At Oyster River High School (ORHS), athletics are a huge part of lots of student lives, whether it’s playing a sport or being a fan. As you may be dedicating hours getting better at your favorite sport, there’s a teacher that may be doing the exact same thing. As a team, Mouth of the River spends lots of time giving students the spotlight in the sports world, but it’s time we shed light on some of the staff.
Jon Bromley:
Bromley is a part of the science department and coaches a reserve soccer team at ORHS and has a true passion for surfing.
He’s been surfing for 22 years, starting in college with some friends. When he moved to New Hampshire, he bought a surfboard and a wetsuit and has been surfing ever since.
Bromley is a goofy foot surfer which means he has his right foot forward on the board. This makes it so some beaches are better or worse for him because of the way the waves break. His favorite beach to surf is Straws Point on the north end of Jenness Beach in Rye. This is because the waves break to the left which helps because while he’s riding the wave, he’s able to see it better. “At Straws Point, when the waves are really working, it’s just a big, long left, so you just you just get these really fun, open face rides that are really good.”
Being up north, there are a few factors that can make surfing difficult, especially with teaching. In the fall and the spring, he’s able to get to get up at 4 am, and have enough daylight to scrape out a two-hour session, while having time to get to school. But in the winter, it’s difficult because he can only get an hour of sunlight before scrambling to get to school.
Some of his best memories have come in the past two years when he’s been able to surf with his son Caleb. “I used to surf all by myself all the time, and there’d be guys in the water, and you get to know people, but it was just me waking up early and going. So, in the last year or two, with [Caleb’s] ability now honestly exceeding mine, and his intensity about it, it’s been great.”
Advice to other adults and teachers looking to get into surfing: “You have to say to yourself, ‘do you want to surf?’ You can go out and have a lesson, but you’re not really a surfer. You don’t learn unless you just go. Whether you have a lesson or not, the way you learn is being in the water.”
Gregory Spiers:
Spiers works as a math and science tutor at ORHS but when he’s not at school helping students, there is a good chance he’s playing hockey.
Spiers started playing hockey at the age of four. He quickly learned how to skate by using the lake his family lived on growing up. As he grew older, he got involved in youth hockey. By the time he was in high school, he and friends began playing year-round. His commitment to the game made it so he was able to play through college. After college, he started playing in adult leagues.
Over the years, Spires has become very good at balancing hockey with his life so that he can play without challenging factors. “I don’t think it’s challenging other than scheduling. I’m not familiar with the hockey scene here in New Hampshire but I found ways to play. I get my pass to Churchill rink and use the schedule to see when I can go.”
Years of hockey have built countless great memories that he can have with him for forever. “I played on some really good teams. We had a lot of fun and we were competitive. We got to go to a lot of different places growing up it was all over the northeast, then in college, I got to go all over the country.” Another thing that he will never forget is how well he and his high school teammates were able to work together. Their level of understanding each other made it so that they could run fixed plays that no other teams could pull off.
Advice to other adults and teachers looking to get into hockey: “You’re never too old. There are adult leagues now and skating programs for all people of all different abilities. I have seen a lot of people get involved later in life and they play with people of their ability, and they have fun.”
Megan Hutchinson:
Hutchinson is a Paraeducator and helps coach cross country and track at ORHS. She spends her free time long distance running and is currently training for her sixth Boston Marathon.
She has been running for 25 years, starting while she was at Souhegan High School. In high school, she was the top runner on the team, in her junior year and helped propel the team to second place. Her senior year, they ended up winning the state championship.
As an adult, with work and kids, it can become difficult to train for these difficult marathons. Hutchinson said that she can get 5 miles in while her kids are at clubs or practices, but as the mileage increases it can get difficult. Sometimes it even comes down to waking up at 4:30 in the morning to get 12 miles done on the treadmill.
Having done the Boston Marathon five times already, there are some great memories that come with it. “It’s the Olympics of recreational marathons because you have to be able to hit a certain time. This last marathon was the first one my kids got to see in Boston. I started crying when I saw them coming up at mile eight.
Advice to other adults and teachers looking to get into long distance running: “It’s rewarding in every way possible because whatever you put into it, you get out of it. Also, not being scared to start because it is intimidating. You might have to do the run-walk thing, but know that that’s not forever, and if you really want to get something out of it, you put the time and dedication, you’re going to get everything out of it.”
Christopher Kearney:
Kearney is a part of the math department at ORHS, but away from work, he spends time playing both hockey and slow-pitch softball in competitive adult leagues.
Growing up, he played soccer, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Sports were very important to him, so at a young age he knew he wanted to keep playing into his adult years. Due to lack of knowing people in the area, he stopped playing basketball and soccer post-high school and stuck with hockey and baseball, which turned into softball at age 21.
Kearney can play both sports relatively local to his home, rarely driving more than 25-30 minutes to games, which makes it easy to manage playing with his daily life, even with a kid to take care of. The only thing teaching and having a family prevent him from doing is going to Florida with his softball teammates for tournaments every year.
He loves the competitive aspect that comes with them, saying “Winning championships is cool, even as an adult. It is also something to do while hanging out with people.”
Advice to other adults and teachers looking to get into hockey or softball: “If you want to do it, just make sure you’re in the appropriate league. Some adult leagues for hockey get very competitive, some are not. If it’s not at your skill level, it’s not going to go well. Same goes for slow-pitch softball.”
Kate Heaney:
Heaney is a Spanish teacher at ORHS, who spends some of her free time participating in adult league basketball and field hockey.
She’s played basketball since she was very young and picked up field hockey at age thirteen. Heaney played both sports in high school, and when she stopped playing in college, she missed being a part of a team. “It’s hard to make yourself go to the gym or make yourself go for runs. But when you have a game or a practice and you have to follow that schedule, it’s nice.”
Being a teacher, she gets off work earlier than other adults she plays with. To accommodate for these other people, they make the games start very late, sometimes as late as 9:3o. This makes it somewhat challenging for her because she doesn’t get home until very late and is still full of adrenaline when she is trying to get to sleep.
Despite this, it’s still worth it for her because of how competitive the leagues can get. There are commissioners who make rankings, which later lead to playoffs and a championship. Hunting for her first adult league championship has become a priority of hers after hearing about the feeling from a friend.
Advice to other adults and teachers looking to get into field hockey or basketball: “Start by just texting friends. If you have a couple of friends that want to do sport, look online. There’s a lot of sports leagues that take free agents. You sign up as an individual and they put you on a team that needs a couple extra players.”
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According to the NCAA, there are almost eight million student athletes that compete at the high school level, but when you move up to the college level, that number falls all the way to around 480,000. It’s no secret that staying active into your adult years has huge benefits on your overall health, so maintaining a sport can be very beneficial. But with the decreasing amount of time and energy that comes with becoming an adult, it becomes easy to forget about the importance of staying active.
– Kevin Kell
Mouth of the River 
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