Monday, December 22, 2014

Here & There Column


 Retiring Coach & His Memories

  In this part 2 segment on the coaching life of retiring Tri-Valley varsity basketball coach Brian Tingley he talks about coaches, former players and Tri-Valley Bears tradition.
  Working with and against great coaches has been a big part of Tingley's coaching career as were the "classic Western Sullivan League (WSL) coaches who provided so many great games."
  Brian added that these WSL coaches were fun to coach against "and even more fun to hang out with....especially the Jeffersonville-Youngsville coaches at the clinics."
  In naming some of the coaches he has had the privilege of working with  Tingley listed Andy Taggart, Jason Semo, John Tenbus and Jason Closs.
  "I am also proud to see some of my former players take up coaching including Charlie Hicks and Gary Bradley at other schools and Jason Semo, Kevin Delaney and Kyle Humphrey for Tri-Valley," Brian noted.
  Retiring coaches all have favorite players they enjoyed and three that stand out for Tingley include:
   John Merchant who he says in the best player he ever coached and is presently playing professional basketball in Italy,
  Dustin Van Lieu is the second standout  and "I have often thought about what his career would be like if he were four inches taller," presently working as a basketball player performance enhancer and was,"as gritty and determined a palyer as I've ever coached."
  The third player is obviously his son Samuel Tingley who was the scoring leader on last year's team. "I am glad that I was able to coach Sam."
  Asked what he will miss most, Brian said, "the special relationships that occur between a coach and player, scouting trips and the camaraderie between the coaches."
  Things he would like to forget include a 3-14 season but the big game losses are the worst.
  "Tri-Valley has started a tradition of leaving a good team and having the new coach lead them to a championship. Jason Semo left me a good team, Andy Taggart left John Tenbus a good team, John left Jason Closs a good team and I am hoping the tradition continues as I leave Kyle Humphrey a team that we hope will win the second boys sectional championship in Tri-Valley history," Coach Tingley said.
 
  
  
   

  

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