Educator of the Year
Person nominated: Noel Breger (Cross-Country and Indoor Track Coach)


When I think of my favorite coach, one immediately comes to mind. This coach is a teacher by trade, and a hard a** when it comes to training his team. Although at times it may seem that all he wants to do is make you suffer, Coach Breger pushed us so we could succeed. And it worked.


The only thing I thought of through cross-country pre-season was the pain and suffering that he was putting us through. I honestly considered quitting cross-country at the start because I didn’t understand why he was often screaming and never seemed satisfied. The mental stress he put us under and the physical challenges he forced us to complete were immense, but he believed in us, and he helped us struggle through them. He would always tell us that we could leave the program at any time, but if we did, we could never come back. If you left, it meant that you gave up not only on yourself, but the team and coaching staff as a whole. Some of our physical challenges included our weekly exercise workouts we completed on Wednesdays in the rain, snow, or heat. Tuesdays, we accomplished hill runs that varied from constant hill sprints to wearing a 30-40 lbs. weight vest and having to manage the hills. Every Monday was track work, probably the hardest day of all. We pushed ourselves to our limit just to finish the practice. Thursdays were long distance runs in which we would form groups and run for an hour or more. Everyday, he compelled us to succeed and the practices often pushed us to our limit but we kept trying. Coach was always right there with us too.

On the sidelines of the track or cross-country course during a meet, he could be heard yelling at us to speed up or pace ourselves or just breathe; whatever he was ranting about, it was because he believed in us, even if we had given up on ourselves. He always took the time to give us motivational speeches to inspire us before each race began. Throughout practices and training, he would never force us to do something he couldn’t do himself. No, he wasn’t showing off; he was influencing us by proving that “If an old guy with crazy hair can do this, you can do it even better!” I remember on one occasion after finishing a long run, Coach gathered us around and told us all “I don’t understand why you all are always complaining about races and practices. As I ran in the woods, I had an asthma attack and vomited! I don’t carry an inhaler, so I figured to myself, either I continue to panic and die, or I calm the hell down and keep going.” I think this was a major turning point in how I viewed him. I started to realize that there was a method to his madness and that everything he did was to prompt us to do better.


His version of teaching us varied from hard and demanding to funny and enjoyable. One thing I always struggled with was regulating my endurance. He attempted to have us pace ourselves by following the “30 on, 30 off”. It means that for 30 seconds you would be driving your knees hard, driving your feet, and essentially speeding up. The next 30 seconds, you wouldn’t necessarily slow down; you would just relax your muscles some. Instead of counting off seconds by one thousand, two one thousand he had us think “one platypus, two platypus, …”. This was just an attempt to making something that was very difficult for some, more relaxed and funny. He told us he got the idea from “Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb” which he also displayed on multiple shirts that he wore throughout the season just to bring some laughter to the team. I think that the main point he was trying to make throughout the season was that hard work pays off. If you don’t push yourself, you will never be able to reach your full potential and succeed. I believe this is why he had such an impact; he demonstrated that by having one person there to push you along, it could make all the difference.


Even though I have only known him for two seasons, Coach Breger is probably the best coach I have ever had due to the fact that he doesn’t give up on us, and keeps impelling us to develop our abilities, through mental and physical challenges. I plan on participating in cross-country and track throughout my high school years at DMA and hope to stay in contact with him after that since he has already had such an impact on my life. I can’t wait for the next season!