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Note: This is the fifth in a series of stories where we talk to each high school athletic director in Beaufort County. We asked them about this season, the offseason, what they are looking forward to for the start of the fall season and more.

CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — Unity Christian Academy has a bright future ahead of it. Athletics Director Joey Craft seems certain of that.

The Warriors’ program has seen its share of ups and downs this past season but there are a lot of positives to look forward to in 2025-26. Craft said they will add additional bleachers to the gym to fill the demand of fans who come to watch them play. There will be a boys’ soccer program starting this fall, too.

Craft will take over as girls’ basketball coach with the retirement of Ken Leys. Other changes and tweaks will take place over the summer and into the fall, which brings a level of excitement to the school.

Craft spoke with us about those and other topics about the UCA athletic school year.

Tell me about the things that worked well for the athletic department and for athletics in general at Unity.

“I think our girls’ volleyball program has continued to grow and continue to become more and more solid. We had a really, really strong team three years ago, and I think we graduated six or seven seniors, and so it’s been kind of rebuilding since then. This year was a strong year, and looking forward to, you know, building on that.

“We were able to host the middle school volleyball tournament. This year was the second year. It was bigger than it was last year. UCA didn’t win it, but we brought in, I thought, better competition, you know, bringing in Bath and P.S. Jones was a good move, and I think they both enjoyed it. Obviously, P.S. Jones enjoyed it because they won, but I think I’ve heard positive things from both of them, and they both plan to come back this September.

“We started the JV girls’ basketball team. I actually coached that and because our varsity girls have been struggling. 2018-19 season, we had a team that went 22-0, 21-0, something like that, and we won three tournaments. We just had a really strong year, but ever since then, our girls’ basketball program has gone down, and it’s because we’re playing these young girls up against older girls. We had some honest conversations with some of our athletes, and said let’s start JV girls, and we had a really good year. Finished the season as regular-season conference champions.

“We had varsity boys’ basketball, which we haven’t had for a few years. Kind of the same reason because we were kind of young and didn’t have the numbers in 10th through 12th grade range.

“We built on boys’ volleyball. This year, the boys were able to not only win their first set but win their first match. I just think we’re turning in the right direction and being able to offer things that we haven’t always been able to or haven’t offered in years.”

Was there anything potentially negative?

“I would say youth is one of them, but, I mean, depending on how you look at it, that could also be a positive. And so I think we were at a big disadvantage because a lot of these kids honestly haven’t played, you know, sports, I’m thinking specifically basketball.

“I’ve got several kids that are on our varsity teams this past year that, before they came here, did not play any kind of organized basketball. And so inexperienced youth, you know, lack of sport-specific IQ, I think.”

Are you going to be doing any kind of organized summer camps?

“So we don’t have anything set yet. We have discussed some different camps in terms of just team camps here for students who are interested. We’ve discussed, you know, open camps just for the community. Of course, you know, our church here does Upward (Sports). And so that might be kind of a step away for some of that. I think we will certainly do some workouts and conditioning, you know, come in, do some drills this summer and hope to also, even if it’s, you know, we bring in a handful of college players and they just really work with the kids on a couple of drills or something like that.”

Do you have any capital projects or anything that you’ve got to work on?

“Yeah, we actually are adding more bleachers to our gym this summer. Probably in the early August time frame, we’ll have to do some renovating of our current setup. But one thing that we noticed with the middle school volleyball tournament, specifically because that’s kind of been the biggest one we’ve hosted so far, was that, and we hosted a basketball tournament at the beginning of the season. With those two, we noticed that seats are really filling up. We have our kindergarten through fifth-grade girls, we have a little Warriors cheer squad. And man, that brings in so many people, which is awesome. I love it. And, you know, they’re supporting the athletic program just by being there. We’ll be ready to roll when volleyball season gets here.”

It sounds like you’ve got a lot of things to look forward to with the next school season. What stands out the most?

“I guess boys soccer in a sense, because that’s something new. The bleachers will be in place. So that’s something new. This takes me back to when I was a kid in school. I just always loved back to school. I always loved the season. And, you know, it gets pretty quiet around here in the summertime. And it’s always nice when the kids come back. And so I really enjoyed our fall and winter sports. They are grueling on my schedule. But man, it’s so fun to go out and watch those kids compete and use the gifts that God has given them to not just represent their families and the school well, but ultimately represent Christ.”