Key West High School Fall Sports: A Conversation with Andrew Freeman

Andrew Freeman, Key West High School's Athletic Director, shares an inside look at the thriving sports programs and upcoming season for the Conchs. The conversation covers everything from their exciting football victory to the breadth of sports offerings and student participation.

• Football team secured a thrilling 35-34 win against Homestead with over 400 yards rushing
• The Van Carthon Preseason Classic honored NFL executive and Key West alum Ran Carthon
• Key West secured 8 home football games this season, reducing travel costs and increasing fan attendance
• Nearly half the student body (500-600 of 1350 students) participates in athletics
• Fall sports include football, volleyball, swimming, golf, and cross country
• Key West produced its first-ever four-sport athlete last year in Kieran Smith
• Volleyball program expanded to include freshman, JV, and varsity teams
• Swim coach Lori Bosco is beginning her 30th year leading the program
• Boys soccer won their first district tournament in 10 years last season
• The school maintains strong academic standards with many scholar-athletes maintaining 3.5+ GPAs

Join us at upcoming games to support these dedicated student-athletes. Follow Key West High School Athletics for schedules and updates on all Conch sports programs.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome with Andrew Freeman
• 0:45 Football Season Kickoff
• 4:33 Ran Carthon Weekend Celebration
• 6:18 Home Game Schedule Advantages
• 8:43 Coaching Staff & Officials
• 13:51 Fall Sports Overview
• 19:31 Student Athletes & Academic Success
• 22:51 Cross Country & Other Sports
• 30:01 Building Winning Programs
• 32:11 Looking Ahead & Closing

Transcript

Joy: 0:07

How we doing Cork fans. I got a good one for you. Today we're talking with Key West High School Athletic Director, andrew Freeman. Welcome to the show coach.

Andrew Freeman: 0:15

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Joy: 0:17

I know you're busy. The school year just started. I know the campus must be buzzing with all the student-athletes ready to make things happen on the field, so I appreciate you taking a little time.

Andrew Freeman: 0:27

It's no problem. I appreciate you and what you do for our kids and our community and the support you give our programs. It's awesome.

Joy: 0:34

For sure. Well, that's the whole point, right? I'm ready to get back into the stands and I want to know what's happening with fall sports so we can be out there cheering for them.

Andrew Freeman: 0:42

So, wherever you want to start.

Andrew Freeman: 0:45

Yeah, sports, so we can be out there cheering for them. So, wherever you want to start, yeah, we can start with the game. Last Friday we had Homestead down here and our kids made it a little exciting for us at the end, probably for the fans, not as exciting for us as coaches, but it's good for them to have some adversity early in the season, especially with you never know how the game's going to go, how the year's going to go. So for them to have some adversity and have to pull it back out, it's good for them and it's good for us as coaches to know what we're going to have throughout the year.

Joy: 1:11

I thought, well, maybe I'll leave, you know, by the fourth quarter. I could leave early. And then I look and I'm like, wait a minute, we got us a ball game right here. Thirty five to thirty four to 34.

Andrew Freeman: 1:21

Yeah, I wish we could have ended it like that and had everyone leave early, but you know, I think we were picked to lose 42 to 7. So our kids came in there with a little bit of edge. That's a big lopsided loss that someone put on us, and our kids took it to heart.

Joy: 1:41

I'm looking forward to the season because, like you say, it was a preseason game, and for them to come out there with a chip on their shoulder, I loved it. That offense was on fire, 400 yards rushing.

Andrew Freeman: 1:52

Yeah, I told Coach Hughes. You know we had I think it was 47 or 54 yards passing and if we would have just switched it we would have had 500 yards rushing and no passing yards. It's always good to get the ball in the air. Being a former quarterback, and especially in this offense, when you have a good offensive line and good running backs, it's going to be hard to throw the ball because you know why stop what's working.

Joy: 2:19

Absolutely, and they couldn't stop us that offensive line. I think I could have ran. You know, got a first down.

