Crippen retiring from coaching
Coach always loved the game
By Barbara Brown Rush City High School volleyball coach Candi Crippen says sheís lucky. After nearly 33 years as a teacher at the school, Crippen said last week that she still wakes up in the morning thrilled to go to work. ìItís amazing,î Crippen said. ìI donít know that the majority of people can get up in the morning and say ëIím glad Iím going to work.î Crippen began teaching at the high school in 1970, after graduating from Mankato State University where she was a member of the swimming, basketball, volleyball and track teams. She said she had no problem taking the demanding position as health teacher, physical education instructor and coach of the schoolís girls cheerleading squad, pep club, volleyball, basketball and track teams. ìThey basically had contracts back then that said if you wanted to teach here you had to be willing to do all the physical education and coaching and other things they asked you to do,î Crippen said. ìI was 22,î she said. ìI was gung-ho. Ready to do it all.î After about four years of such a heavy load, coupled with a long commute to rural Beroun each day, Crippen decided to cut back on her coaching duties. She chose to remain the head coach of the sport that appealed to her most: volleyball. ìItís always been my favorite,î Crippen said. Since taking on the solitary coaching role to teach young women the art of the serve, the need for speed and agility and the finesse of a beautiful spike, Crippen has led the schoolís team to countless victories. Among changes sheís seen during her years as a teacher and coach at the school, one of the funniest for her to remember is the way a male physical education instructor reacted when he learned in the late 1970s that he would be forced to teach girls and boys in mixed classes. Prior to the decree that physical education, with the exception of contact sports, was to be taught to co-ed classes, gym was taught to girls by women and to boys by men. ìI was really excited,î Crippen said. ìIt meant I got a chance to see some students more involved. They guys like gym more than the girls.î Crippen said another significant change she has seen came in the early 1990s when Rush City got a new school building. She said she likes the variety she sees each day when she enters her classroom. ìI get to have students from all over the grade levels,î she said. ìI never get bored.î While Crippen does not have immediate plans to retire from her teaching post, the thought has crossed her mind. She would be eligible for retirement benefits in about 18 months. Although retirement sounds nice to most working citizens, Crippen said she wouldnít know how to handle it. ìIn the summer I go nuts. I donít get the day to day contact.î Crippen said she will continue to teach seventh- through tenth-graders in physical education and sophomore health classes.
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