THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Coaching against your kid, and playing two sports at once

Couple volleyball-related items to touch on after a few hours in the sauna — er, the Coeur d’Alene High gymnasium, for Tuesday’s seven-team volleyball jamboree:

COACHING YOUR son or daughter — happens quite a bit.

Coaching against them — it doesn’t happen much around here, but every now and then …

Willow Hanna is head coach of the Post Falls High volleyball team. Her daughter, Alexis, is a junior on the Lakeland High volleyball team.

Last year, Alexis played mostly on the junior varsity, but saw action in some varsity matches — including one against mom and Post Falls.

“Her very first serve in a varsity game, against my team, and she aced us,” Willow recalled. “That’s kind of a double-edged sword situation.”

Mom’s reaction to daughter acing her team?

“I don’t think I reacted much,” Willow recalled. “Her and I definitely made some eye contact.”

MOM AND DAUGHTER were on opposite teams Tuesday at the jamboree, when Post Falls and Lakeland played one game to 25.

“It’s a different perspective, to watch your kid on the other side,” Willow said.

The Hannas have lived in Rathdrum since 2011. Willow’s husband, Tony, is entering his third season as Lakeland boys basketball coach. Their son, Brady, played tennis and golf at Lakeland, graduating in June.

Mom is in her fourth year in her second stint as coach at Post Falls, her alma mater. Since Willow was there, Alexis, who also plays softball, could have come to Post Falls (so could Brady), but it was decided the kids would go to Lakeland — partly because they lived in Rathdrum.

“But I also didn’t want to coach her in high school,” Willow said. “I’ve seen it not go well.”

“I’ve wanted both of them to have their own identity,” mom added, “without mom being in the building as a teacher and coach.”

BRADY, YOU might remember, played golf and tennis in the spring of 2022, qualifying for state in both. He played in the state 4A golf tourney on Monday and Tuesday in eastern Idaho, then played in the state tennis tournament that weekend in the Boise area.

When 5A and 4A golf moved to the fall this past school year, Brady played golf in the fall of 2022 — injuring his left hand and wrist the first swing at state.

It wasn’t until this May when an MRI revealed he’d suffered a broken hamate bone in his left hand.

He was able to play tennis in the spring — forget about any two-fisted backhands.

He had surgery recently, and now sports a splint, and has talked with Lewis-Clark State about eventually playing golf there, perhaps next spring.

Even with the broken bone, he can still play golf — as much as he can tolerate the pain.

“He played all summer,” Willow said. “He played with a broken hand for a year.”

SPEAKING OF playing two sports in the same season …

Gianna Callari is a 6-foot sophomore on the Coeur d’Alene High volleyball team, mainly a middle blocker, but can play some right side or outside hitter.

After moving up from California, she played as a freshman on the Vikings girls soccer team.

This fall, she’s trying to play on both teams — in the same season.

“You don’t see too many tall soccer players,” Coeur d’Alene volleyball coach Carly Curtis said. “But she’s a great volleyball player, and a great soccer player, so we’re going to try to pull it off.”

Callari was able to play both sports in California, as volleyball was in the fall and girls soccer was in the spring.

Curtis said she has met with Andy Vredenburg, the Viking girls soccer coach, to figure out a plan to “share” Callari. The problem is, soccer and volleyball matches are often on the same days, and practices could overlap, unless one team practices later.

But while she might miss a volleyball tournament or two, or a soccer match or two, she also might be able to, on certain days, play in a soccer match in the afternoon and a volleyball match that night.

“We’re going to try to make it work for Gianna,” Curtis said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.