James Washington is a very well-known figure at Arcata High School and in the Arcata community as a whole. For people who don’t know who James is, he is the current coach of the
Arcata High School Cross Country and Track and Field team.
Washington is a hall of famer at Arcata high school in which he was inducted for all of his accolades as a coach, including taking his cross country and track team to the state finals in the same year. To highlight Washington’s illustrious career as a coach, I wanted to know some of his current runners’ perspectives on how Washington is as a coach.
Junior, Ronan Williamson, who explained that coach Washington taught him a lot last year because last year was Williamson’s first year running track, which he felt like he learned a lot from coach Washington, Williamson said, “I didn’t know how to properly run, but James helped me learn how to properly run, how a sprinter really should”.
Williamson continued to express that he has fun when James is there at practice because he is a very funny coach, and he learns a lot from him, also stating he finds it cool when he is around Arcata, he sees James always mowing lawns and using leaf blowers around campus, and that he is a really hysterically funny guy.
From what I know, is that James is a very loved figure in the community, where you would see him around Arcata and McKinleyville doing activities such as gathering tools for work and mowing lawns all around the community.
James helps a lot of people with the service he does, mowing lawns, and his tenure at Arcata High School, where he was a Basketball coach and is a hall of famer for his illustrious career as a Track and Field coach, along with cross country.
I spoke to Senior, Skyler Collenberg, who is mainly throwing for shotput and discus, which he has been doing for 4 years, so he created some insight saying that he has not learned too much in the sport from James, but he has found James to be a really good coach to others and is a really funny person. Collenberg stated that James is a good coach and deserves that plaque in the gym.
So, with the people I have spoken to and what I have just heard about James Washington is that people think very highly of him and that he is a legend in the community as a worker and a coach.
