The majority of teams in the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley High School Baseball Tournament, which concluded on Monday, were coached by their usual high school coaching staffs. An exception was the Parkland Trojans, who were coached by a number of recent Parkland High School alumni.

The tournament was not an official PIAA event, which led to some juggling, and to provide further separation between the school and the team, varsity head coach Kurt Weber and his staff were not running the team.

Boosters looked for someone to step in and 2018 Parkland grad Will Algard took the step. Algard is a junior at Albright College and a member of the school’s baseball team. He had been tapped to take over the South Parkland Legion team for this season, but like the high school season, the Legion season was also canceled. When asked if he would coach the tournament team, he eagerly accepted.

“I got a call on the Fourth of July from the booster club president [Chris Giovenco] and he explained that they needed a coach and asked if I would do it,” remembers Algard. “I told them that I would make sure the kids could play and all of the guys wanted to play, so we got started.”

Parkland was a little behind on the practice schedule, but Algard quickly pulled things together and got the team on the practice field. To put together the rest of the staff, Algard looked to other Parkland alumni for help. Adam Mellinger was going to be on Algard’s Legion staff and he signed on along with former teammates Cullan Wadsworth and Ryan Giovenco.

“I was just glad that they wanted to come out and help us,” said Algard. “I really value their opinions and they’re great friends. It helps to have great pieces around you to help you sort through things when you’re coaching.”

The entire staff graduated together in 2018, with the exception of Ryan Giovenco, who graduated a year earlier. The members of the coaching staff have all played college ball, with Algard at Albright, Giovenco at Haverford College and Wadsworth at Longwood University in Virginia. Mellinger played at Lehigh County Community College and is now attending the Cedar Crest College School of Nursing.

The task of coaching the team was the easy part. The group also had to pull together insurance for the team, secure permits to practice at fields owned by Lehigh County and take care of any other issues that arose.

“Without them, Parkland would not be in the tournament,” said Chris Giovenco, the booster club president. “They deserve a ton of credit.”

Algard believes that being close in age to many of the players helped the team and the coaching staff to bond together. He believes that the team would have played well no matter who was coaching them, but it made for a unique experience to have recent graduates running things.

“I think there were a few times when we were able to fire up the kids and spark some things because I can relate to these guys. I only graduated two years ago and so I think we can really connect with them,” said Will Algard.

Another area where Algard was able to relate was the loss of the final season for his team’s seniors. He reflected on his senior season and remembered all of the special moments that were lost for the 2020 graduating class.

“My senior year was the most fun I’ve had in my life,” said Algard. “You have so much going on and you get a little bit of freedom to go out and have fun. I can’t imagine losing that. This doesn’t completely make up for it, but it helps. Some guys didn’t have the chance to get fully recruited by colleges, even some of the underclassmen, and it really hurts.”