Andrew Freeman: 2:28

Yeah, offensive line, I think I could have ran, you know, got a first down. Yeah, that uh Ran was talking about the offensive line during the game and he was giving a shout out to Chaz Jimenez at some point and then he was saying that, uh, he thought he thinks this offensive line might be better than the one he ran behind. So that's a. It's a big, big uh shoes to fill there.

Joy: 2:43

Yeah, you could say that again. And it was Van Cartham preseason classic. It was our second year to honor him and he was able to be here in Key West for a few days and soak up the love and be around the kids and what an example he is to our young athletes. The sky's the limit.

Andrew Freeman: 3:02

Yeah, what a great opportunity for our kids and the whole school. He, you know, he came to the pep rally and for our kids to see that and be able to see that there there is the opportunity to go, do something like that and make it to the highest level, not only as a player, but, uh, to be the general manager of an organization and then be the I mean, he was the director of player personnel for 10 plus years. So what a person for our kids to look up to.

Joy: 3:27

I missed my chance to get my picture with him, but I got a hug. I want to give a shout out to Isha Osborne because I know she puts a lot of work into making the weekend special for him and the fans and I'm glad that the boys showed out and got him to win. I saw both you and him on the sideline. You know pointing, looking at the playbook and everything else. Once you're a football player, you're always a football player, right, coach?

Andrew Freeman: 3:50

Yeah, and that's funny. You say that because before the game I was like where he's, like where do I have to be? I said you can be wherever you want. If you want to be on the field, he goes. I don't know if I want to, I just wanted to let the players play and all this stuff. And then he gets down there and you know, once you get down there, your instincts just take over. He was letting the referees have it. He was letting our kids have it. It was awesome. Our kids enjoyed it. And for our kids to be able to talk to him during the game and then for him to see our kids play in person, it'll help them get recruited and go further in life. So it's it's awesome all the way around.

Speaker 4: 4:26

Key West versus Homestead Last second win, and thanks in part thanks to what's it called volunteer coach Ray Carthon. I saw you on the sidelines and your Jordans waving it hysterically like it was the Super Bowl, which it sort of was. How did that whole weekend go? Because it was a celebration of Rand, as far as I could tell.

Speaker 3: 4:43

Man, it was fantastic. You ran as far as I could tell, man, it was. Uh, it was fantastic. You couldn't ask for nothing better. Um, like you said, they named the kickoff classic, preseason kickoff classic. After me last year I obviously couldn't make it because I was with the titans and doing our preseason process, but, um, now I'm with Ryan Wilson and he gave me a off weekend to be able to go home. But it was my first time home in 10 years, a very long time. So it was great to be back home around everyone.

Speaker 3: 5:08

I grew up, like you said, we beat Homestead 35-34. So that's bragging rights, had over 400 yards on the ground, four rushing touchdowns. It was just cool. I got into the game, probably a little too much. There's a joke going around amongst my friend group down in key west that I was down there calling timeouts. Uh, during the game. No, but I was just into it and I was. I just so happened to be dressed the same as the coaches, so they didn't know if I was actually a coach on the staff or not. Um, I ended the game doing conk jacks with the team and in the middle of the team breakdown. But shout out to everyone in Key West. Shout out to my folks at Island Dogs Angela and Stevie. They took good care of us. Shout out to Andrew Freeman, the athletic director, johnny Hughes, the head coach, aisha Osborne. It was just a great weekend that they put together and it was just good to be back home around my people.

Joy: 6:18

We have a great home schedule. This year We've got eight more home games, if I look correct.

Andrew Freeman: 6:26

Yeah, we lucked out on that. So we had two district games away last year. So with football, you play one away, you play the next one home. So we got those two coming home with St Brennan and Miami Jackson and then we played home and home contract with Somerset Canyons and Berlin Jesuit last year and we played those two games away as well. So those are four home games right there.

Andrew Freeman: 6:47

Img they're a white team. They come down every year. They're actually being a second team. They're playing marathon Thursday night and then they're coming down to play us with the other team Friday and then the other teams just reached out and wanted to come down. I think that's the good thing about when you start winning and having good cultures down here with the fans and everything, that you get teams that usually don't want to come down. I mean, I think we have Alabama coming down for softball this year and they're ranked pretty. I think they're ranked top 10 in the country. So when you put together good seasons over and over, people start wanting to come down. It makes it a little easier to schedule home games.

