Athletics from the Ground Up
An interview with Athletic Director Kelly Doherty
After spending the last 28 years as the Athletic Director of Regis High School in Denver, Kelly joined the founding JPG team full time to help launch our program. Here is what he had to share about his experience and dreams for St. John Paul the Great:
How did you end up at St. John Paul the Great? Why are you qualified?
I ask myself that all the time because I always feel like I don’t deserve to be here! You know, we had a really successful athletic program at Regis. Why am I qualified? I guess because I’ve done it so long, I’m Catholic, and I want to be a part of something that’s legitimately and authentically Catholic. I feel very, very fortunate and blessed that the leadership sees me as someone who can help meet the goals of this school.
Girls Basketball Team with their Coaches
What does a successful athletics program look like to you?
If you do everything right - have the right coaches, kids, standards, and values, then winning comes after that. Winning is a product of doing things the right way.
It doesn’t just come down to winning alone. A successful culture is made when your coaches, students, and athletics program are aligned with the mission of the school.
We want to hire coaches that certainly have a strong faith, first and foremost. Their relationship with Christ is the most important aspect. We also need coaches that are knowledgeable in their sport, enthusiastic, and dependable. In other words, we want to hire great people, and I believe so far we’ve been able to do that. I find these people through God’s grace.
So far, the pieces have just fit, and I can only say that it’s similar to what’s happened in the rest of the school. The right people are ending up in the right places and coaches are no exception to that! We’ve got some really outstanding people! I know that some of the coaches we’ve hired I would not have been able to hire elsewhere because they are interested in the mission of JPG.
I never would have thought that within one year we could have a program at this stage! It’s incredible.
Boys Cross Country Team at a Fall meet
What has been accomplished in this first year at JPG?
I think it’s great that we have been able to add 5 sports within our first year of being open. We’ve added cross country, girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, and now boys volleyball to round out the year. So, if you would have told me we would get 5 sports going in the course of this year with only 23 students, I’d say that would be a really tall order. Kids, families, coaches, and the administration have all committed to participate and provide resources needed to get these sports going!
Everything we’re doing this year is part of the process for JPG to become part of CHSAA, which is the governing body for high school athletics in Colorado. It’s going to be about a 3-4 year process, and as part of that process we need to schedule games with outside schools that are already members of CHSAA and participate in games against those folks which we are doing.
What have been your biggest takeaways after this first year at JPG?
It’s great to be surrounded by very like-minded people that share the same mission. I’ve learned that somehow things here seem to work out the way they are supposed to if you just let God do His thing and let the Holy Spirit work through our people. I’ve learned that if you have the right perspective, which is to have your faith in the right place, that things just fall to where they’re supposed to!
I’ve also learned that we need more outside facilities to make things work. It has been a struggle to find places for our kids to practice and play sports. God does present challenges sometimes, but He also provides solutions that come from places that you don’t expect them to. Having a gym will be a tremendous help, but I know everything needs to happen in its place and in its order. Always forward!
Boys Volleyball Team at Regis High School
