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By Maddy Welch

Concentrating on hitting the ball, JV head coach Chris Borchers swings the bat during a drill at practice. Coach Borchers has enjoyed sharing his love of baseball with the team.

With baseball season underway, two new coaches have joined the team to help train the players. Paraprofessional Tim Thomas is a new junior varsity assistant coach and teacher Chris Borchers is the new JV head coach.

Thomas has multiple coaching experiences with baseball and football. He also has previously played baseball for baseball head coach Jeff Strickland at Mill Valley in 2013.

“Working in coach Strickland’s class, we started working together again as we’ve worked together in the past,” Thomas said.  “He just saw me as a potential [coach] to come in and see what I could do and I just looked forward to the opportunity.”

Borchers was a baseball coach at Olathe South for 17 years before coming to Mill Valley in 2020.

“When I got hired here, I talked to coach Strickland about the possibility of coaching,” Borchers said. “A couple years in, he had a lot of openings pop up and he knew [about] my experiences so he asked me to become a coach.”

The coaches have already made a great impact on the team by helping them improve and learn, according to JV baseball player and sophomore Zach Zaldivar.

“They help us become better versions of ourselves so that we can compete the best we can,” Zaldivar said. “Coach Thomas helps us keep the energy up and coach Borchers is just a good coach all around.”

Thomas and Borchers both became coaches because they love spending time with the players and watching them develop.

“I love coaching,” Thomas said.  “I love the sport. I love working with those young guys and helping them grow into the best young man that can be. Not only just on the field but off the field obviously.”