Joy: 7:28

And for you as the athletic director, that takes some of the pressure off right.

Andrew Freeman: 7:33

Yeah, of course, you know, probably the biggest thing with being an athletic director is transportation and funds. So anytime we can have a home game and eliminate having transportation and having to put money out for transportation, it helps tremendously. With home games we still have to pay, we'll pay the refs and security if we have to, but just the whole playing at home, being in front of your fans, being in front of your parents Unfortunately, most of our kids' parents can't travel to the away games with work and everything. So being able to play at home is tremendous for us and our community.

Joy: 8:08

Well, the stands were packed last weekend. It seemed a good crowd. The other thing I love about a football game is you've got all the football players. You've got the band, the conk ass, the cheerleaders, the pep squad, so there's a couple hundred kids out there showing out right?

Andrew Freeman: 8:18

Yeah, that's what makes it fun. I was telling Rick Lopez the other day. I said when you hear the band and the drum line coming, you get a different feel. Your skin starts coming up and you're like it's football season, it's here, so we love it. And Mr Hernandez, he does a great job with our band and it's awesome. The atmosphere out there is incredible it really is special.

Joy: 9:02

I wanted to um you mentioned mentioned Coach Hughes. Who else is part of that coaching staff? I think he's got 14 years coaching now.

Andrew Freeman: 9:10

Yeah, this is his 14th year. He's the head coach. He does the offense as well. And then Dave Van Loon. He's a defense coordinator. He's been coaching with him for I'd probably say 11 of the 14 years. The other three he went over and was the HOB middle school head coach and then, once his son, roman, came over to the high school a couple years ago, he came back over um and what a smart, defensive minded guy he is he was a defense coordinator when I was here and he was a defense coordinator coach when I was a kid as a water boy.

Joy: 9:40

So he's been here a while and he does a great job you mentioned the officials um earlier and I thought they were a little happy with the flag. I don't know how many penalties there was, penalties I never even heard of. But much love to the officials. What I want to ask, I'll say that kindly Do we have enough officials? Because I know in recent years we've had problems having enough officials, not only football but basketball players for baseball, the whole thing. So where do we stand with officials? And if somebody wanted to learn how to become an official or reach out, how could they do that?

Andrew Freeman: 10:16

I think we're always going to have problems with officials down here just because it's so hard and it's so frequent. We have the same five to eight guys for football and I think it's been the same five or eight, honestly, my whole life. So we really appreciate them and I know everyone gives them a hard time. But I appreciate them Because if it wasn't for them we can't play the game Absolutely. But they're under the Monroe County Officials Association and Paul Rowe is the executor for that and I know he is taking anyone that wants to be an official.

Andrew Freeman: 10:51

He's helping them with the process of it and it's a hard thing because when we have to get officials to come from out of town then we have to pay for them to stay down here. It puts an extra amount of funds together that we wouldn't have if people down here were doing it. So you know you pay their official fee and that can be, depending on the game and how many officials we need. That can be anywhere from $200 to $1,000 just for a game and then for, let's say, baseball, we're playing a weekend, so you're doing that twice and then you're paying for a hotel room for two nights. So you're probably looking at close to $2,000 just in officials. That's when you have to pay for rooms and everything else, so it gets pricey.

Joy: 11:34

And that's another area of responsibility for the athletic director, right.

Andrew Freeman: 11:39

Yeah, it's another fun one.

Joy: 11:40

Yeah. So I'm sure you have a lot of people that are happy to you know give you suggestions on what how to do your job. But one person you might take advice from is your Tia Netta, who was the athletic director years ago.

