This fall, Chris Neier enters his fifth year as athletic director at Malibu High School. He represents the Sharks’ athletic department in official capacities with the school and in its collaboration with the City of Malibu. The Sharks are a member of the California Interscholastic Federation in the Southern Section, and participate in the Tri-Valley League and Frontier League.
With an enrollment of 700 students, Malibu High School has won 43 league titles in all sports since 2000. During Neier’s tenure as athletic director, the girls’ soccer team won the 2010 Division VI championship, while both the boys’ and girls’ water polo teams finished as runners-up in 2009 and 2011.
A 1997 graduate of California State University, Chico, Neier played baseball and basketball while attending high school in Palo Alto, Calif. He played baseball for two years at Chico State before he was drafted by the Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies. Neier spent five years in the minor leagues, where he reached as high as Double-A ball in New Haven, Conn. He played baseball with current Rockies star, Todd Helton.
After an arm injury forced Neier to retire from baseball, he turned his focus to a career in youth recreation sports. For five years he oversaw an after-school sports program at a Palo Alto middle school, and got involved in running adult sports leagues.
After Neier earned his teaching credential in physical education, Malibu High School hired him in the fall of 2007 to be the face of its athletic program. He is responsible for more than half of the school’s student population who participate in sports, as well as its many coaches.
His wife, Bobbi Ross, is an on-campus community service coordinator at Malibu High. They are the parents of Ashley, 6, and Madison, 3. It’s not uncommon to see Neier on campus six days a week, 10 hours a day when sports are in full swing.
The Malibu Times caught up with Neier as he prepares for another year at the helm of the athletic department, to discuss his athletic philosophies and time at the school.
How has your time been at Malibu High School as athletic director?
It’s been great. I love being here. When I first got here, I just wanted the buses to be on time, officials to show up and the schedules to be done. Now that I have that taken care of, I want to take the next step of promoting the school and letting people know in our community that you could be the large fish in a small pond.
We have very competitive teams in a good league. People forget that even though we are a small school, how great the league and games can be. You don’t need to go to these huge schools when you can get the same opportunities right here. We have some outstanding coaches. The kids want to learn and the parents are very supportive.
What is the most important aspect of high school athletics right now?
It’s about building the kids up. It’s not about winning, it’s not about losing. It’s about building their self-esteem, creating new friendships and encouraging them to be the best that they can be. These kids are 14- to 18-years-old. They need to have fun. Building men and women is so important. Teach them the fundamentals of sport and be a role model on the sideline.
Most of the time a student will remember their coach more than they remember their academic teacher. They spend so much more time with them. The coaches know the parents and it becomes a real tight-knit community. Building the kids as people and having the team be a community itself is what is most important.
Talk about the future and your vision of Malibu athletics.
I see us upgrading the athletic facilities. We are doing it now and will continue to do so. We would like to have more state-of-the-art facilities where people come here and are really impressed.
I see us being a small little school powerhouse. That’s where I want to see our school go while emphasizing character-building and winning the right way. We need athletes to play multiple sports and do well. We need to help each other out. If kids play more than one sport, it will help them become a better all-around person. I see our kids growing as the school grows.
Talk about your relationship with the City of Malibu and how it benefits everyone.
It’s been wonderful. I work with Amy Crittenden, Katie Gallo and Bob Stallings who are from the Department of Recreation. We meet two or three times a year. With what we have, we try to fill it as best we can for all of our needs. AYSO [youth soccer] uses our fields throughout the year, especially in the fall and summer. T-ball and softball uses our fields. It’s a good collaboration. They support us financially to help with our fields. We support each other and it’s nice to have everything here.
We are also in the early stages of starting a middle school athletics league here. We are working with the City of Malibu trying to get into a league and having a middle school team, which is really exciting. It would help us and be great for the community.
What are your goals for the athletic program?
My goal this year is to get the word out to our community that we have a great sports program here at Malibu. This is a great place to be. I’m looking for better things to come the next five years.