среда, 19 сентября 2012 г.

ADKINS NEARS END OF COACHING CAREER - Post-Tribune (IN)

PHOTOBernita Adkins will conclude her 25 years as a girls' basketball coach at the end of Portage's season. During the 1962-63 season, she coached seven sports at Portage. (Post-Tribune photo by Dave Bartman)

THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED VERSION.

Don't begrudge Bernita Adkins a flashback or two Tuesday night when her Portage girls' basketball team plays Valparaiso at Portage High School. It will be the last sectional hurrah for Adkins, the only basketball coach Portage's girls have ever known. Poor health hastened her retirement from coaching, but there's no doubt where her heart is.

'When I made the decision over Christmas vacation, I cried for 24 hours,' she said. 'I did a lot of soul searching. I knew it wasn't fair to my health or to the kids. I missed four games this season, that's more than in all my previous years'

The sobs became contagious. Her players cried after she told them earlier this month that she was quitting.

Adkins, 53, was hospitalized early in the season for an ulcerated colon. Her doctor said the condition was brought about by the stresses associated with years of coaching.

As Adkins watches her squad play Valparaiso Tuesday, her thoughts might drift back 25 years when she picked up her first whistle. Also greeting her was an assortment of indifferent and chauvinistic attitudes.

In the 1962-63 season, Adkins coached golf, field hockey, basketball, track and field, swimming, badminton, and volleyball. For all this, she received a yearly stipend of $250.

'We'd go somewhere and play basketball, then put up the nets and play volleyball,' recalls Adkins. 'We called it a sportsday. Our principal was against interscholastic sports for girls.

'People don't realize what we went through when we first started. Parents drove, I drove. We sold candy and candles to pay for uniforms and officials.'

Adkins knew griping wouldn't help.

'If I complained, they'd say 'you didn't have to do it' so I just kept my mouth shut. The girls needed something and they were quite thankful they had the opportunity.'

The options for girls changed dramatically in the mid 70's as the growing women's movement helped spur the passage of Title IX, a federal law which mandates equal educational opportunities in the classroom and on the athletic field.

Reaping the biggest benefit was girls' basketball which suddenly gained first-string status and a glitzy state tournament.

Adkins took her undefeated Indians as far the semistate during the tournament's inaugural season in 1976-77. Her team was ousted by the eventual state runner-up, East Chicago Roosevelt. Adkins has a 220-95 record, but her teams haven't won a sectional since.

Five players from her first tournament team are now coaching basketball at varying levels. They are: Linda Radivan, Donna DeVries, Peggy Voss, Cheryl Kovalow and Karen Arwood.

Since then, Adkins has witnessed astonishing changes in skills and abilities.

'I think the squad I have right now would beat them,' Adkins says about her current team which has a 12-6 record. 'So much has changed. There are bigger and stronger people. Weight work has played a role, and the girls are better shooters.'

In all her years of coaching, Adkins has never received a technical foul.

'If I could blow my stack, I probably wouldn't be having these problems. I'm not a yeller or a screamer.'

Adkins' squad would like nothing better than to present her with a sectional title as a going away present. First, the Indians will have to survive their sectional opener against Valparaiso, which beat them 52-48 on Jan. 17.

'We're going to win it,' Adkins says enthusiastically.