Finck, Hart family is leaving their mark on past, current and future Henning Hornets

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Volleyball is much more than a game for the Finck and Hart families. It is a family affair of love for making that perfect pass, finding the right time to go for the kill and spreading their passion for the sport with the next generation of Hornet volleyball players.

As practice got underway last week, the players and coaches simply make eye contact and know what drills need to be completed to warm up and get stretched. There is a scurry of activity along the walls in the gym and players prepare for the home stretch of their regular season. 

This year has been a challenging one for the Hornets as a new high school gym floor was installed in August after the previous one came to its end of life after nearly 60 years in existence. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the floor was not ready until last week, which resulted in split practices in the elementary gym, lots of road games and plenty of cramped quarters at the Henning School.

However, the family-first environment head coach Kristy Finck has installed both on and off the court has made an otherwise difficult challenge a bit more tolerable. After all, when a majority of the upper level coaching staff has known each other for almost their entire lives, one simply needs to make a facial expression or point a finger for the other person to know what the other one is thinking. 

Finck, who is in the middle of her 16th season at the helm of the Henning volleyball program, has made the volleyball program a bit of a family affair. 

After playing volleyball and graduating from Henning in the 1980s, Finck became an assistant volleyball coach and teacher at Bertha-Hewitt where the Bears saw quite a bit of success during the early 2000s. During that time, Finck had the opportunity to coach her daughters Kayla Hoelscher and Jessica Anderson, as well as fellow assistant coach Jessica Iliff while she was in high school at Bertha-Hewitt. The Bears made several trips to the state volleyball tournament while Finck was an assistant coach, something she still fondly recalls today. 

“I love it, I love the game and I do it for the kids,” said Finck of her passion for coaching. “It’s always been my favorite sport. It’s my passion.”

While the Bertha-Hewitt Bears had quite a bit of success during her time as an assistant coach, Finck couldn’t resist the opportunity to come back home, so-to-speak, when the head volleyball position came open at Henning High School. After several tough years in terms of wins and losses prior to her arrival, Finck was hired just weeks before the start of the season in 2010. Since that time she has helped to transform the Hornets into a perennial powerhouse in both the Park Region Conference and Section 6A, despite having one of the smallest enrollments in the section.

In fact, it took Finck just 15 years to win 300 games, which is an average of 20 wins per season, and the Hornets are once again near the top of the standings in the section and conference heading into the final two weeks of the regular season. 

Under Finck’s leadership the Hornets have also advanced to several Section 6A finals and even defeated Wadena-Deer Creek in the 2019 section finals to advance to Henning’s first state tournament for a Hornet girls team. 

While coaching at her hometown team has been a unique opportunity, doing so with her family playing such an integral part of the process has also made for a rather fun experience. 

Today, several of Finck’s family members play a part in the success of both the school and JO programs. 

Hoelscher was a member of several state tournament teams from Bertha-Hewitt, as both a player and manager when her mom was an assistant coach. She is now the junior varsity coach and assistant coach for the high school teams. She has been involved in the high school or JO program on and off since 2013. 

“I think it is pretty cool,” she said of coaching with her mom. “She gave me the passion for the game and to be able to work as an assistant coach with her is pretty special.”

In addition to Hoelscher, Finck’s other daughter Jessica Anderson, helps organize the Henning JO volleyball program each spring. Anderson’s daughter Hadley, who is a third grader at Henning School, is the team manager this year and has been a staple in the gym come volleyball season nearly her entire life. 

The family contributions continue as Finck’s niece Ally Hart is the team trainer and also helps out with practices each day, while her dad Bill Hart coached Ally when she was younger and was a junior high volleyball coach for several years. When the team needed a C-squad coach a few years ago, Ally’s older brother Nate coached C-squad for one season. Ally was also a member of the 2019 Henning High School team that made it to state.

“I think it is pretty cool to coach with my daughters,” said Finck. “I like sharing our successes with (them).”

Finck said having her daughters involved in the program has made coaching quite a bit easier as they oftentimes see things the same way on the court. 

“When we are coaches we see the same things so when we open our mouth it’s literally the same thing,” said Finck. 

The family connection goes far beyond just blood relation, as C-squad an assistant coach Jessica Iliff played for Finck while she was in high school at Bertha-Hewitt. Finck said Iliff knows what she expects from her players and has been a big asset in coaching the younger players by sharing her love of the sport with the future Hornet volleyball players. 

As a smile comes across her face, Finck said if her passion and desire to coach continues and the school district wants her to continue leading the Henning volleyball program, she has another rather unique and memorable goal in mind.

“Seeing Hadley in the gym I just see Jessica all the time,” said Finck of her grand daughter. “My ultimate goal, if I can keep coaching another 10 years, would be to coach Hadley.”