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Coaches corner Beth Hunter
Name: Beth Hunter
Sport/Activity: Varsity Volleyball Head
Coach / Varsity Softball Assistant
Coach
School / Community: Kingston
Family: Parents - Robert and Marlene
Hunter Brother - Jonathan Hunter
How long have you participated in
this sport/activity? I played basketball, each season. Coach Jay Green taught
volleyball, and softball throughout my
youth and high school sports career. I
have been coaching for over 10 years.
I am entering my 4th season as the
Varsity Volleyball Coach, I spent 6
seasons as a Varsity Girls Basketball
Assistant Coach, and will spend my 4th
season as the Varsity Softball Assistant
Coach next spring.
What do you love best about it? I love
team sports. To me, the best part about
sports is the feeling you get when you
work with a group of people to reach
the same goal. I love that sports can
teach us life lessons as well as help
to shape us into who we are. Whether
you are in the midst of a winning streak
or a losing streak (hopefully not too
many) you are weathering the ride
with your team. I am a big believer
that there is strength in numbers. It’s
a great analogy for life and how to
develop skills to be successful.
Thinking back over the years, who is a
mentor or coach that helped you grow
as a coach or athlete? What made
them special? I have been blessed
to grow up in this community play-
ing for and coaching with some of the
best coaches around. I always told
myself that if I ended up coaching that
I would take the best lessons from
those I have been around and merge
them with my own style. Growing up
playing for Coach Leon Kaniszewski,
I learned that it doesn’t matter how
small the town is you play for, you
need to set lofty goals and work your
tail off to meet them. He pushed me
not to settle and made me realize that
sometimes you have to work outside
your comfort zone to be success-
ful. He also had an uncanny knack to
mix in humor with frequency which is
something I try to do everyday. Coach
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Sponsored by Charmont in Cass
City. Tom will be receiving a
$25.00 Gift Certificate for dinner at
Charmont.
Dave Lester taught me what it means experience to have sat there listening
to be passionate about a community to one of my idols speak about leader-
and a program. His pride is endless ship with some of my players next to
and I try to bring that into my programs me.
me the importance of being prepared Where does your team normally prac-
and having a game plan. Coach Dave tice? Thankfully due to our community
Green showed me that you can relate passing the bond, this fall may find
to players outside of X’s and O’s and the practice situation a little bit more
that is something I probably work my of an adventure. We are in the midst
hardest at and pride myself on, building of a gym renovation at the high school
relationships with my kids. Outside of as well as a having the elementary
sports, I am fortunate to have the very gym floor resurfaced so we had to get
best support system. My family is my resourceful this summer and come up
rock and I am grateful they put up with with a Plan C and use the elementary
me at my best and my worst. They al- cafeteria. Hopefully we will be back in
ways push me to be the best I can be. the high school gym soon. We cannot
wait to see all the upgrades!
Who do you idolize in this sport/activ-
ity? I am constantly looking for ways to Have you traveled anywhere special
improve myself as a person and as a related to this sport/activity? I’d love
coach. Coaching icons like Pat Sum- to say I am a world traveler or grand
mitt and Carol Hutchins have been explorer, but that wouldn’t be accurate.
idols of mine for as long as I can re- My main goal as a coach is helping my
member. The trails that they blazed for kids improve everyday and whether we
females everywhere leaves me in awe. travel long distances or have to find a
Not only with record breaking numbers way to practice in a cafeteria, we try to
of wins, but in the way they did it. They make the best of it together.
showed women its ok to be dominant,
to set standards and they changed What awards or honors have you won?
the landscape in each of their sports. I was blessed as a player to win many
When you hear their former players championships in multiple sports with
speak of them, the focus is rarely on my teammates, however nothing tops
the wins and more about helping them
grow as women. That is something that
is a personal goal of mine. Wins on the
court/field are great but when my kids
win at life, that’s where it’s at.
Have you met anyone famous in this
sport/activity? This past winter I was
fortunate enough to attend the Women
In Sports Leadership Conference put
on by the MHSAA and the keynote
speaker was Carol Hutchins and I was
pretty star struck. She asked where I
was from and when I told her “Kings-
ton” she responded with “Oh yeah, up
by Traverse City”. I panicked and just
nodded. Of course hours later I had all
kinds of witty comebacks in my head
that were entirely absent when I need-
ed them most. But it was an amazing