Starting off his Oxford Academy career as the Boys Assistant Volleyball Coach and Girls Junior Varsity Volleyball Head Coach in 2020, Anton Nguyen can now be seen taking his final strolls across campus greeting students and athletes alike. From mentoring on the court to keeping pupils on task in class, Nguyen has established himself as a well-known face of Oxford Academy.
“I chose to come to Oxford because of an opportunity to coach volleyball,” Nguyen said. “An old student and player of mine from church reached out to me letting me know of a role possibly being available and I decided to pursue it!”
Nguyen had coached volleyball a few years prior, but mentoring at Oxford remains his first official school coaching job. Working at the school has exposed Nguyen to new opportunities that allowed him to make one of his dreams come true: to become someone’s role model and be a positive impact on others’ lives.
“I had always aspired to be a mentor figure to young athletes because of the role models and coaches that I had growing up,” Nguyen said. “For me, it was an opportunity to pass down the lessons taught to me to the next generation and to also take on a bigger role in the game.”
A crucial lesson Nguyen lives by is inspired by a quote from Tim Notke, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” Because not everyone is blessed with luck and talent, he believes it is important to use losses as teachable moments rather than moping on past errors.
“When it came to my athletes, one of my biggest messages was that it is necessary to fail in order to succeed,” Nguyen said. “Knowing how to fail is an art form because there are so many opportunities for growth depending on your perspective.”
As a substitute teacher, the philosophies Nguyen preaches on the court flow into the morals he holds in the classroom. Being a young figure of authority has allowed him to live part of his dream as a role model here at Oxford, making each day of meeting new students or reconnecting with older ones one of his most memorable experiences.
“I’m always met with the most amazing students who all have many different stories and backgrounds,” Nguyen said. “Having the opportunity to interact with students is always the highlight of my days here and a big part of that is due to going from Coach Anton to Mr. Nguyen in 2022.”
Nguyen’s favorite memory at Oxford is a bittersweet one: Senior Night of the 2023 Girls Volleyball season. The game highlighted the end of his coaching career as it was the last day working with his JV team and the night where the seniors he started coaching as freshmen played their final match.
“A day that I knew was coming had finally arrived and that day all I could do was look back at all the great times I had with our athletes and to see how far we had all come,” Nguyen said. “Although it was sad knowing I would be leaving it all behind, I was grateful to have gotten the opportunity to have that experience and to have met all of the great people on the way.”
Despite Nguyen’s four-year journey at Oxford coming to a close, he commends all the coaches that are able to dedicate their time to be present in the lives of student athletes. Concluding his final season on court, Nguyen has finally kicked off his dream as a role model and hopes to become one within the larger part of the community.
“Stepping away from coaching at Oxford was something that I knew I’d have to do after finishing my higher education to close that chapter and prepare for what’s next,” Nguyen said. “The good thing is even though a chapter might be closing, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go back to revisit it.”
