Ocean – Cam Ormsby didn't just come home, he joined the family business.
The Stella native is Croatan's new girls soccer coach after working in youth sports development in Onslow County.
“I'm glad to be home,” he said. “This was a unique situation and ultimately an easy decision.”
He replaces Paul Slater, who coached the girls for 16 years. Slater will continue to coach the men's team.
Ormsby has already experienced, and will continue to experience, full-circle moments.
In addition to being his first coach in the county, he also teaches here at Broad Creek Middle School. This is something the Ormsby family has been working on for some time.
“The classroom I was assigned was the first classroom my mother taught at when Broad Creek opened,” he said. “It's kind of cool sitting in the same room.”
Both of his parents have been teachers in the county for more than 30 years.
His mother, Kitty, served at White Oak Elementary School, Broad Creek, and currently works at Swansboro High School.
His father, Grady, attended West Carteret and then spent more than 20 years at Morehead City Middle School.
Ormsby had planned to head west as a student (Croatan was not yet established at that point) after stopping in White Oak and Broad Creek, but followed his teammates on the youth recreation and ball teams to Swansboro. I decided to head there.
The move paid off. As a team captain, he helped the Pirates win back-to-back state championships in 1995 and 1996.
He will soon be competing against Doug Kidd, his alma mater and longtime friend who hired Ormsby at Watauga High School for his first student coaching job. Ormsby met his wife Jenny there.
“It's going to be pretty good to play against him this spring,” he said.
That's not the only connection.
At Croatan, he works alongside longtime tennis coach Jim Sheehan, who spent 33 years in Swansboro as a teacher, coach and director of athletics.
“The other night we were in a coaches meeting and there was a guy there who was my physical education teacher and the AD at my school, and now we're colleagues,” he said. .
Ormsby, who was a member of the Appalachian State soccer team from 1999 to 2002 and served as team captain as a senior, coached the Mountaineers for two years and then taught and coached for more than two years at Alexander Central High School (2004) -2006) After Watauga.
He then spent four years as an assistant coach at Bucknell University.
Paul Payne, the Croatian's current assistant coach, was the head coach for 19 seasons (1999-2017) at Bloomsburg University, located less than 30 miles east of Bucknell.
“He was about 30 minutes away,” Ormsby said. “He is a leader and has a great leadership pedigree.”
Ormsby also counts former White Oak coach Buddy Carroll and former Jacksonville coach Dave Miller as longtime friends.
“They were coaching with me in JASA (Jacksonville Area Soccer Association),” he said.
Kidd also worked for JASA.
“All those guys are my friends,” Ormsby said.
He spent 16 years working in youth soccer development with the Onslow Classical Soccer Association (OCSA), Olympic Development Program (ODP) and JASA.
“I loved coaching in college, I loved the game, I loved the game,” he said. –It was the best. However, my passion is player development. I love developing better human resources and better citizens. Winning and losing is fun, but I love watching my kids grow into good people. ”
The Ormsby family is a soccer family.
His wife played at North Carolina State University.
“As far as my kids go, she's the best coach in the family, even though I coach professionally. I don't argue with them because I know better. No,” he said.
His son Pierce and daughter Ademie also play sports.
“It's nice to see my daughter's face light up when the girls pay her attention during practice,” he said. “As a father, it's cool. They're part of something bigger than themselves and are serving as good role models for her.”
Ormsby also said he is looking forward to having his parents come to games regularly again.
“I have warned the parents of the girls not to speak ill of the head coach who made such a rash decision because the parents will be in the stands,” he said.
