Cahawba Christian Academy Kicks Off the Year with Dynamic New Staff Additions
By Sheila Duncan
Reporter
New Head Coach – John Harris
Cahawba Christian School is thrilled to announce the start of a new academic year with the addition of new staff member, Head Coach John Harris. This year’s hire brings experience, innovative ideas, and a shared passion for fostering academic excellence and spiritual growth within the student body.
This new staff member joins an already dedicated team, enhancing Cahawba Christian’s commitment to providing a nurturing and challenging educational environment. Each new hire brings unique skills and fresh perspectives that will undoubtedly contribute to the school’s mission of cultivating well-rounded, Christ-centered individuals.
John Harris will be Coach for the Chargers Football Program and is happy to be the new head coach for Cahawba Christian. John is from Montevallo and is currently living and working in Brent. John is married to his best friend, Tara and attend and are members of Consuming Fire Church in Brent. Together they have 4 wonderful children. John is a full-time employee for the Bibb County Commission/Road Department where he is the Superintendent over the road crew. He plans and implements all county road maintenance work and supervises a crew of 13 men and women.
Beyond his work that he does for the county, he has always participated in and loved sports. John graduated from Montevallo High School in 1999 and while in school he played football, participated in Track, 400-meter shot put disc and weightlifting. Coaching and mentoring has always been a passion of John’s. John has had experience in playing and coaching football. In 2009 He was able to Begin living his dream of playing football where he played right tackle for the Birmingham Wildfire. 2010 he played right tackle for the Alabama Warriors for 2 seasons. 2012 he played for the Birmingham Blaze, 2013 he was drafted to play in the AFL for the San Jose Saber Cats in California, 2017 to 2018 he played right guard for the Selma City Vikings and retired in 2018 to coach. From 2019-2020 John was Offensive Line Coach for the Alabama Wolfpack. In 2021 he was Assistant Coach and Defensive Coordinator at Cahawba Christian Academy and 2022 Offensive Line Coach for Alabama Steele.
John said, “Rebuilding a team is a passion of mine. Nothing is handed to you. If you want something bad enough you can work for it and earn it. Iron sharpens Iron. While playing semi pro football, I would make a point of signing with a team that needed me. I would research and find teams that had trouble winning. The trouble came from team members not working together and not being a family. With my skill level and the power of God and making God 1st and the team 2nd we would end up improving and playing for the championship at the end of the season. Even in losses all glory would be given to God.”
When asked John what his goals were for the football program on and off the field, John’s answered, “I am excited to be Head Coach of Cahawba Christian this year. I will teach these young men to put God first, to work hard, to be humble and to never give up. I will also prepare them to play at the next level in ball and in life. I will teach them to be a family who watches out for and takes care of each other. If God is always first before everything else, then anything is possible. One of the verses that I live by is Philippians 4:13, ‘I can do all things through him who gives me strength.’ I implement this into my daily life and teach this attitude to my players. We may not be able to do something on our own. We may not have the strength or the knowledge on our own but with God all things are possible. If we put God first and work together as a family, watching out for each other and encouraging each other to work toward being better today than yesterday then we can do anything. In doing that, even if we lose, we have won. In character and in the heart. This carries over to the rest of our lives in school and relationships and in our work lives in school and relationships and in our work lives. My main goal is to teach young men to Love God and to be good Men.”
John motivates his players by pushing them to go beyond what they believe they can do and pushes them to keep working hard and working toward the goal. When they believe they can’t go any further, John pushes them a little bit more and they learn they can. He teaches them the benefits of hard work, of going the extra mile and that they can achieve much more than they believe they can and that no one is more important than anyone else. John shared, “Everyone’s job is important everyone must work together to be successful.”
John feels that support from the parents and grandparents, students and the community is so important. Showing up to games encourages them to work hard and strive to be better.
The way John ensures that his players maintain balance between their academic responsibilities and their commitment to the football team starts with 3 hours a day of summer practice and once school starts, the players will be done by 5:30 therefore allowing time for any homework. If grades begin to drop or they are struggling with a particular subject, the student will be offered tutoring. They must at least have a grade point average of C or better to be able to play football.
To ensure health and safety for the players, he makes sure they stay hydrated, and he encourages them to drink lots of water and electrolytes between practices. Good strength and endurance training helps prevent injuries of the players and if a player is injured, they are not allowed to play, including strains, sprains or broken bones and John is very strict on concussion protocol. If someone takes a big hit, he will pull them from the game and do standard test, and if they are not quick to respond he will send them to the ER then follow doctor’s orders regarding when they can play again.
Johns plan for this the football program is to rebuild and grow the team and to eventually contend in the state championship. John says, “Right now we are going through growing pains, but the future is limitless.”
We would like to welcome Coach Harris to Cahawba Christian and wish him and the team the best of luck!!
