MONTROSE, Ala. - Bayshore Christian School in Montrose will begin it’s first official athletic season with teams in cross country, fencing, soccer and volleyball later this month as well as junior varsity basketball later in the fall.

The Bayshore Eagles will compete in the Panhandle Christian Conference with 14 other Christian Schools from the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi now making up the PCC.

“We’re excited about the kids getting to compete this year for our school and in the Panhandle Conference,” said Bayshore athletic director Jeff Hauge. “It’s an important year for our school’s history and everybody’s really looking forward to it.”

Going where no AD has gone before is especially instructive for Hauge who has been an assistant and head coach, but not a program director.

“The interesting thing about this being our first year in athletics is just what all is involved. You have to get into so many things to start up a program. You can go all the way down to our deciding on artwork for a logo with the school colors, ordering uniforms for the first time, creating the schedules, pouring a gym floor, building a soccer field, getting paint and flags for the field, ordering volleyball nets. Just about everything that goes with starting on the ground floor of a new school.”

Among the more important startup tasks he faced was hiring coaches.

“We feel very, very fortunate to have found such a great group of people to coach our kids. Just to come in contact with these classy individuals is a blessing. They all know what they’re doing and bring a lot of experience teaching the fundamentals and that’s where we have to start. Every journey starts with a single step and we’re on the first single step right now as we begin this. Have a limited number of students and we have to do our very best to develop them physically, emotionally, spiritually as well as academically.

“We will probably struggle with wins and losses, but work hard to progress and instill the positive aspects of athletic competition. We want to win, we want to build competitive programs with kids who want to compete and scrap and play as hard as they can. But most of all we want to build character.

“First Corinthians 10:31 (3) says ‘Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ So whether its soccer or basketball or academics we will seek to do those things and give all the glory to God.”

The JV boys basketball team will be coached by Scott Jones, the girls volleyball squad will be coached by Dave Omtvedt, soccer by Lauren Marsh Brown, fencing by Byron Cobb and cross country by Amanda Holland. Cross country, fencing and soccer will be coed teams. The school does not have enough female basketball players to field a team but hopes to grow to the varsity level soon. The grade levels of the school recently expanded into the high school ranks so the sophomores this year will make up the historic first graduating class in 2016.

“Like everybody, we want the best for our kids,” Hauge, who has a daughter and son enrolled, said. “But just like everybody we have a budget and have to make tough choices. So we will also be depending on volunteers and generous folks to help us and the kids to get off to a good running start. We want everybody in the school to get excited and come out and cheer for our teams and our players.”

Hauge has been a golf coach and a baseball coach at Fairhope and Baldwin County High before taking on the task of chartering an athletic department for the new school.

“I feel called to do this,” he said. “I have been a member of Eastern Shore Presbyterian here for 13 years and my children attend here so, this is a lot more than a job to me and my family. It is an extended part of our family. Athletics has also always been a big part of my experience and now I feel blessed that here I get to emphasize all the contributions that athletics can make to our overall mission of Christian education.”

The coaches: Brown is a former soccer forward for the Jaguar women at the University of South Alabama and was an all-state, four-year starter and scoring standout for the Fairhope Lady Pirates where she recorded 157 career goals.

Cobb grew up in Mobile and attended UMS and while in college took up fencing and advanced to the instructor level in the sport. He is a member of and instructor in the Gulf Coast Fencing Association which host tournaments which the Bayshore fencers will compete in as individuals and as a club team. They will compete as a school team against schools in Baton Rouge, La., and New Orleans and possibly others.

A Georgia native and Florence, Ala., transplant, Holland is an avid runner and fitness trainer with several years of road-race and 5-K cross-country experience. She is also the school’s Run Club sponsor.

Jones, originally from Mobile and later southwest Florida, is a former college player at Morehead State University in Kentucky and Covenant College in Georgia with over 20 years coaching experience, including coaching at the collegiate level. He also has experience as a strength and conditioning coach.

Omtvedt is a long time volleyball coach at all age levels and is President of SoloSports Advanced Technologies which he founded in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area. He also invented the SoloSpike training device for the sport.

Hauge was also part of a new school experience as a student at Daphne High in the first graduating class. As a baseball player for DHS, he also recorded the first double ever hit by a Trojan and notched the first Run Batted In.

“So I’ve been thinking about that experience lately as far as what we’re doing here. Who’s going to be the first one to score a goal in soccer or who will be on the team that wins the first volleyball game? It’s just a fun little thing that the kids may not appreciate as much now, but will. I remember helping to build the dugouts there at Daphne and it was just a special time to be a part of. So I think the kids will always remember this year and we just hope to make it as special for them as we can.”

First athletic contests: The volleyball team is set to start their season at Central Christian in Robertsdale Aug. 16 and will christen their home gym Aug. 22 against Santa Rosa Christian Academy. They will host Central Christian Sept. 5. Matches start play at 4:30 p.m.

The soccer Eagles kick off on the road at Central Christian Aug. 16 and will host the CCS Saints Sept. 5. Those games start at 4:30 p.m.

For more on Bayshore Christian School, visit BayShoreChristian.org