By Coach Adam Manzo

Have vision.  Make decisions.  Take risks.  Motivate others.  Build teams.  Possess self-knowledge.  Display integrity.  Communicate effectively.  Help others succeed.  What do all of these have in common?  These are all characteristics of leadership. 

For some, leadership just comes naturally.  Others tend to be followers.  For the past three months, I have had the privilege to work out of the classroom with an outstanding young man with strong leadership abilities: Christian Coons. 

Having worked in Christian’s sixth grade class last year, I could tell from the beginning this young man was a natural leader, always willing to help out other classmates that were struggling.  Transitioning to a new school and new teachers is often a difficult time for students.  Christian was able to demonstrate his leadership skills early on in his Middle School career.  He was not only academically focused in the classroom, but he continued this with his participation in football, basketball, baseball, and wrestling. 

His teachers this year, Amanda Ruth and Deb Schowalter, describe Christian as being a conscientious, courteous, helpful, responsible, and mature young man.  They say he always puts forth his best effort and is a positive role model in their classes.

On the basketball floor, I saw many of the characteristics I mentioned in the opening come out in both practices and games.  I was also able to see that he possesses many of the same characteristics on the court that he does in the classroom. 

He was one of the hardest working individuals on the team, always looking for ways to better himself AND his team.  Christian would be the first to tell you that basketball is not his best sport, but he definitely puts in the time and effort and wants to make himself better and ultimately contribute to his team’s success. 

There was no “captain” on this team of seventh grade boys; but Christian was never one to shy away from being vocal.  He would get on his teammates to remain focused while coach was talking, encourage them when they were struggling with a drill, run sprints even when he did not have to, and rally his teammates when the team was behind.  The list could go on and on with this young man and unfortunately for me, I only get to see that on the basketball floor.

  As well as basketball, Christian is active in Little League, football, and wrestling.  Christian has been selected to the Little League All-Star team for the past three years.  He played linebacker and fullback for the senior football team which, like the Patriots, finished off an undefeated regular season only to fall in the second round of the playoffs.  He has been playing football for the past five years. 

For the past six years, he also has been competitively wrestling.  As a sixth grader, he wrestled for the Windham Middle School team and found it to be a rewarding and difficult experience.  He had to wrestle boys who were in seventh and eighth grade, which forced him to work harder and improve to keep up with the level of competition.  Christian managed to finish second in the New England Wrestling Tournament last year after a very tough loss that ended in overtime, 2-1. 

On top of all his athletic workload, Christian has achieved high honors for the first two quarters of this year and has been a scholar athlete since he walked through the doors of the Middle School.