From the court to the sidelines
Some may remember Daniel- son from The Karate Kid and the Italian Stallion from Rocky. Some may also remember they had some of the greatest wins our nation has ever recorded. But what one may not remember is that they only accomplished those great wins with the help of some great coaches like Mick and Mr. Miyagi.
Although The Karate Kid and Rocky are just movies, they tell a great story. Not about desire and winning, but about the importance of coaches and what they have to go through, often feeling the pain of their pupil.
Katie Kimball, a senior majoring in family consumer science, and Michelle Dyreng, a sophomore majoring in math education, were once those pupils, but recently they have taken the other side of the story -the side of the story which is often left out.
Kimball and Dyreng just completed their first year coaching the girl’s basketball teams at Sky View High School.
Not only did they coach Sky View basketball, but both of them also played on the Utah State University women’s basketball team at the same time they were coaching.
“It was cool to play and coach in the same year because you get both perspectives,” Dyreng said. “As a player I never blamed the coach, but as a coach you think of all the things you could have done different that would have helped. I think I blamed myself more as a coach than I ever did as a player because you feel like you’re responsible for the team.”
Although they enjoyed being a part of both sides of the game, the difficulties of coaching and playing at the same time forced Dyreng and Kimball to make a choice as to which side they were going to pursue.
“When we started playing, the team [USU] knew that our priority was with coaching because that’s our job,” Kimball said. “It was hard for the team, not coming to practices and then showing up for games.”
To Kimball and Dyreng it was obvious what they were going to pursue, Kimball said. So both of them quit the USU team in order to focus on coaching.
Despite their love for coaching, Dyreng’s first year doing it wasn’t as easy as she thought, she said.
“For tryouts I was probably more nervous than the girls,” she said. “I also got more nervous as a coach than I did as a player.
“But a week into it I started getting more comfortable with what I was supposed to do and what my role was,” she said.
Dyreng wasn’t the only one who was a little nervous at the start of the season, said Kayla Kennington, a player on Dyreng’s sophomore team.
“I wondered if it was going to be a good year, but it was only a week into it that I knew it would be,” Kennington said.
Kimball, on the other hand, was a little calmer than Dyreng, she said. This year was Kimball’s second year coaching, her first being at Logan High School during the 2000-2001 season. She had also been involved in little league coaching previous to Logan High.
The only problem Kimball said she had while coaching the junior varsity and varsity teams was adjusting the players who were sophomores last year to the style of play and coaching she used.
But there is one aspect of being on the other side of the game both Kimball and Dyreng have a hard time with, Kimball said – disciplining.
Although disciplining is one of the most important parts of coaching, it was difficult for them to have to tell the players they didn’t make their time and that they would have to keep running, Kimball said.
Even when they had to get a little upset, they never lost their team’s respect, Bobcat senior Emily Grunig said.
“She had a pretty cool temper, she never screamed and yelled too much,” Grunig said.
Although Kimball and Dyreng had to give up a part of life they have grown to love, which is playing basketball, the other side of the game has given them the chance to help others the way they have been helped, Kimball said.
“I always tell them [the team] you’ve got to have heart,” Kimball said. “You’ve got to give 110 percent and have fun.”