As you may know already, Mrs. Kane served as PRHS Volleyball coach for middle school for 1 year, Freshman for 1 year, and then 11 years as the Head Varsity coach. She has played volleyball for most of her life. In fact, Mrs. Kane said, “I had played volleyball during my four years in college. I was a starter for all four years and co-captain my last three. During my fifth year of college, the head coach offered me an assisting coaching position. I accepted it and fell in love with the sport even more. I have been coaching ever since.” She led the team to many successful seasons and did a great job motivating and pushing the team to do their best. As she reflected upon her time as coach, Mrs. Kane said, “Every year for me has been a winning season.”

This past season, Mrs. Kane stepped down from her position as coach to focus more on time with her family. “they have always supported me and come to almost every game, but my two babies are getting older (6 and 4) and I don’t want to miss out on their lives. My biggest priority is my family and that is where I need my focus to be.” Many players on the team will truly miss having Mrs. Kane as a coach. Mrs. Kane said, “My greatest accomplishment as a coach is the relationships I have made with girls I have coached.  The thanks they give me for helping them, coaching them, helping them grow into young adults, and teaching they life skills/how to survive… by far my greatest accomplishment!” I talked to a few players, both current and former, and they all gave me reasons why Mrs. Kane was a great coach during their high school volleyball experience.

Former volleyball players, Casey Urmanowicz and Madison Kelly, graduates of 2018, explained why Coach Kane was a great coach. Casey Urmanowicz shared that, “Coach Kane was a great coach who always pushed us to play our hardest. Her encouragement and constant motivation always pushed the team to achieve new things we never thought were possible. She taught us so much and went above and beyond to show her care and love for the team and the sport. We appreciate all of her hard work.” Madison Kelly stated, “Coach Kane was an amazing coach who always put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into coaching our team and always pushed us to try out hardest and be the best players we could possibly be. She never failed at giving the team her all and sacrificed a large amount of time in order to coach us. She pushed us all to reach our full potential and I’m extremely grateful to have had such an inspiring role model and leader throughout high school. She taught us all extremely valuable lessons on and off the court and for that I am extremely thankful.”

Mrs. Kane was a hardworking and determined coach who never failed to push her students to do their best. To get another perspective on her time as coach, I interviewed two current PRHS Volleyball players. Senior, Ashley Ziltz, states, “Coach Kane is the best coach because of how much she believed in her team. Even after a loss she still believed that we could accomplish anything. She practices and warms up with us like no other coach. Her team loves her for how much support, dedication, and love she gave into coaching.” Ashley’s response demonstrates Mrs. Kane’s unending dedication to her players. Senior, McKenzie Freiler, also explained why Coach Kane was great coach. She stated, “Coach Kane has been a very supportive coach these past two years and really helped me thrive and be confident on and off the court. She can always make me laugh even when we’ve been sweating our butt’s off at practice. She knows how to make it enjoyable and she knows how to make a personal connection with her athletes. It has been great getting to play on her team and learn from her.”

As shown, all of Mrs. Kane’s students feel the same way about her. Mrs. Kane built a special bond with each one of her players that made them push themselves to try their hardest every day during practices and games. To finish up our interview, I asked Mrs. Kane about advice she would share with the incoming coach. She recommends that the next volleyball coach, “Be a role model for these young ladies – lead by example – put everything you have into being the best coach possible and the girls will then, in return, learn from your example and be the best players they can possibly be. Respect them and have compassion for them, but be firm and be a leader.” Although Mrs. Kane has moved on from coaching, the impact she has had on her players will undoubtedly carry them into the future.