Devin Bradshaw
Papers everywhere, scattered all across the desk. Two computers open full of information and pages open. In the Physical Education Complex, out a big window behind the computers you can look out and see a couple of trees and students filing in from the parking lot.
This is the office of Amir Law, LPC’s athletic director. It feels like he’s been here for a while. But this has only been abode for a year now. Diligence fills the ambiance as much as the white walls. He’s been on the grind trying to elevate the Hawks’ athletic program. His energy is still high, even on this gloomy April day in Livermore.
Law’s tireless work ethic has left a mark on the department. The results are starting to show, even new sports are coming.
The Express caught up with Law to discuss his vision of the department.
Q: How do you feel in your second year at LPC?
A: I feel good, I’m from southern California, so it’s a little bit different. We don’t get weather like this down there. Down there it’s warm and hot, we don’t get rain and all the stuff up here, outside of the weather the family is settling in.
We have great colleagues to work with, we are rounding out our leadership teams on campus, we’ve had a few interim positions that have been open for a while, but were getting permanent people in positions and I’m enjoying my time here at LPC.
l about the direction of all the athletics?
A: I definitely think that our programs are performing well on the court and also in the classroom.
I know typically our average gpa for all of our student athletes is between a 3.0 and a 3.5 in regards to their academic success, so I’m very happy with their performance in the classroom.
On the court I know this year is probably our most successful year as an entire department. I know our women’s soccer team went undefeated in conference and they moved on to the playoffs and our men’s soccer team went to the second round of the playoffs, our men’s basketball team were a northern California sweet 16 team, our women’s basketball team had some improvement from last year, they’re still looking for that playoff berth. And our swim and dive programs, they’re in season right now and they’re expected to win another coast conference championship and also to perform pretty well at states in may.
Our cross-country teams also did fairly well as individuals in their state performance. As a whole our athletic program, I feel is going pretty well. A good number of our students earn scholarships to 4 year schools. One of our men’s basketball players worked out for cal and is going on a couple trips this week in regards to signing to 4 year schools. Another one of our men’s basketball players signed a scholarship with Tulsa, a division I program.
So, I think we’re doing pretty well, we don’t have any state titles to our name but we have a large number of students that move on to the 4 year level with their school paid for, which is OK in my book.
As an athletic admin for the same school, so that’s where my athletic background is. But I also taught in the school of business down there and I have my MBA and I have a masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration As well as a doctorate in educational leadership with a focus on community colleges. So when the job popped up as the dean of business, health, athletics, work experience, and kinesiology. I said wait a minute I have a masters in business, I have a masters in athletics. I might be a good fit for the job so I applied. They liked me I liked them and now I’m here.
Q: What do you plan on doing within the next year or two?
A: One of the things that were are trying to do with the athletic programs is essentially run it as the first two years of a students 4 year athletic career.
So what we’ve been able to do the last year is stream the majority of our home games live online. We’re looking at revamping our facilities, no major build out, but just making them look nicer. With paint and decals and upping what the place looks like a little bit. And really establishing our athletic program as a premier athletic program in the state of California. Our teams win a lot in the regular season, win a lot in the postseason and everyone’s chasing that coveted state title. It’s a mix of luck and talent to get that coveted state title but I know with the players the coaches are bringing in, we have state championship title talent. It’s just a matter of having all the chips fall into place.
So for us some of the tangible things we have in place that we want to do in the next couple of years we want to host the state championships again, the first year we’ll be able to do that is 2020.
So we want to host state championships for all the sports, so we can get people on our campus so they can see what Las Positas is all about. What we notice is that when we have state championships on our campus and our players are watching those state championships on their own court, on their own field and in their own pools it kind of motivates them to work harder because it burns a little bit when you’re watching the state championship games at your home and you aren’t playing in it. So for us we want to get those folks on campus, to get exposure for our campus and get exposure for our students. Also it just makes sense.
We want to put LPC on the map for a variety of good things and we know with athletics we can do that.
