Director of Athletics Coach Alice Lee has just completed her first year with a bang, following a thirty-year tenure of former Director of Athletics Coach Melanie Horn. Coach Alice has spearheaded several major changes to Westridge’s athletic program, all of them guided by the three priorities that she wanted to check off as Director. “Number one,” she said. “putting more of an emphasis on the athletic brand. Two, elevating the student athlete experience. And three, strengthening and connecting our athletics department within” by fostering intrasport connections and allowing student athletes to voice their opinions.

Coach Alice saw potential in heightening the visibility of Westridge Athletics, which she hoped would increase enthusiasm and morale surrounding the program. Coach Alice added posters and banners around Frank Field and Hoffman Gymnasium, serving as reminders to Westridge’s athletic mission and values. 

In addition, the annual Homecoming event was heavily promoted and reconstructed. The event, which occurred on January 9, included a winter wonderland-themed spirit day, a home game for Westridge’s varsity soccer, a Tigers Club boosters pizza sale, a used uniform sale, and an alumnae basketball game. Although the alumnae basketball game had been a long standing varsity basketball tradition, Coach Alice added these other events as part of a consolidated Homecoming celebration.

However, a significant share of Westridge’s bolstered Athletics branding was the Westridge Athletics official Instagram account. Coach Alice introduced media days for Middle and Upper School athletic teams, where photos were taken by Charlie Kaine Photography. These polished photos of fierce athletes were featured on nearly every post on the Instagram account, which to Coach Alice, shows others the power that Westridge athletes emit. “That’s something we’re very mindful of when we curate our Instagram. And I say curate, because it’s intentional,” she said. “What are we conveying to ourselves, to our opponents, to our fans? It’s a competitive school that cares about athletics, which has incredible student athletes.”

Speaking of branding, Coach Alice also revamped the Athletics merch store. Before, the store had limited options and only opened to customers a few times a year during a specific season. Under Coach Alice, the website now runs 24/7 and has access to several options from all sports year round, even if they haven’t had their season yet. “I don’t think we had a consistent way of getting people [to our online stores],” she said. “So that’s big for all our fans.”

After giving Westridge’s athletics brand a makeover, Coach Alice also targeted aspects of branding that streamlined communication for athletes. Inspired by the occasional updates that Coach Horn would send about games, scores, and special shoutouts, Coach Alice created the Tiger Tracks Newsletter, a weekly newsletter with its own structured format and recognizable look. “It’s a nice summary of everything all in one place,” said Ilyana P.-F. ’28 “It’s a nice place to get all my news.”

Not only did the weekly newsletter provide a consistent place for athletes to get reminders on upcoming dates and game scores, Tiger Tracks includes a “Tiger Spotlight” section that recognizes an athlete for their outstanding, positive impacts on their team. “Seeing other people’s accomplishments is really nice, also understanding that those are your fellow teams as well. It’s really nice to understand that they’re working so hard,” said Ela K. ’28. 

Through the weekly newsletter, Coach Alice created a “Tiger Mindset section” focused on mental health, nutrition, leadership, and teamwork. “It connects to the bigger vision for us in athletics, a lot about that ‘Tiger Mindset’,” said Coach Alice. “In Tiger Tracks, it’s about the sports psyche, the mental performance.”

Along with improving the experience of student athletes at Westridge, Coach Alice also turned her attention toward the people who work alongside student athletes: the coaches. Starting this year, Coach Alice held all-coaches meetings where those coaching in the same fall, winter, or spring sports season came together to talk. In addition, a meeting that included coaches across seasons was held at the end of the year. These meetings allowed coaches across sports to get to know each other. At the first meeting, Coach Alice had coaches write down on sticky notes all the changes that they wish they could see in the near future. Coach Alice still has these sticky notes up on her wall in her office to make sure that she can address coaches’ feedback as much as possible.

On top of these four all-coaches meetings, Coach Alice scheduled meetings with coaches one-on-one. “I think that’s really important… knowing that [the Athletic Director]’s got your back and that they’re here to support you,” said Coach Jenna Wong, Assistant Director of Athletics, varsity volleyball coach, and Middle School Track and Field Coach. “You have her as a resource around the corner, which I think is really great.”

Why did Coach Alice want to implement all these changes? “It’s because [the athletes] deserve it,” Coach Alice said. “Truly.”

As someone who enjoyed every minute of playing high school sports, Coach Alice wants to support these memorable experiences as much as possible for Westridge student athletes. “I know that for some of our athletes, maybe they get the chance to play collegiate after this. For some, maybe even pro[fessionally], maybe it’s their lifestyle,” she said. “I also know that for many young female athletes, they don’t continue forward past high school. So I want that… feeling to be right here, where they get celebrated, and they see their value, and they can see that they matter in all of this.”

Senior Isabel D., who is the ASB Athletics Head and has played sports all four years of high school, appreciates how the increased visibility of the program is increasing recognition for student athletes. “It’s nice after all these years to get the recognition. Athletes work so hard. It’s not just about doing the sport, but it’s preparing for it, taking care of yourself, [and] getting your work done,” she said.

“I like the new branding and the emphasis on being a student athlete, and how difficult that is,” said Ilyana. “It definitely deserves more recognition within the school, so I really like how they’re advocating for that recognition.”

Just as Coach Alice wanted student athletes to feel acknowledged, she also wanted to make sure that coaches were also getting the recognition they deserved. “One of the things I heard from one of our coaches early on in the year who had been here for quite some time, they were like, ‘Wow, I have never felt more seen… parents actually know who I am,’” said Coach Alice. “They felt more connected to this community, and I think that’s really important, because I think coaches bring so much to our community.”

But despite all of these changes, for Coach Alice, this was just the first step. There’s so much more to come from her and she hopes to bring even more changes to the table. “Year after year, you’re always laying down those bricks, those foundations, one at a time, and before you know it, you look back, you’re like, ‘I’m standing on top of a palace right now,’” said Coach Alice.