Sports as Ministry
Cardinal Gibbons provides meaningful participation opportunities for all students, with offerings ranging from recreational intramurals to championship-caliber competition for college-bound athletes. At all levels, we strive to make athletics a formational experience for students and parents. Our program is about more than winning championships. Our success is measured by how well our programs further the mission of our school and how we choose to use the talents and gifts that we have been blessed to receive.
Watch: Playing Sports in College Webinar
Video recording of this overview of the athletic recruiting process including NCAA eligibility criteria and considerations when deciding to play a sport in college.
Playing Sports in College: All You Need to Know
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Learn about NCAA eligibility, hear from Kenny King, an Academic Coordinator in the Athletics department at Duke University along with Gibbons alumni and parents of alumni who have gone on to play college sports. They will discuss what it is like to be a student athlete, how the recruiting process worked for them and advice they have for current Gibbons students. Our guests will also answer your questions in a Q&A.
Watch the Video
Learn more about our Legacy & Mission
Why Cardinal Gibbons?
50
different teams in 27 sports
16
State Wells Fargo Cup awards for overall excellence
900+
124
total State Championships
100%
Programs involved in service, outreach & season leadership retreats
1
37
2021 grads playing college sports
26
Gibbons alums coaching with school
Athletics Staff
Athletic Director
Tonya Holmes was recently appointed Athletic Director at Cardinal Gibbons. Holmes is a nationally certified athletic administrator (CAA) and holds her Master’s in Sport Management along with 8 years of experience in athletic administration. Tonya will be taking on the day-to-day operational duties of the athletic department including facility management and will be the point person for all athletic personnel.
Prior to Cardinal Gibbons to she was the Associate Athletic Director at Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh and Operations Manager at UNC Chapel Hill-Housing. She has over 10+ year of coaching experience at the high school varsity level in 3 sports: volleyball, track & field, and basketball. Tonya joined Triangle Volleyball Club in 2011 and has served as an assistant coach at the 14s, 16s, 17s, and 18s age groups. Most recently, she helped to lead 18 Blue to qualify for USAV nationals in the 2018 season.
Athletic Director
In her role as Athletic Director, Tonya oversees the day-to-day operations of our program, serving as the primary point-of-contact for athletic personnel and parents. Athletic program responsibilities include staffing, program supervision, event management, facility management, scheduling, NCHSAA compliance and student eligibility.
Athletics Operations Coordinator
Patricia transitioned from technology to athletics in 2021. In her new role, Patricia will support athletic operations by managing rosters, travel logistics, eligibility, and NCHSAA compliance. Patricia will also assist with communication and partner with team parent volunteers.
Athletic Operations Coordinator
Roster management, event management and support, travel logistics, student-athlete eligibility, FinalForms support, onboarding of coaches, and management of officials. Patricia will also assist with communication and partner with team parent volunteers.
Interim Director of Athletics Culture
Led by Dean Monroe, our Interim Director of Athletics Culture, Gibbons Athletics continues to grow and expand the scope of our athletic leadership and student-athlete development programs.
Dean is a nationally certified athletics administrator (CMAA) who brings with him more than 25 years experience in secondary school athletics administration. Dean previously coached numerous sports at Gibbons, including varsity football and the boys' and girls' varsity basketball teams, and also served Gibbons as Athletic Director from 1990 through 2012. He returned to Gibbons in 2016, after serving four years as Athletic Director at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh.
Dean's focus is helping student-athletes and coaches grow as leaders, and ensuring that students' participation in athletics focuses on living out the school's mission in the classroom, on the playing field, and in the community. Dean will also increase efforts to connect alumni with Gibbons through athletics, and will work in partnership with the Advancement Department and Alumni Coordinator. Those efforts include developing new programs and enhancing existing ones that connect alumni with faculty, coaches and peers.
Director of Sports Medicine
David Mills serves as the lead Athletic Trainer and Director of Sports Medicine for Cardinal Gibbons. Mills has established Cardinal Gibbons as an early adopter and leading advocate for a number of high school sport safety and health initiatives over a 22 year tenure. Mills is responsible for training Gibbons' staff in the use of CPR/AED life-saving techniques, screening of athletes, Return to Play protocols, cognitive baseline testing for head injury evaluation, as well as day-to-day injury care, prevention and rehabilitation.
In addition, Mills is also the Director of Sports Medicine at Shaw University, where he oversees the athletic training and athletic trainer student staff, while serving as the University and NCAA Drug testing site coordinator. He currently owns a sports medicine and athletic training consultant firm that is located in the Raleigh-Durham area.
Mills received his Associate of Science in Biology and Biology Sciences from Lees-McRae College in 1985, following a Bachelor of Science in Pre-Medicine and Pre-Medical Studies from North Carolina State University in 1989.
He obtained his masters from Liberty University in 2016.
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Director of Leadership & Legacy
Chris Morland has led the Strength & Conditioning program at Cardinal Gibbons High School since 2014, where he also teaches Health & Physical Education. With a MS in Human Performance from the University of Tennessee, Chris is an advocate for the important role of high school teachers and coaches in promoting physical literacy for all students.
Morland has transformed the Gibbons' Strength program into a national model for high school athletic programs, earning the Strength of America Award, a designation reserved for the top 1% of programs in the country. Morland is responsible for redesigning the Gibbons' Strength & Conditioning curriculum, successfully piloting a 9th grade functional movement program as an alternative to standard PE, as well as an Honors option for advanced Strength students interested in pursuing Strength & Conditioning in college. Morland has also led a mentoring program for newly certified strength coaches, providing young professionals an opportunity to gain practical experience working directly with Cardinal Gibbons' sport coaches and students.
Prior to joining Cardinal Gibbons, Chris Morland served as a Strength & Conditioning Coach for 9 years at North Carolina State University.