WOODBURY –Northwest United Football has a new name–and new coaches. Changing their name to just the Chiefs, Nonnewaug’s co-op Football–with Lakeview High School and Sheapug High School–transitions into a new dynamic.

For seniors, this is a new environment for their team, and it has affected them in a way that they will have to adapt to.

Derek Chung, senior football player, said, “The coaching staff has improved me as a player greatly compared to last year. We focus on every small detail and we have a coach for each position. Making it much easier to be taught your ‘craft’ and be the best player you can be at your position. The coaches also expect us to be excellent in every part of the game which has made every player much better.”

Along with making changes to the new coaches, the team is prioritizing corresponding with each other and becoming leaders on the field.

“Having new coaches puts a lot of responsibility on us,” said football senior captain, Scott Viveros. “This helps make sure the team is ready for practices and hyped up to perform. These roles are given so we can be an athlete led program instead of the coaches constantly trying to run everything.

“The coaches, especially head coach Scott Lynch, is on us about every little thing,” said Brady Herman, a senior football player.

With these new coaches comes new habits at practice, as well as different attitudes coming onto the field every day.

“I think the overall vibe of the team is much better than last year,” said Chung. “People actually want to practice hard, and earn spots. We also watch way more films with the new coaching staff, which makes our approach and mood to practice way better. It allows us to see what each one of us is doing wrong and our coach always says, ‘The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.'”