VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Kempsville High School varsity baseball team named its new coach on Wednesday as it hopes for a new direction for a program that had to cut short its most recent season after allegations of racism came to light.
Luke Stice, who served as the school’s JV baseball coach, will now serve as the coach of the varsity baseball team.
“It’s a new chapter for sure,” Stice said. “I know Kempsville has a lot of good history. We’ll tap into that as well, but we’ve had some dark days here recently, and it’s all out there for everybody to know.”
Two months after its season ended early, the school is trying to move past it.
“I feel very proud and honored,” he said. “I know we have a lot of work ahead of us and I’m prepared for that.”
Stice said serving as the varsity coach is a role and sport he’s familiar with. While coaching the school’s JV team, he learned of the racism, hate speech and harassment claims, and said he was shocked.
“When it got brought to my attention, it was brand new to me,” Stice said.
Now, he wants to forge a future for this team, one players say they now look forward to being a part of.
“I’m pretty excited for the new coach to see what he’s gonna do with the team, the kind of bonding he’s going to do,” said Kempsville baseball player Terrance Davis.
Stice said there will be direct communication to tackle issues head-on.
“We need to get our trust back from the community,” he said. “Once we can do that and change this culture around, the wins and success will come.”
Their focus now goes to the upcoming fall season.
“The anti-harassment committee that’s on board, now we have a no toleration policy for anything in the future,” Stice said.
Fall tryouts will take place at the end of August, and then the team will have another meeting for parents and players to attend.
