Coach Mark Kovall is known among students, staff and parents for two things: running and respect. The two go hand-in-hand, he said. “If I see a kid throw the ball to an official instead of handing it to him, the next day in practice we run,” said Kovall. On Wednesday, April 20, Kovall was elected to receive the Coach of Excellence award from his peers at the annual Annandale-Maple Lake Community Education Coaches Appreciation Dinner. This is the first year for the award, said Nicole Massman of community education, and it is meant to recognize coaches not for their wins or losses, but for the life lessons they teach the kids. Kovall has been a teacher and coach in the district for 16 years and he has coached it all – varsity, junior varsity, and ninth- grade football; junior varsity, ninth-grade and eighth-grade girls basketball; ninth- and eighth-grade boys basketball and junior high girls track. He has also been the assistant coach for the varsity girls track team and during the summer and fall he volunteers as a baseball coach and fifth- and sixth-grade football coach through community education. He started the first weight lifting program for middle school athletes using a lightweight approach that works on technique and stretching skills. And he is always at the school at 6:15 in the morning to open up the weight room for athletes. “It’s always about the kid for Mark,” head football coach Matt Walter said Wednesday night. “He coaches all of his players, not just the good ones.” “And for as long as I’ve known him, he has always made his players say please and thank you, yes sir and no sir.” There are two things that Kovall stresses of his athletes – they have to be “class acts” and hard workers. “Officials are always saying how classy our kids are,” said Kovall. The truth of that statement first hit home for Kovall at a tournament basketball game in St. Cloud. One of the opposing players threw the ball at the official instead of handing it to her. The official missed it and it flew across the entire length of the gym. Immediately an Annandale athlete sprinted across the gym, retrieved the ball and ran it back to the official. She looked amazed, said Kovall. If students are less than courteous, they pay for it in practice the next day. “I enjoy seeing kids work hard,” he said. “I have a spot in my heart for them. Kids will never be in better shape than they are when they are in ninth-grade basketball with me.” Kovall accepted the award after listening to guest speaker Frank White talk about sportsmanship. White, the manager of recreation programs and athletics for the Richfield Recreation Services Department, talked to coaches from both Annandale and Maple Lake about violence, abuse and unnecessary pressures that occur in community youth sports. Part of his message was to inspire coaches to examine the values they are teaching. “I remember some of the stuff my old coaches did,” Kovall said from the podium later. “They were yellers. And when I first started coaching, I was a yeller. But I got a little older and wiser and after 20 years of coaching, I know it just doesn’t work,” he said. Part of the reason he has dedicated so much time to coaching is because he loves teaching. Sports, he said, teaches so many life skills. The other reason he has stayed so long is the memories. “There are so many stories,” he said, “I could be here forever.” He ended his speech by saying: “I’m very honored to be in this room and get this award, because I know what all of you have done out there too.”
