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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Culture Shock
Central Kansas, KS
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Before Corey Lyon became head softball coach at Independent, the program had gone winless for two consecutive seasons. In Lyon’s fourth season at the helm, the Panthers are coming off a fourth-place finish at the Class 3A state tournament
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For the Independent turnaround, Lyon credits a change of culture and his team’s willingness to follow the program. After two winless seasons in 2003 and ’04, the Panthers went 8-7, 14-7 and 17-4 in Lyon’s first three seasons.
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HSSTM: The Independent girls softball team finished fourth at the Class 3A state tournament last spring, ending with a 17-4 record. What are your expectations for this season and what key players are important to your team’s goals?
Corey Lyon: We approach every practice and every game in search of perfection. This year’s group is no different. With seven starters returning from last year, getting the experience of playing on Saturday at the state tournament will be invaluable. The last couple of years, the talk around here has been about getting to the state tournament. The approach now is not just about getting there but winning the state tournament. I would say that every one of my players is a key to our success. Rachel Damiris is our lone senior this year. Rachel is a three-time all-state player and she has developed into a great leader. Sophomores Haley McGregor and Kelsi Standlee both come off of outstanding freshman seasons; juniors Erin Tuttle and Samantha Eklund compliment each other very nicely on the mound. Transfers Mattie Mae Milligan and Cheyenne Stewart will also be key contributors to our team’s success.
HSSTM: This program was not very successful prior to your tenure as head coach. What is the difference and how have you been able to get the team to the top level of competition?
Corey Lyon: Whenever you are trying to build a winner at a place that hasn’t won, the biggest hurdle is changing the culture of the program. When my staff took over, we let it be known that we had certain goals and expectations. The girls worked really hard and bought in to what we were trying to accomplish. The hardest thing to teach someone is how to win. Once the girls learned how to win, it made them hungrier and hungrier. Success breeds success and since that first year it has been like a snowball rolling down a mountain.
HSSTM: What does it mean to you and the team to have a player the caliber of shortstop Haley McGregor?
Corey Lyon: Well, Haley has obviously been blessed with a tremendous amount of god-given talent. But, the two things that I enjoy the most about Haley, is her competitive spirit and her work ethic. This child flat-out hates to lose. It doesn’t matter if she is playing a game of whiffle ball in the cul-de-sac or dodge ball in the gym; she does not like to lose. You combine her competitive spirit with Rachel Damiris’s and it has filtered down through the rest of the team to create a winning atmosphere. Haley is also one of the hardest working athletes that I have ever coached. Nobody spends more time working to perfect their craft than Haley.
HSSTM: You are also the head coach of the Independent football program, which, much like the softball program in the past few years, also seems on the cusp of vast improvement. Softball or football, which is more fun for you?
Corey Lyon: This is the toughest question of the bunch for me. I think coaching both boys and girls has really helped me to develop as a coach. They both provide a great balance for me. For me, my expectations of the athletes don’t change, but working with girls provides a different challenge compared to working with boys. At the end of the day, I love them both and I am thankful for the opportunity to work with such good kids.
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