Coaching Pirates...

Situated just a few miles north of the South Dakota border on highway 11 is the tiny hamlet of Hankinson, North Dakota. How tiny? A little over 900 people total in a town that features one burger joint, one restaurant, one park, one lake and a once a year mud bog that grabs the locals’ fancy.

Hankinson High School’s total population would barely fill the stands of a local high school football game in Arizona but there is some nice things going on in the volleyball gym there, and Coach Tera Paulson has begun to script a turnaround that may be the envy of her league.

Paulson, much like the rest of Hankinson, juggles a family, a career and other jobs because, as she says, “Things need to get done.” She is a physical therapist, in her third year as the High School volleyball coach and is also on the board to revamp and modernize the Hankinson library. Her husband Greg owns and operates the town’s only hotel, the restaurant, a laundry mat, is a volunteer assistant with the High School football team, a member of the town’s fire department and a City Council man. Oh yea, their first child is creeping up on 2 years old too.

Two years ago, the Hankinson Pirates won a total of 7 matches. Paulson, a year into her transformation of the program, remembers, “When I first took over the program, we were not competitive and had not been in the top half of our district in about 10 years.”

In the first week and a half of this season, the Pirates knocked off the defending state champions, defending district champions and the preseason district poll #1 team despite being picked #2. “It is funny to think that we are 8-3 right now and 2 years ago we only won 7 matches the entire season!” Paulson says smiling. 

Hankinson has 19 athletes in their program…total. There are no seniors this year but the program fields three teams. There is a C-squad (which replaces a freshman only team), which is 9^th and 10^th graders combined. Their Junior Varsity is 9^th, 10^th and 11^th and the varsity is 9^th-12th with an occasional 8^th grader although they don’t have any this season.  

Per North Dakota rules, Paulson juggles her 19 players and gets the most FOR them. “The girls can play 6 sets each night so typically C-Squad and JV players overlap quite a bit as they play best two out of three sets and then my younger Varsity starters all play one set of J.V.”

Paulson has created a new atmosphere in the Hankison gym. “I am lucky in the fact that the girls have really bought into my coaching style and work hard and very rarely question what I have to say.” Tera says. “Since I took over the program the girls have started playing in two spring tournaments, they have attended team camp together and I’ve also brought in outside coaches in so the girls can hear new ideas other than mine.”

Paulson also knows that talent is a key to success as well. “I got lucky that I started with a young group of phenomenal kids that are willing to work hard and compete.  It used to be that if you were a senior, you got to start or play a lot.  I have not been afraid to start 8th and 9th graders and now we are seeing the benefit of that experience.” She is amused saying out loud,  “I keep thinking that we are older now but I start two freshmen, three juniors, one sophomore and my libero is a sophomore as well. We are not older, just more experienced.”

Paulson, who spent time in Phoenix coaching some years ago, says the program’s biggest challenge in having so few athletes is getting 6-on-6 playing time. “If I take 12 kids at the Varsity level, that only leaves 7 for my other coach to practice with.  Also, it is difficult to get 12 kids at the same level so that we can play competitive game like drills and challenge the better players. That said, my younger athletes have benefited over the past couple of years because they have been forced to play with the older girls and now again, we are seeing the benefits from that.”

Small town life may cause numbers problems at practice but Paulson relishes the small town atmosphere by the relationships she has nurtured with her athletes. “Absolutely the biggest positive to having so few girls is that I know all the kids in my program.  I know their parents, their siblings, who they are friends with, who their boyfriends are; we are a very close knit group.  Many of the girls will come to me with their issues, problems and emotional needs; not always what I love to hear but at the same time it’s important for them to know there is someone to listen.” Tera sighs, “I clearly recall being a sophomore in high school, getting put onto the Varsity team and all the pressures that came with that, whether real or perceived.”

In a gym culture that used to play safe and hide from challenge, these new Pirates have bought into the jump serve in their gym. “All of our varsity kids are jump serving.  We are only serving around 85% at the moment but the girls have really embraced it.” In a demonstration of the new culture, Tera saw a few of the girls started to struggle a little bit with their jump serves because of bad tosses. “We sat down and discussed whether we wanted to continue with jump serving or switch back.  I had them close their eyes and then raise their hands to answer; only two are not confident jump serving in a match but no one wanted to go back to standing on the ground.” She says proudly, “I thought that was awesome! I was very impressed and very happy that was the response I got. I think over the next year and a half, it will really come around as they gain confidence serving in games. ”

Big picture thinking in a small town has given Coach Paulson a team she sees wreaking some havoc in future. “I don't lose any kids between this year and next year so it should be a great couple of years.”

“I think one of the aspects that I take pride in the most is that the girls know and understand how much I care about them, not only as my players, but also as people.” Paulson explains about coaching her Pirates.  “They see the amount of time I put into planning practices, spring tournaments, camps, open gyms, and other opportunities just to make them better and for their benefit.”