After 30 years, coach steps down ... to teach
"Thanks go out to all that make home matches run smoothly ... scorekeeper, clock person, and line judges.
"Thanks to wonderful parents that give time, money, and emotional support to their teenage daughters as well as emotional support for me. Thanks to two of the best assistants, Kendra and Caroline, who continually ground me, but two special friends that make me laugh!
"But the BIGGEST thanks goes out to my varsity team that made it so easy to endure long bus rides, crawl out of bed for early practices, and spend countless hours in a gym for two-a-days, late night matches and endless tournaments. A mixture of sadness, joy, contentment, and no regrets."
Many may be surprised to learn why, all except those who know her best. They understand.
Janis is excited about new innovations in teaching, excited to afford her students the benefit and excited to help School District 101 educators bring the innovations into their classrooms.
And it's not Common Core, though those new standards fit in.
In 1976, Janice was a Badger volleyball player taking part in Junior Miss. Not very long ago, a friend showed her something she'd written back then; and two things were expressed with near certainty; she would never be a teacher and, once she graduated, she would never again live in Bonners Ferry.
Without her even realizing it, those certainties dimmed during the four years after her 1977 graduation from Bonners Ferry High School, one year at Spokane Falls Community College, the next three at Idaho State ... where she studied education.
And then, after matriculating, she came right back to Bonners Ferry ... to teach.
"I have no regrets," she said, "but I guess you should never say 'never.'"
While it's not officially "official," as she has yet to write a letter to the school board, Janis is retiring. From being head Badger volleyball coach. After 30 years.
So she can focus more on teaching.
Thanks to another phenomenal teacher, Spence Rogers, who will be in Bonners Ferry soon and who is currently the equivalent of Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Albert Einstein, John Wayne, Bruce Lee, the Beatles, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga and Eminem in the world of modern educators.
He has a way of reaching even the most recalcitrant student and bringing out his and her best, of getting them to learn to love learning, and after a career in the classroom, he is now "retired" and teaching teachers these methods.
He has teachers world-wide immensely excited.
At Tuesday's school board meeting, Middle School language arts teacher Kelly Hinthorn, one of a handful of Boundary County teachers who've attended Rogers' "Teaching for Excellence" seminars and undergone training to teach the methods and ideas to fellow teachers, waxed eloquent, saying that she has never been so excited to teach.
Another among that handful from here was Kelly's former teacher and coach, Janis Tucker, who is likewise enthused.
Believe it or not, when Janis isn't coaching and taking abuse for that, she teaches classes full time at the high school. She spends much of her own time learning to be a better teacher, even more teaching her fellow teachers to be better teachers.
What time she has left she shares with her family. It leaves very little for her.
She is certain that retiring as the head coach of the Bonners Ferry volleyball team is the right thing to do. She'll have some of her summers back with her family, who have always supported personal cost and the hours she's spent at practice, at camp, away on games, in the classroom, in training ... ad infinitum.
She'll have more time to dedicate to her students and her school.
She admits that the reality of her decision hasn't fully settled; and it's apparent that she has yet to imagine a moment to herself.
She gets quiet, a wistful look in her eye that comes to the brink of but not quite to a tear.
"I already worry about next August, when I should be getting ready for the season," she said. "No, no ... I'm doing the right thing."
Letting go, you can tell, isn't easy. In fact, she isn't ruling out helping next year's Badger volleyball teams, but not as head varsity coach.
She remembers both winning and losing at the side of her many teams, no triumph more rewarding than the early 1990s Badger win that broke St. Maries' 117 game winning streak, the first time the Lady Jacks had been beaten in league in 12 years.
"That was better than winning state," she said, which was a good thing; St. Maries won state again that year, too.
Far more important, she said, than wins or losses, has been the lasting relationships developed with players over a long span of years, of knowing that her efforts made a positive difference in so many lives.
"Janis, you were such an inspiration to me as a young athlete, and I have caught myself many times sharing your coaching truths with my own daughter, who is a high school volleyball player now," said Badger Jenny Manus in response to the Facebook post that led this article. It was one of many.
"Janice, thank you for your countless hours spent in the gym with all of us. I have a love of the game and still continue to play (although at a slower pace and without much jumping ability) because of coaches like you that challenged us to not only be better players but better people," wrote Shelly (Swing) Polzin. "Thank you for all the sacrifices you made for us. It hasn't gone unnoticed. Congrats on this new chapter in your life. I am forever grateful for the time I spent with you as a player. Tom Hilbert (CSU RAMS head coach) once told me volleyball is the hardest sport to learn. You made it easy for me and so many others. THANKS COACH! Now go enjoy those grand babies!"
One thing Janice won't miss is the vilification a community can subject a coach to.
"As much as parents mean well, I wish they'd see the bigger picture," Janis said. "Win/loss is important, sure, but there are more important aspects. Records last a season; relationships last a lifetime."