Dave Cunningham is Trojans Assistant

Dave Cunningham is Chad Cluver's new assistant coach of the basketball Maroa-Forsyth Trojans, succeeding Chad's brother, Rennie, who resigned at the end of the Trojans state basketball championship season to become a principal in the district.

"He shares our same philosophies," said Cluver in discussing his new assistant, who will coach the junior varsity team and assist him and Phil Applebee with the varsity.

"He is really into defense as we are," said Cluver when asked about his new assistant, who is senior pastor of the Harvest Community Church in Maroa and founder of Sports4Him, a Christian sports ministry.

Cunningham is also a former basketball coach at Springfield's Calvary Academy and Ursuline high schools as well as once assisting at Roxana and Ursuline.

He played his college ball at Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, PA.  It plays in the NCAA III North Eastern Conference, the same league that Keystone College competes in where present Millikin men's basketball head coach Marc Smith coached.

His playing highlight came when he scored 35 points in a game against Keystone which was before the three-point line started.

"I look forward to joining the coaching staff at Maroa-Forsyth," said Cunningham.  "Coach Cluver and Coach Applebee are outstanding coaches, who have led the program to the pinnacle  of high school basketball in the state.

"As the junior varsity (JV) coach, freshman coach and varsity assistant, I hope to contribute to the future success of the program as my primary responsibilities will be to teach and coach the underclassmen.

"As a coach, I have always tried to instill a great work ethic in my players.  I share the philosophy that good defense produces good offense.

"For me, the true joy of coaching is being a positive, influential part of the overall development of my players.  I am a firm believer in good preparation, mental toughness and proper execution which are all necessary components for on-the-court success.

"But in the big scheme of things, I am much more concerned with my players' ultimate development as a person," said Cunningham.  "There is nothing more special to a coach than to have a former player come back and share about the impact you have had on their life."

Cunningham founded Sports4Him in 2006 to encourage and equip local churches as they seek to minister to athletes, coaches and sports fans.  "Recent statistics show that 96 percent of Americans either say they themselves are a lover of sports or have someone special in their life that loves sports.  The love of athletics is one of the great common denominators in our country," said Cunningham.