Rob Flick (left) has his eye on Spence Massey during a 2019 Tiftarea basketball game.

CHULA — When Tiftarea Academy started softball conditioning Tuesday, there was one new face to greet them. Rob Flick is taking over as head coach of the team.

Flick isn’t really a new face. A physical education teacher at Tiftarea, he has been assisting basketball and baseball the last three years and he is also an alumnus of the school.

He takes over for Chance Benson in the role. Benson had been coaching baseball and softball and will retain his baseball post. In his one season in charge, Benson led the Lady Panthers to the GISA state final four in Class AAA.

Flick said he was very excited to get this opportunity. This is his first head coaching position.

“I’ve been learning under Chance for a while,” he said.

Flick has not long  been out of high school, which has its advantages, he said. “I can relate to them, being younger,” he said. “But they understand what I expect out of them.”

He said he realized in college he wanted to be a coach. Flick had reached out to then-boys basketball head coach Dan Henderson to see if he needed any help on the bench. “Once I started, it was kinda obvious what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said. 

Flick will continue assisting with baseball and basketball.

The early conditioning drills have restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic. Flick said players had to stand six feet apart. They are not allowed to pick up any sport-specific equipment, but can lift weights. Tiftarea built a weight room for its female athletic teams in 2018.

Carrie Phillips and Cindy Harbort will be assisting the squad in 2020.

Tiftarea won’t be doing as much travel as in recent years. Because of a lack of Class AAA-sized schools, the GISA took the Lady Panthers out of their regular softball region two years ago and put them into a three-team region with John Milledge Academy and Westfield. That has been changed, he said.

Terrell Academy, Southwest Georgia Academy, Valwood, Southland Academy, Westwood, Brookwood and Crisp Academy will make up the region.

 If all goes according to plan, the Lady Panthers are set to start the regular season Aug. 4 at home against Fullington Academy.