New Nashoba Tech AD Requires More than Winning From Athletes

The way Bob Callahan sees it, building winning teams is nice, but building the character of the athletes is just as — if not more — important.

Callahan, who took over as athletic director at Nashoba Valley Technical High School in September, can see the banners hanging in the recently renovated Nashoba Tech gym — the one bestowing the Colonial Athletic League Sportsmanship Award to the Vikings, for instance — and he knows that’s as important to a high-school sports program as wins and losses.

He also requires Nashoba Tech student-athletes to take a meaningful role in the community.

“I want to increase our community presence, so all teams are required to do a community-service event,” said Callahan, a Dracut resident who coached hockey at Dracut High School for 10 years. “It’s important for our student-athletes to be good on the field, but I want them to be good off the field as well. They’re good sportsmen on the field, but now they can take it off the field and outside the building.”

Callahan, 35, worked previously as a kindergarten physical-education teacher for Lawrence Public Schools, and taught at the Devereaux School, a school in western Massachusetts for students with behavioral
and developmental disorders.

In addition to serving as athletic director at Nashoba Tech, Callahan is teaching a full schedule of Algebra and Geometry at Nashoba Tech, and is a special-education liaison. He also owns and operates CalStar Sports Camps in Dracut, offering kids ages 6-13 all-day camps in basketball, hockey, flag football, soccer and baseball.

It won’t get any less busy at Nashoba Tech, where this winter, the wrestling team will be resurrected after an absence of more than 10 years, and tennis starting in the spring on the brand-new tennis courts Nashoba Tech installed as part of the recent $3 million makeover of its athletic complex.

“We’ve had solid sign-ups for wrestling, so we should be able to field wrestlers at all varsity weight levels,” Callahan said. “Tennis will start in the spring as a club sport at first before we build it up to the varsity level.

“Winning is not what I’m looking for first,” Callahan said. “I want to help them build their résumés, either for their professional goals or for college, help build their sportsmanship, get them working as teammates and build their overall character.“