Chris Thurley will be a new coach for the girls’ varsity soccer team next year, stepping in for current head coach Kalé Dwight, who announced his retirement this year.

Thurley has lots of coaching experience and success, and was also a soccer player himself. According to TuHS Athletics, he has led teams to six state championships across three different competitive levels, earning a reputation for excellence, consistency and player development. When Thurley played soccer, he competed in England with Bishop’s Stortford Swifts in the Essex Olympian League from 1984 to 1990. Aside from coaching at Tualatin, he also runs the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns residential camp program.

Adding new coaching staff like Thurley can add positive changes and ideas to the program. New coaches can provide new insight and guidance for the team, allowing the team to gain new knowledge.

“I am looking forward to learning new things from a new coach because I get a different perspective on the game, and he has had a very good coaching past, so hopefully we get far in state this year,” sophomore Kenley Anderson said.

Having a new coach can also sometimes change the mechanics of how a team works together because all coaches have different techniques and philosophies of how they coach. This means there might be new things that players have to adapt to.

“I think it will change the team dynamics because a big part of how the team works together is based greatly on the coach,” junior Sophia Ashley said. “It definitely will be a transition, but it will be good to learn new things and gain a new perspective from someone new.”