can hook you up. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_04 46:20

That would be great.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

That would be awesome. Sure, Spencer Burton would love to be.

SPEAKER_04 46:26

You know what? I need to give him a shout-out. He also is one of my favorite people. I have some very different, like I in middle school, he was kind of the guy, and I remember frequenting his office. And so it's funny to just, you know, get to work with him now. And um, what an I mean, the amount of work he does it's crazy. It's unbelievable. Um, and I don't think you know that when you're in school, and then as an adult, I have just witnessed it from a side here over the last couple months. And yeah, he's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

So my brother also frequented his office in my first day in the job. He's like, Man, I just I just love your brother.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

Yeah, yeah. That's it's so great. So you realize people who are in those roles, they got they get it. Yeah, like they really do. And you don't I don't know if you feel that always when you're I didn't feel that. I thought he was out of touch. I know, I know. And so yeah, it's I'm like, I think I understand what you're going through. They're like, no, you don't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

So well, segueing into our last segment of the podcast, and I'm glad that you mentioned earlier, um, at practice in games, you hear your boys chatting and joking around, and you're like, man, I can't laugh at that. So we'd just love to hear if you're hearing anything on the lacrosse field from your boys in terms of Gen Z, Gen Alpha, slang. Um, we always end every podcast out of the end. Like this is our this is our segment that we end with. Yeah. And typically we choose something, but when we have people that are in roles around high school students, we ask, what are you what are you hearing? That's are you closing your ears so that you don't have it?

SPEAKER_04 48:04

It's like I I don't know. A lot of the stuff I hear, I just like I don't know what that means. I'm not even gonna ask. Um, they talk a lot about hitting chipper.

unknown 48:12

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 48:13

Do you guys know what that means? It means going to Chipotle.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

Stop. I love hitting chipper. I love hitting hitting chipper. I love hitting chipper.

SPEAKER_04 48:23

They asked me, like, what's your chipper order?

SPEAKER_03 48:25

The chipper.

SPEAKER_04 48:26

Yeah, I actually appreciate that one a lot. Um shout out to the the boys. They love chipper and they always want to stop on the way home from games, and I have not stopped at Chipotle once. Chipper and Chipper. So we'll see. We'll see. Maybe, maybe in the future. But and then they they're playing hacky sack a lot.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Hacky sack comeback is crazy.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

It's all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Like what? Yeah, I don't know where it came from.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Even after injuries, when they just keep playing.

SPEAKER_04 48:51

Severe every sear injuries. Goodness gracious. But everything comes back around. Yeah. They all like all the stuff that goes out of style comes back. I remember my mom's on track when I was a kid, and now, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 49:05

Things that were once cool that were not cool are now cool again. So hitting chipper. Yeah, that's what I would say. Hitting chipper. I don't know about anything else.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Okay, I recently heard one from middle schoolers yesterday. Okay. I was in my eighth grade half. And they're like, Miss Gustin, do you know tongue tongue and tongue something? Have you heard of this?

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Tongue tongue-tongue suher.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

I was like, I'm I had to have her repeat it four times. I was like, I do not know what you're saying to you.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

I have no idea what it is.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

I was like, can you speak like what? I think it's just shibers. It's just shit. Okay, so I looked it up and it's this like meme, but he's also on like Fortnite or something.

SPEAKER_03 49:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

I was like, I don't this is too much for my brain. He's like, I've heard of that.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Old news.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

He kind of looks like that uh that character from the old Applejacks commercials, you know, like the cinnamon stick. Yeah, he's the cinnamon sticks guy. He looks like him. Yeah. Yeah. Now he has a Fortnite skin.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

I just, I don't know what that means. And they kept saying it, and I was like, I just, I'm really happy that y'all have this, but it's just not gonna work for me. Yeah, I Googled it and it was like Italian brain rot. And then I'm like, what is brain rot? And what makes it Italian?

unknown 50:19

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

So if you hear your kids saying tongue tongue tongue saher. Yep, uh, that's what that is.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

I really hope this is like appropriate. I think it is. I think it is. I think we'll probably stuff on former podcasts. Like, I really hope that the words that are coming out of my mouth aren't just like like extreme expletives. Just like, I don't know what I'm saying. We're really sorry if so we have huge fear sometimes. We clearly don't know what it means. Our heart is in the right place. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

We just want to educate the parents and the people.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Well, anyway, I've heard it here.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

I heard it here.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

Hit and chipper and yes, tongue, tongue, tongue sir. Yep. And um hacky sack.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

Go out there and sack some hackies. That's right. Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 51:02

Be careful.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

Careful. And also be careful, please.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Yeah, please be careful.

SPEAKER_04 51:06

Don't put your face down towards where people's feet are.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

No, not not wise. That definitely is. Please wise.

SPEAKER_00 51:11

It doesn't end well, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Yeah. Yep. Well, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

Thanks for coming, Benji. Thanks for having me. Yeah. And uh, we're just winging it. We're just winging it. Thanks, everyone. See you next time.