Andrew Freeman: 11:56

Yeah, I get a bunch of stuff from her. She was the AD when I was here in school, so it's nice to be able to call her. I call Justin all the time, and then my uncle. He's also the athletic director up at university school in Fort Lauderdale, so I'm in his ear all the time. And then I was introduced with him to Lazaro Fernandez up at Bayland. He was at Gulliver for 10 plus years before that as AD. So I just have a great, I guess, crew you should say that I can call and ask questions to. So I'm very thankful for that. And Netta does a great job. She was my mentor last year, just being a new teacher, so I think I bothered her more than she wanted me to.

Joy: 12:38

I know she's happy to have you home, as we all are. I was going to ask you, so you're starting your second year as AD. What's?

Andrew Freeman: 12:46

something that you learned last year that you're glad you know. Coming in the year too, I'd say do everything a lot earlier than you think. You know, even being a week out of trying to plan stuff and put stuff together, you probably do a little bit earlier because you never know. Throughout the week and throughout each day, you never know what's going to pop up and what's going to need to be done. Um, you know, right now we have our banner sponsorships going, and so whenever anyone brings me a banner to put up wherever they they want, I go, take it and put it up. So I stop what I'm doing, make sure that's up for them. And so there's things that come up throughout the day, and if something happens with a student or an athlete and we need to get that taken care of, we get that taken care of right away. So anything I can do uh, ahead for myself, it always works out let me, let me ask you we have some other sports happening, right?

Andrew Freeman: 13:33

so our fall sports run from football, swimming, golf, cross country and volleyball. So our volleyball team went away last week for a little round robin at marathon. They played marathon cold shores. And then we start up. We go away friday and saturday last week for a little round robin at Marathon. They played Marathon in Coalshores. Then we start up. We go away Friday and Saturday this week for a tournament for both our varsity and JV. Then our swim team goes away Saturday for their first meet. Then next week our cross country and golf team will start. Next week we'll have all of our fall sports going. That's when all the fun starts. That's when we have one or two days a week where I don't have an event or I don't have a team going away. That's what makes this job enjoyable is the amount of games that these kids and coaches get to have. It's awesome to see them and their happiness from the kids, the coach, the parents. That's what makes this fun.

Joy: 14:24

It must be a very rewarding job. Let's talk about volleyball for a minute, because I saw they played last weekend. Like you mentioned, up at Coral Shores Is Kim Butler coaching again this year.

Andrew Freeman: 14:34

She is. She's back. I think this is on and off her ninth or tenth year. I know she took a little time as an assistant coach when Sarah took over and then last year she came back assistant coach when Sarah took over and then last year she came back and she does a great job with our girls. So getting her back last year was it was easy for me because it was one less I guess, sport you could say.

Andrew Freeman: 14:53

I had to worry about coming in the first time because I coached with her as the PE teacher at HOB so I knew I knew her, I knew what type of program she was going to run and she was the coach when I was here in school so I already knew what kind of program she had. And for her to want to step back in was a massive weight off my shoulder because we hired her within the first couple weeks I took the job. So it helped me out a ton for her doing that. She does a great job with our girls and she gets them ready to play and then they play their best volleyball probably towards the middle end of the season and hopefully that goes for all of our sports, the preseason games and the tournament that they had last week for football and volleyball. You're moving your players around and seeing what you have Exactly, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't work. So she does a good job at that.

Joy: 15:41

You mentioned HOB. Horst O'Brien Middle now has some athletic programs. They've got volleyball, they've got the football team. How do you think that's helping the transition for the athletes to high school and helping us to be competitive against some of these other schools?

Andrew Freeman: 15:58

I think it's helping a lot. For volleyball, for example, we had to add a freshman team this year. Ok, so we have three volleyball teams. We have a varsity JV and a freshman team, and that just goes to show you, like, just because they started the sport earlier now. So the girls are into it and they want to keep playing it and it's more accessible, you know, because other than that HOB team, the only volleyball you can play is through club and traveling. So the HOB sports itself it does a good job for our programs and what's nice about it is you can show them what we're doing at the high school, coaching wise and scheme wise, so that they can start doing it at HOB. So when they get to the high school they know what they're doing. So they kind of become feeder programs for the high school.

