When the freshman girls who play basketball made the move to high school, they didn’t come alone. Coach Kody Smith came to the high school with them.

Smith is the new coach of the freshman girls basketball team, assistant coach to the girls track program, physical education instructor and World Geography teacher. Since making the move from Canyon Junior High to the high school, Smith has plenty of positive things to say about his change of pace.

“The new school is great,” Smith said. “I’m really enjoying myself, and I’m really enjoying being up here with a little bit of the older kids, just because they are a little more mature and responsible. Obviously, the coaching aspect of it is very good, since there is more competition and there are playoffs.”

Smith said his time spent working at Canyon Junior High School has impacted him tremendously as a coach, teacher and person.

“My time at the junior high has helped me mature,” Smith said. “As a young man coming out of college, the first job you have is always going to be a little bit of a challenge, but the junior high really helped me realize all the things about teaching that I didn’t know. Once I got a couple of years under my belt, I got comfortable with what it was that I needed to do, and I became a better teacher.”

As a more experienced and knowledgeable coach, Smith said he does have a planned course of action to guide his teams to victory.

“Every day, we work on new skills and focus on becoming better players, and once the season starts, we’ll incorporate that – as well as the team aspect – of going through our plays and making sure we have everything down,” Smith said. “We always aim to play at a high level so that we can get to that next step.”

Smith says that he is glad to be working with such gifted students, and he is grateful that he gets to teach what he loves to the students of Canyon High.

“I really enjoy being around kids,” Smith said. “I love to see kids understand what it is I’m teaching, and I also love to see kids achieve victory in athletics.”