Fall

Winter

Spring

Brian C. Shay
Athletic Director and PE Teacher
pe@grace-school.net

Coach Shay is a graduate of the University of Dayton with a B.S. in Elementary Education and Marygrove College with a Master’s degree in The Art of Teaching. He also completed his Administrative Degree from the University of Dayton. Coach Shay spent over twenty years in Ohio as a classroom teacher, coach, athletic director and an administrative leader.

In 2010, he was called to leave the education field behind and travel north to Wisconsin to work at Rawhide, a Christian boys’ ranch for troubled teens. After one year, God lead him to Virginia where he spent two years as middle school math teacher in Henrico County Public Schools.

Coach Shay is ardent about seeing people of all ages growing in their relationship with the Lord, experiencing a heart transformation and applying God’s principles to their lives. His personal motto is, “it’s not just about knowing, it is about DOING. It’s not enough to know the will of the Father, it is about living it.” Coach Shay, his wife Angela, and their daughter Ainsley, are members of Fairmount Christian Church.

Rod Crooks
JV and Varsity Girls Volleyball Coach

Coach Crooks, the son of a pastor of 47 years, started coaching volleyball in 1982 in California. He spent 13 years in Christian Education and then shifted to the public schools for 21 years as a Physical Education teacher, coach, Athletic Director and being the FCA club sponsor.  He has coached volleyball for 24 years and has accumulated 513 wins, including multiple district and regional championships. Coach Crooks has coached gymnastics, girls tennis, boys and girls volleyball, softball, baseball, girls basketball, and boys basketball, including a two year stint at Oak Hill Academy as an assistant coach. In his over 28 years of coaching he has coached 90 different teams.

Coach Crooks has always used sports as his platform for sharing the gospel and was blessed to play basketball one summer in Africa with Sports Ambassadors. He strives to point others to Christ in all aspects of his coaching and build athletes of character, not just skill.

Coach Crooks and his wife Gail are members of Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg. He enjoys walking his two dogs, watching sports of all kinds in his stadium room, UVA Volleyball and traveling.

Heather Ferguson
Cross Country Coach

Heather Ferguson is the Director of Student Ministry at Compass Christian Church.  She has a passion for teen ministry, running "all the miles,” competing in OCR (obstacle course races) and living for Christ!  She is married to her high school sweetheart, Brandon and together they are raising their beautiful daughter, Zoey.  Heather loves to run, and loves to encourage teenagers to find their passion on the course as well. She has competed in several world championship 24 hour races, including the Spartan Iceland Ultra, World's Toughest Mudder, and Australia's True Grit Enduro 24 race.  At local races, she is known as the "Start Line Prayer Girl" as she offers a prayer for all the competitors before the race.  One of her favorite verses is 1st Corinthians 9:24. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." She is looking forward to motivating our Kings to dig deeper, trust God more fervently and push harder on and off the trail.

Dwight Hedges
Varsity Boys and Girls Soccer Coach

Coach Hedges is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University in Missouri. He has played soccer and coached soccer teams for over twenty years in many different leagues and schools. He has lived in Mechanicsville for 18 years and is married to his wife, Gretchen, and they have been blessed with four children, Matthew, Bryson, Ethan, and Catherine.  Coach Hedges has had opportunities to coach through RIchmond Strikers, Richmond Kickers, Dynamos Soccer, and Hanover Basketball.

Coach Hedges is passionate about the game of soccer and loves teaching young people the foundations of this sport and to see players grow as an athlete and a person.   Above all else, Coach Hedges wants people to know that Jesus is his everything and wants to see others know Him as their Lord and Savior and to grow in their faith in Christ.

Coach Hedges is employed at Mechanicsville Baptist Church as the Associate Pastor and works in ministry with Children, Youth, Discipleship, Outreach, Recreation and Missions.

Chad Bishop
Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach

Coach Bishop is a graduate of Richard Bland College and Lee Davis High School. He began coaching middle school and JV basketball at The New Community School in 2005. After that, he joined Coach Curt Kassab’s staff at Deep Run High School. At Deep Run, he quickly moved from the freshman team coach to Varsity Associate Head Coach in 2 years. Along the way, he helped to guide Deep Run in back-to-back regional tournament appearances. While there, Coach Bishop had the chance to help develop seven players who went on to play college basketball at levels varying from division 1 through division 3 schools. Coach Bishop was then hired as Lee Davis High School's Head Boys Varsity Coach. In his four years with the program, he transformed a struggling program into a program respected around the area. His time there culminated with the most wins in a single season in 27 years at the school. After his fourth season, he left the school and has been the Director of Basketball for BigShots with VA Elite AAU travel team.

Coach Bishop has personally encouraged dozens of young men who have gone on to play or manage at the college level. Coach Bishop and his family have been members of Mechanicsville United Methodist Church for the last 25 years and have recently been worshiping at Cool Springs Baptist Church.  Chad has been very active with all of the church athletics teams for many years including organizing playing and coaching, he was also a member of the Staff Parrish board. He looks forward to bringing his style of discipline in basketball and a winning team attitude to help develop the young men of Grace in Christ, academics and athletics.

Mary Catherine Piland
Cheerleading Coach

Mrs. Piland is a lifelong resident of Hanover County. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and a Master of Teaching Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She also completed the course work for a Gifted and Talented Endorsement from the University of Virginia.
Before starting her family, she was a classroom teacher with Hanover County Public Schools. Mrs. Piland is a former cheerleader and gymnast with many years of experience. In her free time she enjoys physical fitness, singing, musicals, fishing, baking, and watching college basketball. She and her husband have two children. Mrs. Piland is a member of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Glen Allen, Virginia.

Ed Riley
Girls’ Varsity and Middle School Basketball Coach

The game of basketball is no secret to Coach Ed Riley. From playing basketball for John Marshall high and AAU basketball for Tony Squires, Ed's route to perform at a high level was well on it's way. 

After high school Ed was chosen to be a member of the Christopher Newport University men's basketball program. As a member of CNU, Ed capture the eyes of many people while gaining several accomplishments as a captain. 2006 Six Man of the D3 South Region, 2006 USA South All-Tournament team, 2005-2006 USA South Championship, and 2007 USA South All -Tournament team. While playing at CNU, Ed great IQ and decision making allowed him to gain 750 points in only two seasons. 

After graduating from CNU with B.A. in sociology, Ed took his game to play semi-pro in the EBA for the Delaware Destroyers. After two seasons of play and learning the professional play, Ed decided to come back home to Richmond to teach and share what he was taught. 

Coming home to coach was something that Ed dreamed about while in college. Receiving his first coaching job as the youth director for the Richmond Midnight Basketball League was priceless. Staying there for 3 years, Ed grew the program from 15 kids to 60 kids. After expanding the Richmond Midnight Basketball League, Ed was ask to be the middle school girls and boys coach for Thompson Middle school in the city of Richmond. Taking the girls program from a record of 1-8 to 5-4 and the boys program from 2-7 to 6-3, the growth of two seasons assisted Ed in receiving the junior varsity head coach position at Armstrong High school in the city of Richmond. 

After a year there and a great time of learning different coaching styles and methods, Ed was ask to be the assistant coach of the varsity girls at TPLS Christian Academy in Midlothian. Studying the game under Coach Mike Davis, Ed increased his basketball IQ and knowledge of coaching to another level. Loving the training and skill development of the game of basketball, Ed developed his own training program, Hoops Basketball Academy. Designed to teach the fundamentals, increase self-esteem & confidence, and develop and sharpen players basketball IQ, Ed saw the need to teach the game instead of coaching to win.