From playing lineman on the undefeated 1996 CIF football team to becoming a teacher and coach at Diamond Bar High School, alumnus Albert Lim has taken quite a journey to become the school’s athletic director.

 Class of 1996 Brahma, Lim was an avid athlete during his time at DBHS, as he participated in football, wrestling and an outside basketball league. He played football for all four years on the offensive and defensive line while he wrestled for three years.

As a student, Lim felt that his time playing sports impacted him more than the hours spent in his academic classes.

“I was fortunate to have great coaches, great mentors. A lot of the coaches impacted me. [The coaches] really made who I am in terms of my characters and work ethics,” Lim said.

Through sports, Lim developed noncognitive skills, such as goal setting, working under pressure and being more mindful in athletics.

“All [those skills] developed a foundation of my character, which allowed me to excel in some other careers I got involved in after high school,” Lim said.

 For the four years he was in the Army, Lim already had the self discipline expected from a soldier due to his experiences playing sports. Lim then attended UC Irvine from 2002 to 2004, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology, law and society. Right after college, he became a social worker.

Returning to DBHS in 2009, Lim served as an assistant football coach until 2012.

He was also a strength and conditioning coach for the last seven years and in the classroom as an intervention health and science teacher.

“As a coach, I saw a lot of things that needed to change, and the change was happening really slowly,” Lim said.

Now as the athletic director, Lim said that he is in a position where he can make a bigger impact on the students.
He also sets new goals for the athletics department, such as ensuring that the coaches are teaching certain skills that build the character of student athletes.

“Making my student athletes grow and develop [is] the number one focus. Just making sure we foster certain characteristic strengths, provide them life long tools, and [we’re] more focused on developing their character of who they are,” Lim said.

Lim also plans to implement some of the life lessons that he learned from his coaches and mentors and apply it in his work with student athletes, such as self discipline.

He also wants to create an environment where students can start developing the skills and patterns needed for competing during a game, like goal setting and positivity.

“I want the students to have these tools to overcome obstacles that life will throw at us and just be prepared to really reach their potential,” Lim said.

However, the role of the AD has forced Lim to relinquish some of his other responsibilities, such as serving as a peer counselor.

He will still continue his duties as a Link Crew advisor with the help of co-advisor Morgan Galeener.

Currently, Lim is focusing on the remodeling of the gym and how it affects the fall sports. Since the gym is unavailable, multiple sports teams such as volleyball and basketball have been using the gyms at nearby schools for practice, and they have to play their game at their opponents’ school.

“We [are] kind of just developing that relationship with the middle schools, which we need to improve on anyways, so it’s just a lot of positives.” Lim said.