It’s not every day that a player on the U.S. National Junior Table Tennis team decides to pick up a tennis racket and play for his high school team. 

But that’s what Mark Hsiao chose to do, and he’s never looked back. 

From the time that he played for the Americans as a young teenager to the time that he donned a Cottonwood jersey, Hsiao has fallen in love with the sport of tennis. 

So much so, in fact, that the Cottonwood alum has continued supporting the Colts as an assistant coach. 

On Dec. 8, however, Athletic Director James MacIntyre made the permanent move to hire Hsiao as Cottonwood’s boys head tennis coach after the previous coach stepped down. 

The veteran of 38 table tennis tournaments and nine leagues as a youth, Hsiao will now see if he can translate some of the skills he learned as a nationally ranked junior player to the tennis court. 

Cottonwood administration thinks the hire of Hsiao is one that is lateral, in function and in form. 

Hsiao’s goal as a Cottonwood head tennis coach is twofold, he said. One, to “continue the participation and success of the Cottonwood tennis program;” secondly, “Mentoring continuous improvement of our student-athletes day to day, on and off the court.” 

Boys soccer hires former Westminster assistant Dan Fergusson as its new head coach 

BryLee Harvest stepped down after several years in charge of the program.

Though it was tough to say goodbye Harvest, who resigned after several years in charge, the belief around the Cottonwood administration is that they got a great one in Dan Fergusson. 

Within minutes of the Colts team meeting ending, kids had already assembled at his urging, out on the stadium turf. 

At the end of this impromptu practice, videos had already been circulating about the new coach Fergusson’s methods, as he bounced from small group to small group, providing feedback that you would normally receive at a U.S. Olympic Development Program tryout. 

There is good reason to think this; Fergusson was at one time a staff coach at ODP, several years ago. 

Fergusson was last at Brighton High School as its sophomore head coach, and prior to that was at Westminster University as its assistant head coach. 

That makes Fergusson supremely qualified to take charge of a Cottonwood team that is dealing with another unique issue: name, image and likeness. 

Last year was the first year that the Colts had to deal with it on such a regular basis, and so they lost a handful of kids to other programs. 

Many of Cottonwood’s students live in boundaries that are highly coveted by other high schools in this free transfer era. The Colts under Harvest finished this past spring with a 3-12 record in Region 10 play, 3-15 overall and were eliminated in the first round of the 4A state soccer tournament. 

Bringing in someone like Fergusson is important, because he has specialized and unique qualifications, according to MacIntyre. 

“We are confident that under Dan’s leadership, the Cottonwood High School boys soccer team will excel and achieve great success in the coming seasons,” MacIntyre said.