By Cynthia Scott

Look for some new faces along the Viking sidelines next school year. The district is looking to fill a dozen coaching positions for the 2005-06 school year, including head coaching jobs in volleyball and girls soccer.

Volleyball coach Jim VanEerden, a middle school physical education teacher, will continue in the classroom but has decided to quit coaching so he can spend more time with his young children. He is also an assistant boys' basketball coach, and will continue on in that capacity.

VanEerden called his decision to leave coaching one of the most difficult decisions he has ever had to make.

"My life outside of coaching is changing with two children who are approaching school age," he said. "I want to give more time to them. Coaching involves a lot of late nights and planning and during the volleyball and basketball seasons there are some nights that I don't see them."

He said he plans to coach his own children's youth program teams.

"I am really going to miss working with the players and other coaches. I would like to thank the volleyball players that I have had the privilege to coach over the past four years," he said.

Kristen Hetland, who has coached girls' soccer for five years, will be starting Ph.D. work in Human Development and Education at North Dakota State University.

"I am sad to leave at such a great time in my career, but I need to keep moving forward," Hetland said.

She said she will always remember North Branch as the place where she started her teaching career.

"I remember driving into town and freaking out because there weren't very many stop lights and only one stop sign on 95, and the population sign only had a four-digit numberóI was used to a six-digit number. I was scared. I didn't know what I was getting into, until I walked into the school and met a few of the staff and everything changed," Hetland said.

Hetland's departure also creates a vacancy on the girls' basketball team, where she was an assistant.

Activities Director Becky Leuer said the number of vacancies is not unusually high, but it is unusual to have two head coaching positions open at the same time.

"Anytime you have stability in a program it's better for the program. That's why you hate to see turnaround," she said.

Some of the positions being advertised are not actually vacancies but are currently held by non-staff people. Teacher contracts require such positions to be advertised annually in an attempt to place teachers in them.

Several of the positions are new as a result of growth in the district, while at least one is the result of teacher positions being cut for budgeting reasons. Others are due to personal changes such as those cited by VanEerden and Hetland.

A full list of vacancies and more information can be obtained at www.northbranch.k12.mn.us.

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So you want to be a coach?

The Minnesota Department of Education has three requirements for head coaches in Minnesota: knowledge of and experience in the sport; completion of instruction in first aid and the care and prevention of athletic injuries; and completion of a coaching methods of theory course.

A head coach is not required to be a teacher.

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and the Minnesota Athletic Directors Association jointly offers the National Federation Coaches Education Program, which meets the requirements. Coaches who complete the 60-hour program are eligible to accept head coaching positions.

For more information, visit the MSHSL website at www.mshsl.org.

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