State of the Athletics: Renovations to gym part of changes coming for Terra Ceia

Published 8:32 am Tuesday, May 20, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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Note: This is the final 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.

TERRA CEIA, N.C. — Terra Ceia Christian School has seemingly always had competitive basketball and volleyball programs at the school. Starting this fall, they’ll be playing in a new-look gymnasium.

The school is making major renovations to its gym, adding new bleachers and a new floor. It’s a building that’s used a lot for other non-athletic activities, too, making the upgrades necessary.

The teams that will play starting this fall will, hopefully, be older and wiser. The programs had to play a lot of younger athletes this season and with just a few seniors graduating, those underclassmen should be even better at the sports they play.

School Athletic Director Grace DeHoog talked about that and much more that’s going on at Terra Ceia.

So let’s talk about what you thought made for a good season at Terra Ceia. What stood out to you about the athletic season?

Overall, I think we had a pretty strong year athletic-wise. Our cross-country teams were repeating champions for multiple years in a row, including this year. And then several of our varsity teams, such as the boys’ and girls’ basketball and then girls’ soccer, placed first in the regular season. We also got third in the conference tournament, so that was pretty good.

“I think we’re on the upward slope of continuing to rebuild our athletic program, which is currently having to rely a lot on young and inexperienced athletes. So we’re trying to get more involvement, and I think in this past year we’ve had a lot of good involvement, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

What were some of the things that you felt like you didn’t quite accomplish or that you felt like you needed to work on? Is it the youth aspect or are there other things that you feel like need working on for the next school year?

The youth is definitely one of the big negatives, especially for girls. Guys generally have more involvement, so we’re really working on trying to get more girls. We had to dip down to fifth-grade girls for basketball, and those are pretty young girls to be on a JV team. So we’re working on getting more willing athletes, and we also have a lot of inexperienced kids who are having to play sports just so we have enough to make a team, which can be very challenging for coaches. We’ve had a lot of great coaches this year who are willing to put in work and the athletes have been willing to put in the work. So one of our biggest goals is to get more involvement out of students and to get them to understand that while sports take up a lot of time, it’s very rewarding.”

What’s the summer going to be like at the school?

Well, a lot of it right now is depending on the gym renovations because we’re putting in a new floor and bleachers during the summer. We’re kind of having to work around that for summer camps. We are excited about hosting a cross country camp. Head coach Mark Cagle is doing that. That’s July 14-18, and there’s going to be like multiple guest speakers, running classes, workouts and then they’re doing a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia for a trail run and then it’ll end with a trip to Bush Gardens. So that’s super exciting. Then, hopefully, I can fit in some volleyball and basketball workouts around that too, and I’m sure they’ll be doing some soccer ones outside.

“So we’re planning on actually starting (the renovations) as soon as graduation is done. We’re hoping to get in there and just tear out all the bleachers and stuff ourselves and then we’ve got to repaint the walls, put a fresh coat of paint on them and then we don’t know when they’re going to be able to install the floor yet. We have it ordered, but it just kind of depends on when they can get to us. It’s going to be a hardwood floor and then we’re going to put in some nicer bleachers.

“It’s all a part of our school’s legacy campaign that they’re doing, and it has multiple steps and will, Lord willing, lead to a new building being added onto the school.”

So what is it you’re most looking forward to for the fall year?

“Other than the gym renovations, we’re mostly just looking forward to participating in all the conference games and stuff. We’re not able to host any tournaments this year, so we may do some basketball tip-off tournaments or something. We’re only losing two senior athletes (Lakin Van Essendelft and Dustin Carrow). For the most part, our athletic program will remain strong. I’m going to be coaching the varsity volleyball, and I’m looking forward to that. But we’re hoping to kind of do the same thing as last year, finish first in the conference regular season and hopefully place better in the tournament.”

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