Carlson’s coaching edge: the kids

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Sports

December 7, 2010 - 12:00 AM

For the love of the game is as simple as it gets as an answer. Becky Carlson began her 26th year as a high school girls’ basketball coach this year.
On Friday night, her Iola High Fillies’ team presented her with a coaching milestone — 400 victories.
“I coach because I love the game of basketball. When I was younger, being on a team was a great experience for me. I want every kid I have to know that feeling — to love the game like I do,” Carlson said.
“Milestones come along when you’ve coached as long as I have. I appreciate those moments but it’s not what I really care about. It’s the kids.”
Carlson found that love of basketball as a kid growing up in rural Elsmore. She said every Sunday she and her siblings and cousins would play basketball at her grandmother’s house. They played on gravel, dirt, pavement or anywhere there was a basketball hoop.
“Living out in the country, basketball was a sport you could practice on your own. No one had to be there to catch the ball for you,” Carlson said. “There were times when the whole family, including Mom and Dad, were out playing games together.”
Carlson remembers going to high school basketball games and watching a cousin play. “That’s what we did — we watched the games. There was no running around. We watched.”
Carlson was a standout basketball player for Marmaton Valley High School and played for Van Thompson at Allen County Community College for two years. Then it was off to Tabor College in Hillsboro.
“Being a part of a team gives you a sense of family. Just like a family, we can push each other around, scrap with each other but  no one else is better. You come together, work for a common goal,” Carlson said.
“It’s not the wins and losses that mean that much. Sure, I want to win all of the games but it’s about what you learn about yourself and teammates that is important. Those bus rides to and from games are important. I want all the kids I coach to enjoy playing the game and all that surrounds it.”
Carlson pointed out when she took the Iola High School girls’ basketball head coaching job in August 2005 that she had two passions — teaching and coaching basketball. For her they go hand-in-hand because a coach is a teacher.
“Over the years, I’ve taken the positive aspects from all of the coaches I’ve had and found what works for me. I had a great junior high coach in Bill Jones and I really enjoyed being coached by Van,” Carlson said.
Carlson graduated from Tabor and took a job as an elementary school physical education teacher at Hillsboro. She also was an assistant basketball coach at Hillsboro High and head volleyball coach plus the head junior high girls’ basketball coach.
“I was ready to become a head coach. I had been an assistant coach with a good head coach and I was ready the next year to step up,” Carlson said. “Did I know everything I needed to know? No. I still don’t, but I was ready.”
After one year at Hillsboro, Carlson launched her high school coaching career in 1984-85. The Lady Trojans marched through 20 years with Carlson piling up 333 wins. Along the way, Carlson guided the Lady Trojans to 10 trips to Kansas Class 3A state tournaments, winning back-to-back state championships in 1995 and 1996.
“The memories of all the girls who have played for me are important to me. I never want to lose games but sometimes the other team is just better, or you’re just not ready to beat that team yet,” Carlson said.
“The losing hurts me because of the disappointment the players feel. I don’t feel bad for myself but for the girls. They work hard. I can say that about the girls at Hillsboro and here in Iola. The girls always work hard and they never give up.”
Carlson said the move from Hillsboro to Iola wasn’t an easy decision but one that she had wanted. She said she had wanted to come back to her home area to be nearer her family, especially her late mother at the time.
“It lined up for me — the elementary job opening, I took the assistant basketball coaching job. Then it turned out I became the head coach,” Carlson said.
Good fortune for the Fillies. A senior-laden and talented team turned into the Kansas Class 4A state champions under Carlson.
“To be a good basketball team, you have to be disciplined at both ends of the court,” Carlson said. “That group bought into my way of playing defense and being disciplined offensively. We didn’t go undefeated but we learned from the two losses and that made us stronger as a team.”
Carlson pointed out the discipline her current team showed Friday night. She is  just as proud of this year’s team as all the others.
So for Carlson it is 400 and counting as she guides players to love the game of basketball and life lessons.

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