WISCASSET

When Mandy Lewis was on the sideline last fall coaching here Yarmouth Clippers high school field hockey team, she wasn’t considering becoming an athletic director or a vice principal.

In the time after her team’s playoff loss to Mountain Valley Conference member Lisbon, the wheels began turning for the former

Bonny Eagle student/athlete, Mt. Ararat assistant field hockey coach and varsity head coach.

Lewis took a leap of faith, and it paid off as she is the new athletic director/vice principal of Wiscasset High School.

“I was drawn to this position because it is both an athletic director and vice principal position. After my years at Yarmouth, I was ready to take on a leadership role and bring my skills to Wiscasset. I will still have one foot in athletics, which is what I wanted after being a coach. It gives me a chance to help those athletes and also be a school leader as a vice principal.”

The AD position also includes leading the middle school athletic program at Wiscasset. However, come those first practices, Lewis will watch as her Wolverine coaches lead their teams into competition.

“It was a hard decision to make when I pursued this position, knowing that I wouldn’t be coaching, something I have done for 14 years in education. It will be strange come August that I won’t be on the field with the athletes, and I will miss that.”

Lewis, who lives in Brunswick with wife Amy, a counselor at Lisbon, and 18- month old son Anderson, realizes the challenges at Wiscasset. Enrollment numbers have changed the landscape at the home of the Wolverines, with sports like boys lacrosse eliminated a few years ago and golfers joining up with Morse at Bath Golf Club.

Just this past spring, numbers were so low in baseball and softball that an injury or two might have been enough to cause Wiscasset from losing another sport or two.

“Across the state students are not doing athletics and the numbers are declining. We have to combat that for the health and well-being of all students. We need to make athletics fulfilling for students and let them know there is more that just the classroom experience.

“We do have one golfer who will play with Morse, and I am still trying to get a sense of how many athletes will be competing across the board. We will have dual athletics in cross country and soccer, and I am still in the process of hiring a cross country coach.”

However, Lewis is excited about the prospect of leading the Wolverines into this next phase. After taking over for former Wiscasset athletic director Nate Stubbert, Lewis discovered the behind the scene challenges of running an athletic program, along with touching base with coaches, both at the high school and middle school levels.

“Behind the scenes work that goes on consumes much more of my time then it did as a coach. I can’t wait for school to start so there are more students around.”

The challenges at a small school like Wiscasset are immense. Lewis hopes to establish successful programs and athletes at the middle school, leading to hopeful success and better numbers once those student/ athletes advance to high school.

“Growth in the middle school is essential, and as a former coach you need to make sure the sport is being built in the middle school. The kids in middle school get excited, and they hopefully carry that into high school.”

Lewis has spoken to the coaches she will work with daily.

“There are dedicated coaches here that are dedicated to the community and leading those teams to success. The coaches have been very welcoming and they have their athletes best interest in mind. They are here to help those student/athletes succeed and help the program to grow.”

Another issue Lewis hopes to fix is stability in the athletic department. Over the past five years, the position has been filled four different times, the last two being Stubbert and Sarah Ricker. Also, with a young son at home, time management is always a challenge for an athletic director.

“It can be hard to maintain a successful program when different people are coming in. But, my hopes are to assist them and to be in this position for a long while, knowing that I can be part of the fabric here.

“I am lucky that my wife is also an educator, and we make sure that we are together as a family as much as we can be. Anderson has been to the schools, and they will be on the sidelines as much as possible. We know that the job is time consuming, something we were aware of when we took the position.”

Wiscasset competes in the always difficult Mountain Valley Conference. Lewis’ Yarmouth squad played in the Western Maine Conference, but did face Lisbon last year in the field hockey playoffs, with the Greyhounds knocking off her Clippers. This led to a bit of a rivalry in the Lewis household, with Amy holding Lisbon roots.

“Lisbon knocked us out of the playoffs last year, so that is a fun rivalry between Amy and I. The Mountain Valley Conference is new to me, but is a group of schools that has some great competitions back and forth. You never know what to expect. It is competitive and we have to be ready. I am excited to be part of the Wolverines!”

The fall sports season kicks off for Lewis and the Wolverines on Aug. 15 with the first practices for Wiscasset soccer and cross country.