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Christian Academy of Louisville is excited to announce the hiring of Trent Popp as the head coach of its varsity boys soccer team.

“Trent’s soccer knowledge, as well as his vision for the CAL program, were significant factors in the decision,” athletic director Brad Morgan said. “He shares our belief that we can compete at the highest level, and he’s willing and able to put in the work to make that happen.”

Popp played collegiate soccer at Asbury University before a stint playing professionally in the Premier Development League, now known as the USL League Two. Since then, he’s coached at the club level with Javanon FC, as well as through his youth soccer business, Soccer Shots, and is eager to take on his first high school coaching position.

“I’m excited. Getting into the high school coaching scene is something I’ve always thought about doing,” Popp said. “I’ve worked with the school in different capacities, through the intramural levels with my kids. But I’m excited to be at a level where you’re not only teaching fundamentals and to love the game, but we’re also trying to get results. That’s the piece of the sport that I’ve missed since playing.”

Popp believes the program has untapped potential to rank among the best in the state, with other CAL sports providing a blueprint to consistent success.

“You see the success other sports have had at CAL with multiple state championships and the foundation those programs have in the school. We’re looking at how quickly we can raise the level of the program to that standard,” Popp said. “The families are there, the students are there. I think it’s just having consistent coaching and developing players from grade school level all the way through.”

Popp will meet the team on Thursday afternoon, and the Centurions are set to begin voluntary spring workouts in the coming weeks.

Christian Academy of Louisville is excited to announce the hiring of Chris Ward as the head coach of its varsity field hockey team.

Ward joined the CAL field hockey program as the sixth grade head coach in 2017 and has been a head coach at every age group from sixth grade to junior varsity, in addition to serving as a varsity assistant coach for the 2023 state championship team. He currently holds a Level 1 coaching certification through USA Field Hockey.

“We’ve had the opportunity to observe Chris as a coach at multiple levels of our field hockey program over the past several years, and he’s impressed at every stage,” athletic director Brad Morgan said. “He understands the CAL field hockey culture as well as anyone, and he’s the right person to continue that coming off a state championship season.”

Ward takes over for Stephanie Seeley, who led the Centurions to an 89-26-3 record in four years as head coach. CAL has reached the state semifinals eight of the last nine years, including two state titles and two state runner ups.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to continuing to build upon all the success CAL field hockey has had all these years, and I’m very honored to now have this position,” Ward said. “I have first hand knowledge of the whole program. I’ve been involved in every level you could be involved in at CAL, so I’m very familiar with the culture and the program and understand what we need to do to have continued success into the future.”

CAL will look to continue its extended stretch of success this year, when it returns a plethora of key contributors from last year’s state championship team.

“I think CAL field hockey always has a target on its back anyways, but obviously it puts a larger target on you when you’re the defending state champion,” Ward said. “We’re losing seniors who were large contributors over many years, but we have a great core group coming back. We absolutely can still compete for a state championship, and I fully expect that we’re going to be right there in the thick of things at the end of the season.”