Committed To Coaching Falls Christian Academy Grad Kim Williams Is Working With Players Who Used To Be Her Teammates

It was a joke. It really was.

All summer long as Kim Williams played beach volleyball with Brooke Miller, they kidded each other about coaching in the fall. Williams, a 1999 graduate of Falls Christian Academy, and Miller of 1991 had heard the Eagles were in search of a volleyball coach.

“We’d say we should do it,” said Williams. “We’d even tell them after church that if they needed help we’d be happy to step in.”

They were told that they were the only saviors if Falls Christian were to have a volleyball team.

“They said it was us or no one,” she said. “Then two days before the first practice they said. `No seriously! We don’t have anyone!”’

Suddenly Williams and Miller were not laughing any more.

“So there we were in the gym with about four players and a whole season ahead of us,” said Williams. “We agreed that if the players were willing to commit themselves to playing, we would commit ourselves to coaching.”

Commitment is not a new word for Williams. It was the best way to describe her playing days at FCA. A four-year letterman in volleyball and basketball, Williams was used to overcoming adversity to succeed.

With a very limited number of students and even a smaller number of athletes, the Eagles struggles to field teams with enough players to build any sort of tradition.

“We didn’t even have a junior varsity my freshman year,” said Williams. “There was barely enough on varsity.”

Being on the floor as a freshman matures players quickly. By the time she graduated, she had earned all-league honors in both basketball and volleyball and was getting looks from colleges with a chance to continue her education.

“I could have gone on but it was away from home,” she said. “I had a good job and I have been part of this community for 14 years. It didn’t make sense to me to leave and be unhappy when I could stay here, make some money and be happy.”

She enrolled at NIC and even considered walking on the volleyball team briefly. But for the athlete, academics called.

“I wanted to settle down and focus on my education,” she said. “I still love playing and do in a rec league but that’s just for fun. I now play with some of my former coaches, and it’s kind of weird having them as your teammates.”

Of course now that situation is reversed. Just barely an Eagle alumni, Williams now coaches players she used to call teammate.

“I was nervous at first,” she said. “I mean I am barely older than some of them.”

The first day of practice only netted four players, half of what is needed to field of team. So Williams and Miller got on the horn and quickly the numbers improved to 14, more than enough to play but not the total to be comfortable.

“We’d like a few more to field a junior varsity to make sure everyone is getting some playing experience,” said Williams. “It would help build up a program here.”

Although Williams gets the title of head coach, she maintains she and Miller are co-coaches. Williams will get her coaching certificate in Boise.

“I’m being sent down for a weekend workshop,” she said. “I got a waiver from the state which allows me to do this.”

She plans to earn a degree in education, most likely through the University of Idaho via the satellite program at NIC. That will free up a little time, which currently is a luxury for Williams.

“I didn’t realize how much time coaching takes,” she said. “You are thinking about it all the time. It’s great. I mean this is what I wanted to do anyway. Now I get a chance to do it before I graduate and see if I enjoy it.”

Williams also is in the middle of planning a wedding to 1999 Post Falls High School graduate David Sharon in January. And they also are building a house.

So will she relax once volleyball season is over?

“I plan on being an assistant coach in basketball,” she said. “I did it last year, and it was great. Everyone here has been supportive. They have made it all worthwhile.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

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