A perfect spot: Jed Moseman prepares for New Life Academy

Goose bump moments.

There are different times in life where a situation or circumstance gives a person goosebumps. Those goosebumps can cover your arms or legs, but when they happen it's an unforgettable moment.

When Jed Moseman accepted the position to become the new athletic director at New Life Academy, it was a goose bump moment. It was a perfect spot for him and his family.

Now, Moseman is focused on allowing the athletes at New Life Academy and the community surrounding the school to have those goose bump moments. An unforgettable school year filled with moments of victory, learning opportunities and growing in faith with God.

"The teacher in me, and when I got into coaching, the ability to help kids pursue their passions and help them find the joy of pursuing what they really loved," Moseman said. "We always talked about those goose bump moments. As a player, it was the competition and being a part of a group. As a coach, it's watching them pursue their passion and continue striving as a player."

Moseman is familiar with the metro area as he grew up in New Brighton, Minnesota, and attended Irondale High School as a teenager. The thought of competition is what Moseman loved and that pushed him to participate in many different sports including soccer, basketball and track.

Along with playing sports, he knew that someday he wanted to coach sports too. The strategy of figuring out how to win as a coach is what Moseman enjoyed the most and drove him with every position he coached along the way.

After high school, Moseman attended Bethel University where he played soccer and basketball for the university. He enjoyed playing both sports in college because he was able to enjoy competition more until his focus directed towards coaching after his college career.

"The coolest thing for me and what I really like about sports is that it kind of allowed me to see how God had gifted me," Moseman said.

Moseman ended up in the Anoka-Hennepin School District as he taught fifth and sixth grade for a number of years, but he was also able to coach during his time there. He became the girls head basketball coach at Anoka High School for five years and also went back to his alma mater and was the assistant men's basketball coach at Bethel for nine years.

The opportunity to go back to Bethel and coach was an amazing experience for Moseman because he was able to coach college athletes and high school athletes at the same time. He became the biggest fan for each of the student athletes and continued to teach them lessons not only for the sport, but for life as well.

Moseman understands there's more to life than just the sport a person is playing and his goal as a coach was to make the sport exciting, but also understand the lessons that will last a lifetime.

Even though he enjoyed coaching and teaching, Moseman heard about the position opening at New Life Academy for the athletic director and became excited immediately about the future of this school and the opportunity in his life.

"I've had my teaching career here and my coaching career there and my family here and my faith over there and at a public school I couldn't necessarily combine all of those things into one spot," Moseman said. "When the opportunity arose here where I could do all of that, it's an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I loved where I was, but to have all of those things combined under one roof was something I desired since I started teaching 21 years ago."

Moseman is also excited to see his two kids attend New Life Academy because they've been excited to come to this new school all summer long.

Since accepting this new position at New Life, Moseman has been focused on seeing athletics in a new light and not directing so much attention to winning and losing. He believes that if a coach or athlete focuses on one thing and continues looking at the little things, it'll lead to winning games in the future.

Moseman considers himself a lifetime learner and thinks this position could allow him to learn more about athletics at New Life. He doesn't want to change everything because he believes there are many strong aspects in the athletic program from former athletic director Kevin Kleiner.

The main concepts he wants to focus on are supporting the coaches and athletes in any way possible, sharing more techniques between one another, growing a coaching community and, most importantly, growing a pipeline in middle school so high school programs continue growing in numbers.

He also wants to reach out to the elementary school students, so they understand the activities and athletics that are waiting for them in high school. Along with elementary school students, he wants to have middle school and high school students try new things in athletics and activities.

"The phrase I like is that we're going to pursue Godly excellence," Moseman said. "We're going to grow people. We're going to help them grow as athletes. We're going to help them grow as people. We're going to help them grow in their relationships. And we're going to help them grow in their relationship with God."

The goal for Moseman is not to grow students and athletes for their time at New Life Academy, but to grow for a lifetime. He wants to help these students grow for the next five, 10 and 20 years because he understands how important their future is in the long run.

Along with being athletic director, Moseman will also be the boys basketball head coach for the upcoming season. His background on basketball as a coach at Bethel and Anoka makes him excited to continue his passion for coaching, while working on his new passion of directing an athletic program at New Life Academy.

Moseman couldn't hide the smile and the goosebumps when talking about the future of New Life Academy because he knows it's looking bright for many years to come. He hopes those goose bump moments never fade away for students, athletes, coaches, family members and the New Life community because they will continue for him.