Leadership a recurring theme with Methuen sports in ’25

As we dive headlong into 2026, it is a fitting time to look back on some of the personalities and characters featured in Sports Blitz in 2025. As I went through some of the interviews and stories, there seemed to be a running theme with many of the athletes and coaches interviewed. It is a fitting subject as we all look for direction and guidance from those in positions of responsibility. That theme is leadership.

In February, I interviewed Methuen High School boys’ basketball varsity head coach Ryan Middlemiss. While this was his first season coaching the Ranger varsity boys, Middlemiss has coached for years at several levels. The coach’s first words to his new team set a leadership tone.

Middlemiss explained, “My most important message was about being great people and great teammates, and to be a great representation of the community of Methuen – hard-working, selfless and able to fight through adversity. Most important, it was about helping these young adults develop into great people.”

It’s no surprise that one of Middlemiss’ players, guard Lennon Abreu De La Cruz, shared a similar thought process in his concept of leadership.

“I feel as if I am a role model for the other players, whether it’s on or off the court,” said Abreu De La Cruz. “I take pride in making sure my teammates are physically and mentally prepared for every practice or game. I am also a positive, upbeat and outgoing teammate.”

Leadership is often shown not by talking to others, but by finding strength within oneself. In April of this year, MHS wrestler Janessa Santiago talked about being a female on a male-dominated team and sport.

She stated, “It was hard when I first started. Some kids accepted me and some didn’t.

“Before this season, I had only taken first place twice in my wrestling career. I started thinking that I was not good enough. Then, I just got tired of that feeling. This was my senior year. There was no going back. I had to lock in, and I knew what time it was. In wrestling, it’s you against the other person on the mat, no one else, just you and your opponent.”

This leadership-driven desire to overcome challenges also lives in the hearts and spirit of Methuen’s Unified athletes. Unified Sports teams at MHS consist of a combination of special education student-athletes and mainstream students who serve as partners.

In June, Ryan King, a second-year Unified track athlete running the 400M and 100M, talked about the self-esteem gained from his experiences on the team: “It has been great, and I’m very proud of myself. It was very exciting. I like my team and have good friends on the team. It’s fun to compete with my friends. My coaches encouraged me and cheered me on. They gave me confidence.”

In summer 2025, one of the most encouraging and supportive people ever in Methuen sports decided to leave the Methuen Youth Basketball Association (MYBA). After more than 12 years in the program and nearly a decade as president, Dan Labelle decided it was time to step down from his position and leave the league altogether.

Talk about leadership. Labelle was the epitome of this word in his tenure on the MYBA Board. He talked to me about exercising leadership in one particularly difficult situation.

“One of the first things I had to do as president was cut my own sons Jason and Jonathan from the travel program. That was as tough as it gets, but I explained to my wife that if they weren’t good enough, I couldn’t keep them due to my position,” he said. “If my kids got cut because of politics, and they were deserving of making it, we would be extremely upset. After a week of me sleeping on the couch, she understood and agreed!”

The positive effect of a coach and leader like Labelle is immeasurable.

When Methuen/Tewksbury Red Rangers girls’ hockey coach and MHS guidance counselor Dave O’Hearn passed away at age 48 on July 29 of this year, a huge chunk of Ranger Road’s leadership went with him. In the September edition of Sports Blitz, MHS Athletic Director Tom Ryan talked about O’Hearn’s leadership acumen.

“He was not afraid to voice his displeasure at a referee if a call was incorrect,” said Ryan. “He wanted the girls to know that he had their backs. He loved hockey and it showed all the time. Dave could be a very demanding coach. He wasn’t afraid to give his players tough love, but always remembered to make the experience fun for the girls on his team. As a leader, Dave will be remembered for caring about kids and helping them in any way that he could.”

Assistant Coach Ryan Sheehy succeeded O’Hearn as head coach of the Red Rangers. He talked to Sports Blitz about drumming up the leadership to speak to his players following O’Hearn’s passing.

“It was certainly difficult,” he related. “Shortly after we found out Dave had passed, we all got together to just hang out. We didn’t talk about anything really. It was just to be together during a very difficult time.

“We were all together at the wake and funeral. A little while later, we met to discuss moving forward. It was clear to us that even though Coach Dave would physically not be with us, he would never leave our hearts and minds. I made it clear that I had mixed emotions about being named interim head coach, and I think the girls understood that.”

The Methuen High School boys’ soccer team, led by their terrific head coach Henry Marin, has always had players step up as leaders. This past October, one of those players, senior co-captain and midfielder Yaseen Dakiri told us about his own personal leadership style.
He stated, “As a captain I try to lead by example. I help lift my teammates’ heads up and keep them motivated. My role on the team is to have everyone play to their full potential and die for the badge.

“We are a family and always try to do team bonding because we know it’s going to help us on the field. The team’s performance this year is great. We faced tough competition, learning from both wins and losses. Overall, we are growing and getting better every day. We battle for each other and bleed for each other.”

The local football world lost a true giant Oct. 21 with the passing of Ed Thomas at the age of 82. With more than 30 years of coaching and 44 years of overall volunteerism to the Methuen Pop Warner football program, Thomas’s true legacy resides in the people whom he mentored and influenced.

Chuck Silva, a longtime Methuen athlete and coach, was one of these people. Silva talks about the lifelong influence of Thomas’s leadership: “Ed was my Pop Warner Football coach for three years. He was a great leader, and he always made others better as a result of his presence. In my adulthood, Ed became a dear family friend for over 35 years.

“He supported me as a coach through my football career and continued his support as I became a coach for Pop Warner, attending football games in support of my children. That impact will be everlasting in his absence.”

Fortunately, Methuen is filled with strong, dedicated and inspiring coaches like the late Ed Thomas. At the top of this list is Pam Bryant. A longtime parent and supporter of Methuen athletics, Bryant is the head coach of the MHS Unified basketball team, a program that began in 2020. Bryant also assists head coach Ryan Middlemiss with the aforementioned Unified track and field team. She has been doing this while battling stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer since this past spring.

Bryant and her family are all about leadership. Pam and her husband Bill have always been at the forefront and on the frontlines working hard to create a better Methuen for youth and high school athletes, even after their own children graduated.

In a November interview, Pam talked about what she has gotten in return for taking a lead role in the Unified program. We will give her the last word on leadership as we bid farewell to 2025 and look forward to another great year of Methuen sports in 2026. Said Bryant, “Being a coach means more than teaching basketball. It means creating an environment where all students can feel the rush of athletic competition and teamwork. Seeing the camaraderie between students with and without intellectual disabilities is my deepest reward. They are competing hard, supporting each other, and breaking down barriers with every dribble and pass. That collective happiness and competitive spirit is the whole point of unified sports, and it’s what makes me so incredibly proud of every single kid on this team.”

 

John Molori is an author, columnist, and a 2011 inductee into the Methuen Athletic Hall of Fame. Facebook: John Molori, Twitter @MoloriMedia. E-mail molorimedia@gmail.com.