Battenfield’s Final Battle
Kasie Thomas, Sports Editor
Retiring can be a bitter-sweet moment, but for NGU men’s volleyball coach, Dr. Fred Battenfield, it’s a little sweeter going out as a Regular Season Champion and winning a total of 100 games in your coaching career.
This will be Dr. Fred Battenfield last season coaching NGU men’s volleyball after deciding to retire, but he will miss the great moments with the players.
“I’ll miss watching the complete journey of each young man,” Battenfield said. “From the recruiting process to freshmen check in day, to their first work out, their first match, and then finally seeing them get rewarded with a championship.”
Battenfield said winning the regular season for the first time in program history really vindicated all the hard work they had done for the last eight years. He also made it clear that he could not have done it alone.
“I’d be silly if I didn’t recognize the contributions of my assistant coaches Matt McManaway and Ben Hamsho who have done a lot of the on court coaching the last few years,” Battenfield said. “One thing that no one can ever take away from me and my team is the fact that we won an undisputed regular season championship through some talented young men who worked to get better every day.”
One player who also understands the feeling of having a final season is senior, Christian Phung. He has played volleyball at NGU all four years and has loved being a part of this team. He said it is an amazing feeling to leave this program as a regular season champion.
“It is enjoyable knowing that we made history as I leave. We not only built the program to something astonishing but also set a path for us to continue dominating the conference,” Phung said.
He remembered that it all started with the goal to be number one. They knew they had what it took to be regular season champions but achieving that goal meant everyone had to give 100%. It was a team effort.
Playing under Fred Battenfield this season was icing on the cake for Phung. He said playing for him has been a true honor, and there is not another coach out there so appreciative of their players.
Phung said, “he really gave us lots of freedom within the sport and I told him myself that nobody could’ve given me a better college career.”
The NGU men’s volleyball regular season may have come to an end, but they are not done yet. They are headed into the Conference Carolinas tournament and hope to bring another victory to North Greenville.
Battenfield said he is trusting his team will go into the tournament and play the best volleyball they have played all year. Phung agrees they can do more and will do anything to win.
Graduate player, Brandon Baker, has been on the team for five years and it ready to start post season play. He said they know what they need to do and how they need to do it. As long as everyone plays as one, they can win.
“This team is a family and that can be seen by how we act with each other,” said Baker. “The atmosphere that has been created by this team has a major role to play in the success that we have seen thus season and will continue to see in post season play.”
Regardless of the season, Battenfield said that it has been a great run and he can leave knowing that God put him in a position to impact young men and others and he was able to do that.
