Excellence, Responsibility, Integrity, Leadership, Community, Respect

 

With Bayside Academy’s Mission Statement and Core Values in mind, our goal through Bayside Academy JV Outdoor Track & Field is to continue the excellence established in the past and press on to achieve our best today. Our program competes in the AHSAA at the 4A classification for athletes in the 7th through 11th grade. Our focus is on development and introducing first and second year athletes to the sport of track & field. Each athlete should seek to do their best, give 100% effort in all that they do, and encourage one another, not just in our sport. To do this, we will do all things with TEAM as our focus, although training will be individualized based on the ability and experience of the athlete. Our athletes will not only train together to become better competitors, but to learn how and why the training they do develops them into a stronger athlete and person. We will hold to this COMMITMENT as our sense of responsibility and respect to self and others, striving for excellence in all of our endeavors.  

These three words and descriptions will be our point of emphasis this year:

Each year, our goal is to host two home competitions for our middle school and JV athletes. These competitions are designed to allow our JV track & field athletes an opportunity to be exposed to track & field while also growing in the sport. Each year, many of our JV athletes may reach or be close to a varsity standard by the end of the season through even more competition opportunities. We allow these athletes to compete at the varsity level, if positions are available, at Sectionals and even the AHSAA State meet, given they qualify. 

Through 17 seasons as a head Outdoor Track & Field coach of young men’s and women’s track & field programs (nine years at Bayside Academy and eight years at Cottage Hill Christian Academy), Coach Joe Swagart has helped hundreds of young people develop a passion for track & field while also helping them develop into responsible young adults. 

Coach Swagart places an emphasis on team, excellence, and commitment. Success in track & field is found through commitment, discipline, and desire. Individuals on a team show commitment by attending team practices and events, by finishing what they start, and by having patience with the process. Individuals on a team show discipline by how they follow instruction, how they change the way they live (nutrition, sleep, etc.), and how they finish what they start. Individuals on a team show desire by how they compete and train, how they take care of themselves, and how they treat others. When individuals come together with the same purpose, we will compete as a team at the highest level we can. We will commit to a level of excellence that shows we are giving our best in all that we do, that we give 100% in achieving our goals, and by how we encourage each other along the way.

In Coach Swagart’s first two seasons with Cottage Hill, his programs competed in the Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) where his young women’s team finished State Runner-Up in 2008, including nine All-State medalists, three All-State relays, and six individual State Champions. In six seasons with the AHSAA, under Coach Swagart’s leadership, CHCA’s highest team finish occurred in 2014, with his young women finishing 3A AHSAA Runner-Up. The highest young men’s team finish of sixth place occurred in 2011 and 2012. Through those six seasons, Coach Swagart had 22 All-State medalists and five All-State relays, with 10 individual State Champions and two relay champions. He had three different athletes set new State Meet records in the 200 meter dash, triple jump, and pole vault. 

In Coach Swagart’s nine seasons with Bayside Academy, the Outdoor Track & Field program has seen tremendous growth. Our young women’s team has finished in the Top Five five times, with a State Championship in 2022 and Runner-Up in 2023. Our young men’s team has been State Runner-up two consecutive seasons (2019 & 2021), hoping to win it in the cancelled 2020 season due to COVID, but achieved that feat with a State Championship in 2022. During these nine seasons, Bayside athletes have earned All-State medalist honors 61 times, with 28 of those athletes being individual State Champions. We’ve seen 17 All-State relays, with six of those winning their relay.  

Coach Swagart attended college at the University of South Alabama, earning a B.S. in Mathematics & Statistics in 2004 and M. Ed. in Secondary Education in 2018. He is married to Nancy Swagart. He and his wife have three children: Owen, a 7th grader at Bayside Academy; Isaac, a 3rd grader at Bayside Academy; and Emersyn, a PK4 student at Bayside Academy.