thanks dad

With my dad recently accepting an administrative job at Gatlinburg-Pittman HS and the coaching job at GP Junior High, in turn, his high school basketball coaching career came to a close. It's bittersweet for me as for almost twenty years my life has revolved around that career, and it leaves me wondering what is next.

Father's Day is coming up, and while I may not always be the best at buying gifts, I do know how to use my words. My Mother's Day poem made my mom cry, so let's see if I can get the iconic Coach B. Jessie to shed a tear or two.

Not many people get to really see inside the coach's family life, so with the Jessie family's high school basketball days being over, I wanted to write a tribute post to my coach's daughter life, the memories, and of course, my dad.

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Thanks, dad.

Thanks for letting your family be a part of what in reality was simply your career but instead became our family's way of life.

Thanks for all of the late nights where I studied for biology exams while sitting on hard bleachers with the sound of shoes squeaking on the floor and people cheering (or yelling at the refs whichever one) in the background. That is now like music to my ears.

Thanks for letting me nap on the couch in your office countless times.

Thanks for being the voice of reason when mom and I got worried about an angry parent or big upcoming game.

Thanks for always reminding us in the more stressful times that at the end of the day, it is just high school sports.

Thanks for all the summer and Christmas breaks I spent working tournaments and camps, selling concessions and tickets, and hearing about how I should not charge this random person to get in because they're the coach's brother's son's friend's neighbor. (Okay, that's maybe a stretch, but you DO hear some crazy stories).

Thanks for recording a podcast with me about our life for a class project.

Thanks for letting me run out as the mascot with the team when I was little.

Thanks for going from coaching high school boys in the regular season to coaching me and my friends from 4th-6th grade in AAU season.

Thanks for letting me be the only girl at PFHS to have a letterman's jacket.

Thanks for letting me skip school to go to your banquets where we ate good food, played arcade games, rode go-carts, watched Guardians of the Galaxy, and jumped at Sevier Air.

Thanks for letting me eat all the food I wanted in the hospitality room at tournaments.

Thanks for not caring when I didn't want to play basketball anymore.

Thanks for teaching me that success comes from hard work and dedication.

Thanks for showing your players more than just how to have the perfect jump shot.

Thanks for teaching your players to be good, strong, and respectful young men.

Thanks for showing your players the love of Christ.

Thanks for living to glorify God and not man.

Thanks for knowing it was about more than just a game.

Thanks for inviting me on the wild ride of high school boy's basketball.

I am better and the person I am today because of it.

So, whether you're a high school coach or administrator and middle school coach, I am on your team and will root for you forever.

Thanks, dad. Happy Father's Day, I love you.