Joy: 16:44

Exactly, I lived in Texas for a short time and even Pop Warner football they run some of the same plays as high schools. So the kids learn how to execute those plays early on.

Andrew Freeman: 16:57

Yeah, when I was coaching up in Tennessee for the football team up there at the McMinn County High School, our coaching staff ran the middle school program as well. So we did our varsity football and JV football practices and then right after we had our middle school practices so we ran through all the football teams. They ran same offense defense, they had the same practice schedule. So when they got to us at the high school they already knew what we were doing, they knew how everything was going to be ran, they knew the practice schedule. I mean it was nice to have that set up to, where the kids knew what they were doing and knew what to expect, not just as a program but from us as coaches as well.

Joy: 17:34

For sure. You mentioned the swim team. I think I read recently an article Joey Cook did that the swim team is starting its 30th year under Lori Bosco.

Andrew Freeman: 17:44

Yes, that is correct. But I mean, what do you say about that? That's 30 years of complete dedication, right there.

Joy: 17:53

And Coach Wise was telling me that he coached. You know, he's coached many sports. He's still involved with football and he was saying helping her coach. The swim team was one of his favorite positions.

Andrew Freeman: 18:07

Yeah, I did see. He said that that's interesting.

Joy: 18:11

A state champion recently, in 2022. He had AJ Smith and there's girls and boys on the swim team right.

Andrew Freeman: 18:19

Yeah, so we have a girls and boys swim team and Lori does a fantastic job. Obviously she's been doing it for for 30 years and she knows what she's doing it. It just goes to show you the hard work she put in for 30 years. Yeah, the kids go out there and they then you talk about those feeder programs and stuff, but that first day those freshmen step out to the swim I guess you say the pool over at the college. They know what they're getting into and she does such a great job with those kids. It's fun. I went to my first swim meet last year.

Joy: 18:49

I've never been to a swim meet. I might have to go. Is there a place for fans to watch?

Andrew Freeman: 18:53

Yeah, there is a place for fans to watch it. It was enjoyable, I got into it, and it's exciting, you know, for the kids to see myself and Ms Palomino out there cheering them on and showing up for them. It was worth it.

Joy: 19:11

You mentioned the kids.

Andrew Freeman: 19:12

Do you have an idea of how?

Joy: 19:12

many students participate in sports.

Andrew Freeman: 19:13

Last year we were right around anywhere from 500 to 600 athletes. So we have about 1340, 1350 students at the school, so a little bit of half of that are athletes at the school and you know, with us being so small, most of those athletes are playing multiple sports, which is what's so great. Last year we had Kieran Smith. He was the first four sport athlete QS High School has ever had.

Joy: 19:46

Wow, I missed that.

Andrew Freeman: 19:49

Yeah. So he swims, plays soccer and then he plays lacrosse. And then last year he came up to Coach Perkins and I asked if he can go run track. You know, we got together and we talked with Coach Alberto, the lacrosse coach, and as long as it worked out with them as coaches, I was like, yeah, you can go do it. So he made history last year. I made sure of that. When I asked Coach Wise, our historian, if there's ever been one, he said no. So Kieran does a great job For a kid like that. You know he holds a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He's vice president or president of the senior class, he's involved with everything and for him to go out there and play four sports is incredible.

Joy: 20:28

That is really special, one of the things I was going to mention. You know, here in Monroe County we recently heard that we're an A school district. The academic rigor in Monroe County is legit. What do you think? You are a student athlete. How do you think playing sports helps students succeed in the classroom?

Andrew Freeman: 20:46

Well, it helps them with the discipline of life and the discipline of sports takes more of it, puts more on you as a person. I mean you know you got to be on time, like all the penalties we had Friday night. That's just it was undisciplined, jumping off sides. You know you fix that during the week. So those kids are learning. You know you jump off sides, you get a five yard penalty and your team gets hit for it. So you take that into life and you take that into school and you miss an assignment in class, you get a zero. You're great false.

