Saying Goodbye After 30 Years Of Coaching
Megan Payne
Staff Writer
On Oct. 30, Ken Adkisson, the cross-country coach at Waverly High School, announced at the end-of-the-season banquet that he will retire from coaching this year.
Coach A., as he is known by his athletes, has coached since 1983. After thirty seasons in cross country, it was time to give his position away.
“I haven’t had a fall that I haven’t coached. So, I just want to enjoy the fall season, and give some young coach an opportunity to have as great of an experience as I've had,” Adkisson said.
Before Coach Adkisson retired, he wanted his athletes to know how special they were to him.
“When you first begin coaching you assume a lot, ‘The kids will do this, they will do that.’ You don’t have an appreciation for how hard it is. The longer you’re in it and you see kids struggle and overcome you get an appreciation for how difficult the sport is. It’s hot, it’s dirty, it’s a lot of work,” Adkisson said. “I would tell them I appreciate them finding their place and sticking with me for all these years.”
Although Adkisson is retiring, it will always be good to remember the good times from his coaching seasons.
“My favorite memories of Coach Adkisson were his motivational talks to us before a meet on the bus to get us mentally prepared,” junior Brent Saunders said.
Along with every sport in high school, coaches have different techniques of how they prepare their players.
“Cross Country will be different without Coach Adkisson just because I’m used to his style of coaching and how he trains us,” Saunders said.
The team is encouraged to give someone new the same opportunity Adkisson had for many years.
“I hope they give the new coach a chance. Because in 1983, I was the new coach and the kids gave me a chance, and it turned out to be a fabulous 30 year run,” Adkisson said. “It’s the sport they’re really captured by, not the coach, the goals are always going to stay the same, and the challenges are going to stay the same.”
