Rivendell's Newest Face of the Athletic Department

Photo Courtesy of Valley News (Geoff Hansen)

After a 45 year stint as an employee of Rivendell and Orford Academy, Mr. Robert Thatcher of Fairlee has stepped down from his most recent position as athletic director and made varsity boys soccer his main focus. Our new athletic director is Ross Convertino of Hampden, MA.

Mr. Convertino graduated from the University of Connecticut and finished his graduate degree at Gonzaga University. Convertino’s lengthy resume of coaching basketball reached it’s highest level so far while at Gonzaga, and now he is focusing his attention on Rivendell. A new face will bring new ideas, and Mr. Convertino has many in store. “There are several projects I really want to work on...being able to get a cross country trail around the school that we could be able to host meets at. That’s one that’s at the top of my mind, but there are several, including getting permanent benches put in on the middle school soccer field. A lot of my goals are facility oriented, I think to have the best facilities and the safest facilities is imperative.”

Students and teachers are also hoping for some new things from the athletic director. Senior Noah Martel would like to get to know Mr. Convertino more before passing his judgements, but he is hoping there can be better communication between the students and the athletic director. Another senior, Riley Thomson had a positive outlook on Convertino. "Its nice to have someone young who has a good background with sports, he is doing a really good job on trying to change up our program a little bit, and it’s making this year very exciting for me."

7/8 humanities teacher Doug Pilcher is very enthusiastic about the new athletic director. “He’s great, he seems like he’s interested in getting involved in the community,he's always around, always at games... I was impressed to have someone here that has so much experience at the college and high school level, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experiences that are a little bit unique for our town. Having coached at that really high level of Division 1, especially at Gonzaga which is one of the premier programs in the country, so just really impressed to have someone who can bring that experience to Rivendell.” Mr. Pilcher indicated that he is eager to see what Mr. Convertino has in store for Rivendell Athletics. After 45 years, change will definitely be felt as Mr. Convertino takes over the athletic department, but he has already made this transition seamless with the help of Mr. Thatcher, and made his presence well known.

#Sports #Staff