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06/22/2020 12:00 AMBrendan Saunders will be helping shape athletic programs for his hometown as he assumes the mantle of athletic director for the Old Saybrook public school system this year. Saunders has lived in Old Saybrook his entire life and is a health and physical education representative for the school district’s instructional leadership team. Saunders has been a teacher in Old Saybrook schools for the past 17 years after growing up as a member of multiple Rams’ sports teams.
Saunders can’t wait to get started in his new role in a town where he has such deep roots. After representing the Rams as a captain of the football and baseball teams, and as a member of the indoor track squad, Saunders graduated from Old Saybrook in 1998 and headed to Springfield College in Massachusetts to earn a degree in movement and sports studies. Saunders graduated from Springfield in 2002, returned home, and garnered a spot as an assistant coach of the Rams’ football team with then Head Coach Steve Woods. All told, his coaching career includes softball and indoor track, as well.
“I’m an Old Saybrook lifer. I went to school here, taught here, coached here, and I live here. I played football, baseball, and indoor track while I was at Old Saybrook High School,” said Saunders. “Right out of college I was hired on at Saybrook. Steve Woods brought me on as assistant football coach. I’ve coached softball, and I also coached indoor track with Coach Pete Capezzone.”
Saunders had a solid playing career on the gridiron that extended into his college years at Springfield. Unfortunately, it was cut short due to injury. Thankfully, Saunders has found that his coaching experience helped him find similar fulfillment in a different way.
“I played two seasons of football at Springfield College before sustaining a back injury. It was difficult. I’ve had three back surgeries since I was 20, and I’ve had to limit what I can do physically in the weight room, running, and jogging,” Saunders said. “Coaching is a great way to get that itch out while not necessarily being physically able to do what you want to do.”
Saunders has a unique perspective that will offer distinct advantages in being an effective athletic director in that he has interacted with students at every academic level.
“I’ve taught health and physical education in Old Saybrook for 17 years. I’ve been at all three schools multiple times. I’ve taught physical education at every grade level in the district,” said Saunders. “The students that were in 8th grade this year, I had as preschoolers. I like to say they saw the full spectrum of Saunders.”
Part of Saunders motivation in pursuing Old Saybrook’s athletic director position was due to his close relationship with former athletic director Pat Burke. Now, Saunders will follow in the footsteps of one of his biggest role models.
“Athletic director has always been something I’ve been interested in,” said Saunders. “Pat Burke was a longtime athletic director and teacher at Old Saybrook. He’s always been a mentor to me, and I’ve always aspired to his position.”
Of course, with COVID-19 still a major concern worldwide, Saunders’s interview process was a bit unorthodox.
“I learned about the opening when it was posted, the same way everyone else did. With quarantine, it’s not like we were all talking in the hallways at the school,” Saunders said. “The entire interview process was done through Google Meet. I had some experience with that as a teacher. We had used Google Classroom since mid-March. It was definitely interesting answering questions like that instead of face to face.”
The challenges presented by the coronavirus haven’t ended after Saunders aced the interview. Any near-future athletics in the state will depend on how safe it will be for students, teachers, athletes, and fans to gather in any number. Saunders has been working diligently to seize every opportunity to safely get the proverbial ball rolling for Old Saybrook sports, with the caveat that things can change drastically depending on direction from the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the state in response to any emerging public health concerns.
“We’re following all the guidelines, and we’ll have to be super strict on social distancing and cleaning equipment after each use. The problem is everything is changing constantly. I like to plan everything out, but it’s hard to do that,” Saunders said. “You look at the problems that professional sports are having, and they practically have unlimited money at their disposal. We’re going to try everything we can to have sports in the fall.”
Saunders plans to be as much a facilitator in his role as athletic director as he will be a leader. He won’t be shy in looking for other voices to speak up in areas that are out of his expertise. Saunders hopes that will foster a cooperative atmosphere for everyone in the athletic community.
“The key for me is surrounding myself with the right people. If I want to start a new program—like diving for instance—then the first thing I have to do is get someone with a vast knowledge of diving on our team,” Saunders said. “That’s one of my strong points. I have no problem asking questions about things I’m not sure of. I think of myself as the bus driver, and I have to get the right people on the bus to get where we’re going.”
One destination on Saunders’s list of stops is the school district’s goal of achieving 100-percent participation in sports or other extracurricular activities. Participating in programs outside of solely academics can provide a richer experience for students and help to prepare for the demands of life after high school. Saunders believes his time as a student-athlete has played a huge role in his success as an educator.
“I think student-athletes learn to manage their time more effectively, especially people who play multiple seasons. You know you’ll be at the school three extra hours,” said Saunders. “You have to know when you’ll be able to do your homework, do your laundry, and so on. That’s helped me as a teacher, as a coach, and hopefully now as an athletic director.”
Saunders also hopes to bolster the athletic talent at the high school level through developing robust programs at younger grades in the district. A great example of that is the golf program that he recently helped start at the middle school.
“We recently started a golf club at the middle school with 10 to 15 middle school athletes. It was specifically for kids not on a spring team as a way to get more kids involved. That’s something we’re looking to expand on this year as well,” Saunders said. “Being a guy that has come up predominantly in the middle school programs, I know those feeder programs are so important to helping the sports get bigger at the high school level.”
All in all, Saunders hopes that he can help his students return to a normal high school experience safely in the near future. Of course, that will be dictated by how the current public health crisis plays out, but Saunders will do everything in his power to support his students the best he can.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing the kids and the athletes. I haven’t seen my students since mid-March. I’m looking forward to taking those baby steps,” Saunders said. “I want kids back in the building and on the fields. They miss their friends, and we have to get them socializing, as long as we can do it safely.”