David Tastor is an English and IB World Religions teacher as well as a JV soccer coach at Granite Bay High School.

   The responsibility of having two jobs on campus comes with having to wake up early and stay up late.

  “There is a lot of time invested. I have to get things ready, make sure the game plan is prepared, make sure all the equipment is taken care of and the fields are set up. By the time you get home, it’s 7:30-8 p.m. They end up being long days,” Tastor said.

  Even with all the stress, he doesn’t let his two jobs interfere with each other and is very committed to both.

  “Practices were an hour and a half after school and games were even longer, but he took time out of his day to coach us. He never let teaching interfere with soccer and vice versa, which made us become better players. It meant a lot,” freshman Brynn Sommer said.

   The sport also inspires his lessons and the way he teaches his freshman class, English 9.

  “He will show videos (of soccer games) in class to teach us about perseverance or observation. I liked when he did this because it was a nice break from the regular teaching and made the class a lot more fun,” freshman Ashley Ryder said.

   Tastor said that at the end of the day it is all worth it, despite any challenges.

 “I like teaching kids, I like to see kids learn and grow and I like to see the same thing on the field with players. With students and athletes, I get a wide variety of kids with different skill sets and its interesting to watch them develop as people, so that’s why I do what I do,” Tastor said.