A Personal Milestone

If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you can skip this week’s newsletter as I am sharing a post I made with regards to a personal coaching milestone I reached on Friday night. We’ll get back to a “normal” newsletter next week!

Coach K

Last night, our GHV girls basketball team won a tough, hard fought game over an excellent Lake Mills team on the road by one in overtime. It was everything great about high school sports-two teams playing their hearts out, passionate fans supporting their teams, and officials and workers providing a service so that athletes could play a game they love.

In addition to the amazing team win, with the win, I was fortunate to earn my 400th win as a high school girls basketball head coach. No coach starts out thinking about how many wins they will get in their career and the only reason I was reminded how many wins I had was because of filling out a media form before the season that asked how many career wins I had. I had no expectations of more wins when I retired and it took a unique set of circumstances and some amazing people to get me out of retirement. I must say it has been an awesome season I have enjoyed immensely and achieving a numbers milestone with this team was very gratifying. Our motto this year is "next play" and we moved on today with another win in a morning game!

I’ve been blessed to been a head girls basketball coach at Atlantic, Cherokee, Mason City, and now GHV, as well as being able to work with incredible players, assistant coaches, families, and administrators at every stop along the way. After stepping away for a year, I didn't expect to coach again—so returning to the game has given me an even deeper appreciation for this game and the people in it. The 400 number represents far more than games won—it reflects relationships, shared experiences, lessons learned, and a whole lot of people who made this journey possible, including my family who often supports by watching online and sending supportive texts!

Thanks to all who have reached out with congratulations-I greatly appreciate all of the support! Coaching has always been about more than basketball to me, and I’m thankful for everyone who has been part of the journey. Onward and upward!

Coach K