Patrick finalist for National Volleyball Coach of the Year
By Marlys Good
Anyone who follows the sport of volleyball knows just how successful the Burlington High School Lady Huskies program has been for the past two decades. Championship banners, regional and state, are in abundance, and are something that have come to be expected.
The success of the program can be credited to Coach Jerry Patrick, a finalist for the National Volleyball Coach of the Year. Patrick, however, says simply, “It is really an award for the school and the kids. Having good kids is so important; without good kids it would be like trying to run a zoo without the animals. I have been blessed with having great kids, who know the team concept. Burlington has been a good place for me.”
Patrick was in Minneapolis June 22-24 for the national convention, which Patrick said, “was a coaching clinic, along with recognizing the eight finalists in each sport and honoring the National Coach of the Year in each.
“Basically, it celebrates, or recognizes coaches and their programs. Coming from a little-bitty school like Burlington, it was an honor being a finalist. Usually the finalists are older coaches who have been around a while; longevity is important.”
Each coach was required to give a 20-minute talk “which took a lot of fun away from the clinic,” he quipped. Originally Patrick planned to talk about coaching in small schools, “but I changed that to just the Burlington program, explaining where we started, where we went and how we got there. I talked about teaching fundamentals and some important factors involved in teaching them. I also talked about practices — making them competitive and fun.” Patrick spoke to his fellow coaches about athletes, “getting kids to play as a team and how important character is and having kids with great character.”
Connie Nyhaug from Viborg, S.D., was honored as the Volleyball Coach of the Year, “and it was interesting that she was a coach from a school about the size of Burlington.”
Patrick said, “It was good to be there, listen to other coaches speak, realize that a lot of the things they are doing, are what we are doing. Sometimes you wonder when you don’t see results, but if you stick with it it will start working. No matter the state or the size of the school, you find that many experiences are very similar, we all basically experience the same problems and teach a lot the very same.”
The trip to Minneapolis was turned into a family vacation with wife Wendy, son Sean and daughter Sarah accompanying Patrick. “It was a good time. We spent a lot of time at the Mall of America, but by all means, we did not see all of it,” he laughed.
Patrick came home with a finalist’s plaque (Nyhaug received a ring) and it will probably be added to the trophies already in abundance at the high school. Because, as he said, “the honor was really for the school and the kids.”