Andrew Freeman: 21:15

You know, last year we had we give out a scholar athlete awards for students that hold a 3.5 or higher GPA just during the season and we had to order three extra sets of them. So I mean it's awesome for our kids to take it into the classroom. Our coaches do a really good job pushing the kids in the classroom because the NCAA is pushing the GPA up higher and with the way the college is right now with COVID transfers and NIL, the higher the kid's GPA right now it's easier for the colleges to take them.

Joy: 21:50

Going back to you being an athlete and knowing what it takes. You earned a college scholarship and played at the next level. What wisdom do you have to share with the student athletes who are very enthusiastic and energetic at the beginning of the season? What do you say to them to help them sustain that enthusiasm and energy throughout the entire season?

Andrew Freeman: 22:13

Yeah, you know, honestly, it comes in different forms for all the kids and you have to start, you have to learn how to feel the kids out and you have to figure out what makes them go. When I was coaching in Tennessee, I think this is where I started to start feeling kids out and you have to figure out what. What makes them go. Um, when I was coaching in tennessee, I, I think this is where I started to start feeling kids out a little bit more and it it kind of works for anyone that's a real competitor.

Andrew Freeman: 22:33

They think you know everyone has good games, but not everyone needs to know they had a good game, because you can always do a little bit better, you can always play a little bit more, but just because you scored three touchdowns doesn't mean you couldn't score another one. Or just because you scored three touchdowns doesn't mean you didn't miss a block. So you know you got to hold the kids accountable, even though they played great. Sometimes they need to hear it, sometimes they don't. So I think that's what, that's what pushes them. They want to, they want to get your your, to tell them that they did a good job at the end of the day, and they'll keep working towards that.

Andrew Freeman: 23:06

Most of the kids I see throughout the day and then when I get out to practice, the first thing I ask them is how their day is going, because you don't want to just get out there and start yelling at kids or getting on the kids if you don't know what happened to them throughout the day, whether it's at home, whether it's at school. If they didn't eat anything, why are you in a bad mood? Can we get you something to eat or drink? You know there's a whole list of things that goes into it and it's just feeling the kids out and seeing what you can do to help them become a better person.

Joy: 23:36

That's good stuff, coach, you mentioned cross country. When I think about cross country running, I think about the kids running in the woods. Where do they do cross country around here?

Andrew Freeman: 23:46

We're lucky enough that the golf course lets us put up a track around the course. We go out there, our coach and some volunteers go out there and they set the course up and we run at the golf course early in the morning and we're done before the first people tee off for the day. So we're in and out of there early in the morning. So most of our meets are away. They run at local parks in Miami. So it's definitely a sport I wouldn't have gotten into. I tell Coach McGraw that all the time.

Joy: 24:21

I wouldn't have gotten into. I tell Coach McGraw that all the time I wouldn't have picked that either, but that's one of those sports that you learn how to run in high school and it's a lifelong sport. You can stay with it.

Andrew Freeman: 24:31

Yeah, I think that's why a lot of people do it. We had two great girls last year that made it to the state finals and Coach McGraw did a great job with them. So you know those two. They set the bar for our kids and we have a great group of young ninth graders that are coming in, so hopefully they follow in their footsteps and they can compete at that level.

Joy: 24:53

I can't help but think about Mr John Welsh, who we lost in July. He was a longtime educator in Monroe County, most of the time spent at QS High as an assistant principal and a principal, and he was an avid runner. He ran marathons all over the world and when I think about track and cross country I can't help but think about him. So maybe we'll have an angel watching out for the kids.

Andrew Freeman: 25:15

Yeah, it's an angel watching out for our kids for sure, there's no doubt about that.

Joy: 25:20

What about? Is tennis one of the fall sports?

Andrew Freeman: 25:22

Tennis is a spring sport.

Joy: 25:24

Okay.

Andrew Freeman: 25:25

They get going, they get going Same time baseball, softball, lacrosse and track and the state keeps moving everything up. So once we get done with Christmas break or winter break, spring sports start.

Joy: 25:36

Do you think that pickleball will become a high school sport?

Andrew Freeman: 25:40

I'm not sure. I know we got kids at the school that want to start a pickleball club, so there's kids that want to play. They come up to me all the time asking if we can start a club so it might make its way there. We'll see.

