While the majority of us have just been getting back into the swing of things with school, Athletic Director Howard Davis has been busy since mid-summer.

“Fall is crazy for me,” said Davis. “From end of July to the first week in October it is nonstop.”

Among overseeing all athletic programs at Moorpark College, Davis is also responsible for making sure that student athletes are cleared and eligible to play in their sport.

Kathy McDonald-Rojas is an Admissions and Records Technician specializing in athletics. Her busiest time of year is the same as Davis’. She has to make sure the athletes who are at or below a 2.0 GPA are able to raise it in time for their game.

“Fall is busy for me because of football,” said McDonald-Rojas. “It is busy because from the start of the semester till football season ends, it is a constant rush.”

According to Davis, athletics for the fall could improve greatly this upcoming season. He also said to keep an eye out for women’s volleyball as they look to compete for the conference title this year.

Some of the fall teams will also have new coaching staffs when their season starts. Football will now have Mike Stuart at the helm as their new head coach along with a new coaching staff.

Women’s soccer will also feature a new head coach, former Cal State Northridge coach, Miguel Ruiz. Ruiz was also a former Moorpark College alumni on the men’s soccer team in 2001 and 2002.

“Coach Ruiz has been having the team practice before classes start early in the morning,” said Davis. “I expect to see all their training pay big dividends this year.”

Women’s golf is making its return to athletics for the first time since 2008. It had been removed due to budget cuts. Former M.C. head football coach Will Thurston will be overseeing the golf program as it looks to pick up from where it last left off.

“Coach Thurston is an excellent golf coach,” said Davis. “I’m really excited for the players because we are the only community college in the county with a golf team.”

Besides fall athletics getting ready for their season to start, some spring sports have begun prepping for the start of their season.

The baseball team is beginning to hold tryouts to set the roster in preparation for the upcoming season and second year Christian Apodaca is trying to make it on the team.

“This summer we put in a bunch of hard work,” said Apodaca. “We worked on individual skills, strength training, and conditioning.”

Davis feels the same way about the softball and baseball teams and is excited to see how they perform in the spring.

“I think baseball is going to be even better than last year,” said Davis. “I think we also might have the best softball team in the last two decades here.”

The first sport of the season has already started, as cross country kicked off their season on Friday. The full schedule for athletics can be found at http://www.moorparkcollegeathletics.com/.