New varsity basketball coach Carly Kehn has a lot of children. Not hers by blood, but adopted through the quality time spent and life lessons learned with them.

“I like being able to teach life lessons throughout the sport, little things here and there, but mostly getting to know the players,” Kehn said. “I feel like they’re my kids. When they’re not with their parents, they’re mine. It’s been awesome to get to know them as people and build that rapport and relationship with them.”

Kehn enters the position with a slew of prior basketball and coaching experience. Kehn coached JV softball at McCallum for the last five years, along with every level of volleyball except varsity. With the softball coaching change and opening for a head basketball coach, she decided it would be a good time to take on something new. She has been around the game for several years, playing through high school, going on to be a manager at Ohio State and later working with the University of Houston in the operations department of their women’s basketball team.

“Honestly, it gives me purpose,” Kehn said. “I love feeling like I’m doing something for student-athletes, so when they come back they’ll want to say ‘hi’ or stop by. Knowing they’re having a positive experience and that I’m playing a part in that is definitely a huge reason for why I do it and why it would be really hard to walk away from.”

When the season started, Kehn didn’t have many expectations for how it would play out, wanting first to build the team, get to know the players and figure out her own goals as a coach.

“Mainly when I think of priorities, it’s off the court first,” Kehn said. “Be a good person, treat others kindly and have good sportsmanship. I want them to be successful in the classroom as much as they can and gain support and advocate for them. I want them to know I care about them as people first and have that be where they feel good about themselves every day.”

Kehn’s expectations on the court are similar, caring about the well- being and willingness of the players to put in effort, before winning or being the best.

“On the court, it’s just really playing hard,” Kehn said. “I tell them if they’re doing it 100% incorrectly, but they’re doing it with everything they have, I can live with that. I think sometimes we’re a little timid because we get scared of failure, so I really try to push them. Telling them to go as hard as they can and fail because it’s OK. It may hurt, it may not feel the best in the moment, but you’ll learn from it and you’ll grow from it.”

When it comes to growing as a program, Kehn wants to take the offseason to restructure and increase numbers. While they didn’t have a problem with the number of players this year, she values keeping people, especially female athletes, in sports.

“They’ve gained confidence and intensity in the way they play. They’re learning how to win and how to lose mentally. At the tournament, we would get in our heads and get down, which creates a spiral effect of continuing to lose because you think you’re going to. I think they’ve done a better job, coming out thinking, ‘We can win this game, we just have to work for it.’”

As a coach, Kehn describes herself as intense and fired up during games with love for both the players and the sport.

“I try to let the players know I want them to have this success. It’s not about me feeling success, it’s about them working hard and seeing that working hard pays off. So I really try to be understanding, but also set boundaries, rules and limitations. I push them, but I try to do it out of the right intentions.”

All season, the coaches have been adapting and creating plans to be successful even with the increase in COVID cases.

“COVID has changed our season. Even in the last week, it’s almost coming down to what team gets COVID and when,” Kehn said. “We’ve played multiple teams without our full varsity squad. That’s OK, we don’t make excuses, but it definitely changes things. We want other teams to be at full strength, and we want to be at full strength to really determine the seeding.”

Kehn emphasizes that playing and practicing in a mask, especially a KN95 mask, takes conditioning to a whole new level, especially if you don’t have the lung capacity. The inability to incorporate contact and cohesiveness into practice and splitting up the teams as much as possible, she believes, makes it much harder to build up their skills as a whole.

“I want them all to feel like they’re getting instruction from all the coaches, getting to know us and not feeling like they’re getting outcast at all,” Kehn said. “ I think that they’ve worked for it. It’s a bummer that they’re working so hard and now no one can really watch it.”

Despite the obstacles, she continues to push her players to improve on and off the court. Her coaching tactics have inspired her players to become the best versions of themselves.

Sophomore varsity player Esme Barraz admires Kehn’s dedication to the program and the way she puts her knowledge of the game to use.

“She really individually understands and cares for her players,” Barraz said. “She knows how to help each player and how to best use our strengths and weaknesses. I feel that having coaches who understand you and are dedicated to your team is crucial to success.”

Barraz believes the best part of the team is the community. Spending so much time together brings them closer, making the wins even more meaningful.

“A team’s relationship is extremely important,” Barraz said. “In order to do well on the court, you have to be able to play well together. We build up our chemistry and learn each other’s skills to get the best end result.”

Senior varsity player Kashawna Henry agrees with her teammate 100 percent.

“You need support and to feel like they can trust you and have your back,” Henry said. “This season has gone much better because we’ve connected well, have great coaching and talented players.”

Kehn could not have more pride and admiration for her players.

“We have a great core group,” Kehn said. “They all bring something to the team, on or off the court, that we need. They’re really working hard, they’re what makes the program tick.”