Joy: 25:51

Last year we went to one of their away games St Thomas and there was flag football girls flag football playing. I was talking to one of the referees and he had told me he just drove from Miami calling another game and that girls flag football is really big up on the mainland. Have you had any discussion about making that a sport here in Monroe County?

Andrew Freeman: 26:12

Yeah, we'd love to. It's hard. You go back to the amount of kids we have that can participate in a single sport in that season and at the state meeting this year they were talking about maybe moving flag football to a fall sport. If they did that, I think we would be able to carry flag football for the girls. Actually, I think it's one of the fastest growing sports in America right now, so it's growing everywhere. If they moved it to the fall, we definitely have it.

Joy: 26:45

That's interesting, right, because we have a lot of our girls that play softball and are in track in the Springs. Yeah, maybe the timing of it. I was curious if the Junior Football League was going to do flag football for girls. I know there's a tournament sometime in the spring that the city does for flag football.

Andrew Freeman: 27:00

Yeah, I think. So I know we have a few girls at the high school that play in those tournaments, so I think it'd be a great sport for us and if the state moved it to the fall, we'd definitely be able to have it here at the school.

Joy: 27:12

Is golf a fall sport?

Andrew Freeman: 27:14

Yeah, golf's off and running. Our head coach is Josh Bassett. Last year was the first year I met him. He did a great job last year with our kids and he's just continuing that. We have a great group of boys and girls out there that he runs and those kids are ready to go. It's funny because they got to carry their bag. You go golfing and you think you uh drive the golf cart around and everything the.

Andrew Freeman: 27:41

The state, the FHSAA, doesn't allow you to do that, so our kids have to carry their bags or put them on the rolling cart and drag them behind them. But he does a great job. Out there. It's hot, it's muggy. Our golf course holds water, so it's mosquitoes and iguanas chasing him around I do not. I went golfing on a company trip and, uh, it did not go well, so I don't know I went to the driving range one time and I just kept shanking everything to the right.

Joy: 28:16

It was like I was trying to hit a home run and my.

Andrew Freeman: 28:21

My baseball swing does not go over to a golf swing. Any good it's, it's not good so, coach, you play multiple sports.

Joy: 28:28

I know you play football and baseball. Obviously I heard you on the track team I did.

Andrew Freeman: 28:34

I ran track for a year with coach perkins. It's probably his most favorite year he's ever had coaching here.

Joy: 28:40

I'll have to ask you, I'll have to ask him about that.

Andrew Freeman: 28:42

He'll probably tell you it was his worst year. No, no, no. I tried out for the basketball team one year. I made the team, I was coming off shoulder surgery and it was going into baseball season, so I ended up not playing and I just focused on baseball after that.

Joy: 28:59

You mentioned injuries. Our athletes now seem so much more sophisticated, right with the nutrition and the weight lifting, but I also see them getting injured a lot. So like where's the balance? I mean, injuries happen with sports, but do you think there's such thing as too much playing time?

Andrew Freeman: 29:20

I think it just depends on the sport and what you're doing. You can do too much of anything. I can sit here in the office for too long, you know.

Joy: 29:27

Good point.

Andrew Freeman: 29:28

So it just depends on how you use your body and how you take care of it. There's so much information in today's world that our kids can look up and see any type of rehab, any type of nutrition. How can you get your body back to 100%? And then you know, we finally hired a trainer and I think that's going to help us prevent injuries. A ton John here. He's going to do a great job with our kids and take care of our kids and we're excited to have him. But as far as our coaches go, I think they do a good job of getting our kids ready and putting them in to have them. But as far as our coaches go, I think they do a good job of getting our kids ready and putting them in the best positions in the off season and the preseason.

Joy: 30:09

So one of the things that I'm often curious about is some sports we play marathon and coral shores, and some sports we don't. How's that work? I wasn't sure if it was the size of the school or if it was the sport. It's a don't. How's that work? I wasn't sure if it was the size of the school or if it was the sport.

