Student Life

Brady Baildon started coaching basketball while he was still in high school. After school once or twice a week, he taught four and five year olds how to dribble the ball, pass, and shoot. “It was a lot of craziness and fun,” he says, smiling. Brady continued coaching through university – basketball summer camps, skills workshops – and was later excited to coach at schools where he taught. Now at KIS, Brady teaches middle school social studies and coaches high school junior varsity basketball.

Coaching makes sense to Brady. He grew up watching his father and grandfather coach a variety of sports and for one season, was on his father’s basketball team. The court is a great place to connect with students and challenge their development. Being part of a team requires cooperation, perseverance, and willingness to learn from failure. 

“Development is a lifelong process,” Brady says. He played basketball on high school and college teams and now plays in a recreational league. “At each level I’ve continued to grow and develop certain parts of my game,” he says. Brady coaches players to prepare them for the next level of competition while also instilling a lifelong love for the game.

A positive new experience creates great energy! JV cheer coach Annie Sandoval establishes an inclusive space for her athletes to explore and improve their cheerleading skills. “That is the junior varsity concept,” Annie says. “We want students to try a new activity and we support students at their skill level.” The goal is to finish the season with a stronger skill set – and to foster community. 

Those two goals are connected. Annie is proud of the enthusiasm the cheerleaders bring to practice and competition. They encourage each other, recognizing the interdependence of the sport and knowing that their relationships and communication strengthens their individual and team performance. 

For Annie, coaching is a new experience but also a natural next step. Her dance background informs how she coaches cheer. “I wasn’t a traditional athlete,” Annie says. “I danced because I appreciate the art.” The athleticism of dance echoes in the strength, rhythm, and timing required by cheer and Annie emphasizes the body-mind connection in movements, coaching cheer athletes to develop spatial awareness and coordination. Muscle memory is amazing which is why revising movement is a challenge. 

But we appreciate challenges too! Annie invites athletes to expect improvement, empowering their sense of possibility. And the confidence of an athlete who recognizes their own growth is absolutely worth cheering.

As a child, Lucas Vu was afraid of the water but his parents viewed swimming as a survival skill and enrolled him in lessons. By middle school, Lucas trained in the pool daily, perfecting his strokes. Lucas competed as a swimmer and water polo player for the national team during university where he studied environmental engineering and management. 

"Sometimes you may not know you like something until you try it,” Lucas says. For him, the first something was swimming. And then, coaching. When his water polo coach tapped him to be assistant coach, Lucas decided to give it a shot. Soon he began teaching swimming and water safety. As the KIS aquatic coordinator, Lucas believes that water safety is an essential skill and that even timid swimmers can learn to be safe around and in water without support. More than a decade later, he continues to appreciate the fun and challenge of teaching and coaching swimmers. 

Lucas coaches with empathy for his athletes. He remembers the struggle of his own early competition days that helped him understand the crucial balance of physical, mental, and social-emotional wellness. Now Lucas coaches KIS swimmers to prioritize their individual well-being and develop healthy team relationships. Camaraderie is essential. As he says, “We are about the whole team.”