April 30, 2024
Tavares High’s Charisa Watson Named FCA’s North Lake County Coach of the Year
By Kyle Coppola
Tavares High’s Charisa Watson Named FCA’s North Lake County Coach of the Year
Tavares High School’s Charisa Watson has been named as the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) North Lake County Coach of the Year. Coach Watson has demonstrated time after time her commitment to the student-athletes. Be it athletically, spiritually, or personally she has always been there for students at not just Tavares High but all over Lake County.
(Charisa Watson stands with her family. She was awarded with the FCA’s Coach of the Year Award last evening.)
Charisa Watson is Tavares High School’s Mental Health Teacher. She knows a thing or two about a healthy mind and a healthy body. Charisa is the coach of the Tavares Cross-Country teams. “Charisa is so deserving of this award. She does a great job with her kids. She is an amazing woman,” says Tavares High Athletic Director Tracey Hanson.
“To be a coach is something I never wanted to take for granted, and FCA allows me to not only coach but disciple and speak life over our student-athletes. I am blessed to also be awarded besides two amazing seniors that I’ve had the privilege to watch grow into BOLD leaders and make a huge difference on our school campus!” says Charisa.
(Charisa Watson “Right” stands to accept her award for the FCA Coach of the Year.)
With all of the help that Charisa receives she was very thankful to one person in particular who has gone above and beyond to help her. “Thank you Bobby D. Rowe for being an outstanding FCA Director and all that you do to make the name of Jesus known in our public schools!” says Charisa.
Alongside Charisa Watson two Tavares students received FCA awards. The Servant Leadership Awards of North Lake County went to Jonathan Metheny while the FCA North Lake MVP of North Lake County went to Elle Hart. Both students are viewed as some of the best young up-and-coming youth that Tavares has to offer.
(From Left to Right – Elle Hart, Charisa Watson and Jonathan Metheny.)
Jonathan Metheny is the son of Michelle Metheny who does a lot of work within our community with the Unified Special Olympics. He certainly learns from the best on how to best serve our community.
Not to be lost in all of this is the impact that Athletic Director Tracey Hanson has had on Tavares High School. Under her leadership Tavares High School has shown a digital presence online that has got students’ names out in the community. The sports programs have also had success under her leadership including the Baseball, Football, and Cross-Country teams. The football team in particular went from a 0-10 season in 2022 to a 5-5 team in 2023.
Hanson and her team have also been big supporters of the Tavares High Best Buddies & Unified Special Olympics at the school. Unified Special Olympics Sports have been a huge success at Tavares High. From state championship-winning teams, so much work has been done at the school to allow these children to have success. It’s just natural that Tavares High was honored with such pride last night with some very deserving award winners. Tavares High has a very dedicated group of teachers, coaches and leadership that continues to evolve in a positive direction.
We want to congratulate both Coach Charisa Watson, Elle Hart, and Jonathan Metheny for their contributions to our great Lake County community and to Tavares High School.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
