On July 28, David Hernandez, last year’s varsity boys’ soccer coach, announced that he would be leaving the team. Last year, Hernandez led them to their most notable victories over Sacred Heart Preparatory and Eastside Preparatory, both highly competitive teams.

   Before the start of the winter sports season last year, Pinewood Upper Campus athletic director Matt Stimson and Upper Campus athletic trainer Javier Margarito, began looking for coaches to take over the team. During Margarito’s time at Monta Vista High School, he met and worked with Hernandez, who later received Margarito’s recommendation for the head coaching position at Pinewood.

   “Javier was like, hey, Hernandez would be great for this job. I met him a few times, told him about our program, what my needs and wants were of the program, and he wanted to do it,” Stimson said.

   Soon after, Hernandez was hired and took over the Pinewood soccer team before the 2023-2024 winter season. His training was focused on conditioning and team bonding. Many newcomers joined the team during that season, so Hernandez adjusted his training plan accordingly.

   “Some of my joys was playing as a team, definitely the scrimmages, you know, just getting to know everyone, and getting to love the sport; that was definitely the most enjoyable part,” sophomore newcomer Isaiah Ofa said.

   Along with soccer, Hernandez’s role in the Pinewood community includes coaching track and field and organizing basketball games in the winter. 

   Over the summer, Hernandez started to get more involved in coaching club teams in the Bay Area. Due to conflicting schedules between Pinewood and his club team, he decided to leave the team. 

   At the beginning of September, Stimson started to find another coach to replace Hernandez on the team. However, he mentioned that he wanted to see if Hernandez could still return to the job due to his influence on the team last year. 

   “We were like, ‘hey, how can we make this work?’ said Stimson, “[Hernandez] moved a few things around with his schedule and wanted to return to this group.”

   Two months after his departure, Hernandez announced that he would return for another season with the team despite his previous intentions not to.