'Good Sports' column makes weekly debut with Cape Central AD

Cape Girardeau Central athletic director Tyson Moyers poses for a photo in his office Monday at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

BEN MATTHEWS

Good Sports is a weekly Thursday feature that will appear in the Southeast Missourian, as well as online at Semoball.com. It will profile the life of a person connected to sports and allow our readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way.

Today: Cape Girardeau Central athletic director Tyson Moyers speaks with Southeast Missourian sports reporter Jeff Long.

Where is home for you?

I'm from Chaffee, grew up there and as an adult, coached and taught in the Chaffee schools for 16 years.

I was Chaffee's AD for six years until coming to Cape on July 1. I'm 42 and my wife Jenny and I live in Gordonville with our two children, Josie, 5, and Moses, who will be 3 on Oct. 17.

What is your sports background?

In high school, I ran track and played basketball.

In my coaching life, I did the same things. Coached girls and boys basketball and in track and field, my focus was sprints, relays and jumps.

I played no sports in college. Got a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Southeast and then a master's in athletic administration.

Who has influenced you professionally?

That's a long list but it starts with Terry Glenzy. He's a legend in Chaffee. Glenzy coached me in junior high and was Chaffee's AD for 30 years. Terry also hired me as a coach, I owe him a lot both in the job and in life. Lance Tollison (Moyers' immediate predecessor as Central AD) was a huge help in the transition this summer. How much more room do you have in the newspaper? (CHS principal) Nancy Scheller has been great, so has (CHS boys basketball coach) Drew Church. Mark Strickland, the booster club president, is amazing. The most helpful person professionally, right now, is my administrative assistant, Anitra Armbruster. She is amazing at her job. Tollifson told me to keep Anitra happy. I'm trying.

Why did you come to Cape Central?

A couple of reasons but to be candid, I wouldn't be in this job if it wasn't for my son, Moses. Moses has Down Syndrome. He has so much to overcome and he does it every day. I began to think that if Moses doesn't limit himself, why should I? My wife also encouraged me to think outside the box. You have to understand that I thought I'd be a (Chaffee) Red Devil my whole career. But this was a good time to consider a change. I saw Lance (Tollison) at a conference and he told me he was retiring. The (Central) job intrigued me. I started to wonder what I could do at Cape with the facilities and all the amenities that come along with the position, The timing seemed right, my wife was on board, and I had the example of my son. Plus we already lived in Cape County so we were pretty close.

Are you considering adding any sports at Central?

We're in just about every MSHSAA (Missouri State High School Activities Association) sport right now. We've got 17 in all. To get to your question, we have boys' golf but we don't have it for girls. But we are considering golf for the ladies. There is some interest in starting a program but there's a process we have to follow. We have to look at budget, sustainability, can we get a golf course for girls we can call our own, are the students interested, stipends, and travel expenses. We're going to do a survey because there are some people in town who would like to see it. But it has to be done carefully. Kelly High added football awhile back but it was a long road to get that sport established there. But it's going well. Doniphan recently added varsity football. Football, which Central has had forever, is a different animal. Football requires a lot of a school's resources, all of them necessary to be successful -- equipment, coaches, commitment, the field, there's a long list of factors to consider before you add. Here's the thing about football. Once that sport becomes entrenched in a community. It becomes part of the fabric of a town. Football is cultural.

What is your philosophy as AD?

Everyone wants to win. Winning is a goal but it is not the purpose of an athletics program. I'm more concerned that we teach life lessons to student-athletes. A coaching staff can make a huge difference in the life of a teenager. Enforcing appropriate discipline. Telling the student to be on time. If we are doing the right things in improving the lives of young people, I believe we will win. I also want to show our students how to give back. All of our coaches have been challenged to develop service projects. Now, the student-athletes select those projects. If they pick them, they'll be more interested in doing them. We've got to lead them, though, in instilling a sense of service. Our football and basketball teams helped unload some mattresses recently. That's just a small way that we're showing the kids in our care what it means to give back. Here's a concrete example of what I'm talking about. Coach (Kent) Gibbs' football team won 36-0 (over Poplar Bluff) last Friday night. My question as athletic director is - did those young men learn any lessons in victory? And what do they learn when they lose? Life lessons, always.

What do volunteers mean to an athletics program?

Our All-School Booster Club does thankless work -- but thank heaven they do. They don't get to watch the game because they're working. They raise money for various projects and not necessarily for athletics. Some of the funds they've raised have gone for the scholar bowl or for sewing machines. The football moms provide meals for the players. By their actions, they teach service for anyone paying attention, as I hope our kids are. We need to show student-athletes to serve rather than to be served.