While all fall sports have ended, the winter sports season is just beginning. There are six winter sports but a total of eight when broken into boys and girls.

One winter sport is wrestling, the head coach is Joel Gilbert. He has been coaching for 25 years overall and 15 years as the head varsity coach.

“I decided to go into education because I wanted to coach. I had a few teachers or coaches that really guided me in the right direction when I was a scholastic athlete, and I wanted to give back like they did,” Gilbert said.

Chris Fleegle has been the head coach of the girls’ basketball team for four consecutive years. His favorite part of coaching is helping young people achieve their goals.  

“Sports allow a group of individuals to come together and achieve something bigger than they may have done on their own. I also enjoy watching the players move on to become successful young adults and the competitive aspect that coaching basketball brings to the table,” Fleegle said. 

Michael Walker coaches the male basketball team.

“The support of the school and the students is a big factor in games; we like to have the support. It gets the kids fired up and ready to go; the more support that we have the better,” Walker said.

There is also gymnastics which is coached by Mark Basili; he has been coaching for 38 years.

“Gymnastics consists of four different events, there is floor X, beam, bars and vault,” Basili said. 

One more winter sport is swimming, the coach is Nanette Cummings; she has been coaching for five years with the district but 35 years overall.

“I decided that I wanted to coach because I love the kids, and I love this sport,” Cummings said. 

The girls’ indoor track head coach is Paula Foreman, who has been coaching for six years. 

“Indoor track is a little different than outdoor track. We have to train indoors; however, I work with the distance kids, so we do get outside. But the weather conditions aren’t always great. Winter track is more of an opportunity for those kids that are focused on running, and it is an opportunity to continue running and prepare them for the spring outdoor season,” Foreman said. 

The boys’ head coach for indoor track is Mike Adams; he has been coaching for 24 years.

“I started coaching when I returned to Altoona where I graduated high school. I ran track at Altoona and Penn State and always wanted to come back and coach here. It has always been my passion to coach,” Adams said.

The last winter sport is competitive cheer. This is coached by Autumn Barry-Kyle. She has been coaching varsity for three years but was previously coaching junior high for fourteen years and an all-star cheer team for five years.

“Competitive cheer is when cheer squads compete against each other with a choreographed routine. A routine is two minutes 30 seconds long and includes dance, cheer, individual stunts, pyramid stunts, jumps and tumbling. Scores are based on difficulty and execution,” Barry-Kyle said. 

All winter sports dates, time and location are available on one schedule, Altoona Athletics schedule.