WESTBROOK – This spring, the Westbrook softball team will be led by a new coach who will be looking to lead the Blazes to the postseason.

Dee Regan comes to Westbrook from Portland High School, where she was the Bulldogs’ softball coach for the past three seasons. While she is new to coaching in Westbrook, she is not unfamiliar with the school or its sports programs as her husband and brother-in-law both coach at the school, and Regan said that family connection was a factor in her coming to the school.

Q: How many years have you been coaching?

A: I have been coaching softball now for six years-this will be my seventh. My first softball job was as a JV coach at Falmouth High School in 2005. I also coach basketball and soccer at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland where I work as an ed tech in the functional life skills classroom.

Q: What got you started in coaching?

A: Ed Feeney, the longtime Portland High School girls basketball coach, got me into coaching. He needed a freshmen girls basketball coach the winter that I finished at St. Joseph’s College and asked me to do it. He has always been a role model for me and an important person in my life, so to have the opportunity to coach with him for a few years was amazing. I have learned so much from him about coaching and life in general and I’m thankful that he got me started with coaching, as it is something I love to do.

Q: Before coming to Westbrook, what were some of the highlights of your coaching career?

A: The major highlights in my coaching career so far have been building relationships with the girls that I coach. It’s great when they graduate and move on from high school, but keep coming back and visiting during school breaks and vacations to keep in touch. It’s very rewarding as a coach. Another highlight in my coaching career were the spring trips to Florida with the Falmouth softball team.

Q: What attracted you to the Westbrook position?

A: The Westbrook position interested me for a lot of reasons. I like how the Westbrook community really values and supports their student-athletes. Westbrook has a very nice feeder program with the middle school and the Little League programs, which is important for the high school level and helps with numbers in the program. The facilities are well maintained and directly at the high school. My husband, Joe Allen, is on the high school football staff, so I found myself always in the Westbrook area and at sporting events. Also, my brother in law, Andy Lefebvre, is the high school girls soccer coach. I had conversations with both of them about Westbrook and they were both very encouraging and positive about the Westbrook athletic department.

Q: What do you most enjoy about coaching?

A: What I love most about coaching is building relationships with the student-athletes.

Q: What are your goals for this season?

A: One of my goals for the season is to be competitive in every game and improve throughout the season. I would love to make the playoffs. I want everyone involved in the program to have a positive experience, including girls at the middle school and Little League levels. In my first season, I’m looking forward to working with the middle school coaches so that we are coaching the same fundamentals and using the same language.