Andrew Freeman: 30:21

It's a little bit. It's a little bit of everything. You know, basketball has always been one that we play them in but, you know, whenever we can play them and they can play us, it's a great atmosphere for our kids. I was never able to play marathon, any sport in high school, so I can't speak on playing in that atmosphere but being can't speak on playing in that atmosphere, but being a student and going to the basketball games and sitting in the student section, we had a great time when we played Marathon and Coral Shores.

Joy: 30:45

I got to interview Coach Joey Gonzalez to the baseball program there at Marathon and I know he wouldn't mind doing some kind of showcase or something like that where the baseball programs could meet. I know as a fan I would love to see Marathon and Coral Shores play, even if we didn't play against each other, but have some kind of opportunity, a showcase, to be able to see some of the other athletes in the Keys, because I think we have a lot of really good athletes here.

Andrew Freeman: 31:14

Yeah, we do. I think the whole county itself last year had a great year for athletics all around. Marathon's basketball teams had a great season, their baseball team had a great season, coral Shores baseball team had a great year. Their football team had a great year. So you know we just build off that and you got to support everyone in the school district and the county. You know, at the end of the day there's only three schools down here, so we try to take care of each other as much as we can. Lance does a great job at Marathon and Ed does a great job at Coast Shores. So you know, whatever we can do to help each other out, we do. I'm excited for their success and I know they're excited for ours. I hope they have great years this year for all their sports and we can all have another great year and all of us can make more runs in the playoffs and hopefully make it to the state tournament some of our sports.

Joy: 32:05

That sounds real good to me. I'm ready, I'll put gas in the car and let's ride I'm ready too.

Andrew Freeman: 32:11

We, we have. Uh, I was talking to coach mcdonald up marathon he he does some of the keys weekly stuff and I was telling him that we should have a for our athletic, athletic programs this year. We should have a really good year. Most of our programs are filled with juniors and seniors and those kids have been playing since they were freshmen, so we got three to four years of experience all around. You know, our soccer team won district tournament last year for the first time in 10 years for the boys, and then we only lost one player. So we have that whole team coming back boys, and then we only lost one player. So we have that whole team coming back.

Andrew Freeman: 32:42

Coach paul's got the girls soccer team going that we were young last year, so we're going to be experienced there. So, and then our james osborne, he's gonna, he's gonna lead us on the basketball court for the boys, and then our baseball team we're hoping to make another run, as well as softball, and then we're pushing. I mean we're pushing to win district tournaments and then I think that should be like one of the the smaller goals our programs have is a district tournament and then we'll, we'll, we'll begin to push to regional championships and then state championships after that. Winning the small stuff first and winning each game each week, and then you, you, just keep going. Sometimes it's got to end at some point, but you'd rather end with a W than a loss.

Joy: 33:21

Yeah, absolutely. That last game is like an abrupt stop. It's like you go through this mourning and grieving process.

Andrew Freeman: 33:29

I mean, you're going to grieve anyway.

Joy: 33:31

Yeah, we can't. We can't get enough of it and I say go ahead and order you a new trophy case, fill that trophy case up, get you some state championships and, I agree, the district championships. That should be the standard, right? That's just what we expect. And then we just keep building from there. Well, coach, I appreciate you taking time. I know it's a busy time of year, with school just starting and everything. It sounds like the future's bright for Key West High School sports. I hope that you'll come back and talk to me. Maybe in a couple months we'll do a season check-in and see how everything's going.

Andrew Freeman: 34:07

Yeah, we'll get on that, and then we'll start talking about our winter sports a little bit.

Joy: 34:12

All right, that sounds good. Let those coaches know that I'm going to be calling.

Andrew Freeman: 34:15

I will Thank you.

Joy: 34:16

All right, coach Go Conks. I'm Joy Nulish and I appreciate you tuning into my podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, drop a review, share and subscribe, because there's a lot of good stuff on tap. You can find more joyful content on YouTube, the socials or check my website at joynulishcom. Now go, surround yourself with the things that bring joy to your world. Until next time, much love.