(Avoca) Jason and Blake Holst, of AHSTW, are the guests today on KSOM/KS95’s Father’s Day Series.
Jason Holst is the former head baseball coach for the Vikings and still serves as an assistant in football. He remembers his son being around and being involved from a young age all the way through high school. In fact, things came full circle so to speak a handful of years back. “He was on our sidelines early on as a ball boy. He did all the way up to junior high. One of the coolest memories was him as a ball boy when we made it to the dome in 2013 and then we made it in 2018 and he was a player. That was a big one for me.”
Coach Holst points out it took a lot of family support to keep coaching after having children. He credits his wife for juggling things when the kids were younger. As they got older he was happy to have the inside access to them that only a coach could get. “The opportunity to go to practices and all the games, I bet you a lot of parents would like to see what that’s like. I really liked the opportunity to go to practices and be able to be around him when we got the chance to do that. It kind of made up for some lost time when I wasn’t able to go to all of the games that he had.”
Holst recalls some great discussions both at practice and at home between the two. “He was pretty knowledgeable in all the sports just from being around it so much. He did a great job of understanding what my role was and maybe he didn’t always agree with things, but he did a great job allowing me to be a coach when I needed to be a coach and a dad when I needed to be a dad.”
He says they are able to have a more in-depth relationship today due to their common bond and knowledge of sports. Both Jason and Blake feel there’s more pressure on coach’s kids than other players. Blake says, “It’s a confidence booster, but it also provokes you to work harder and want to be better because he’s always out there. That’s something that I always took pride in was having him around to be able to learn from him, but for me to be able to show him what I can do.”
Sometimes when you’re young you might think you know everything, but in hindsight dad might have been right. “More than I want to admit.” Blake laughs, “Especially as I’ve gotten older there are times when maybe we didn’t agree on something, but looking back on it he was not only trying to teach me something, but make me into a better athlete or person or whatever it was.”
Blake admits there were times he was nervous to go home after a bad practice or game, but says the positives far outweighed the negatives. “I’ve learned that what he was doing was always in the best of my interests and the team’s interest. I’m really thankful for that and the opportunity that I got.”
Blake has his own coaching goals ahead and says his dad has been a great resource. “It was every day. Growing up, he was either sitting on the couch watching film or prepping for a game. After games he’d get home and do the stats or talk about the next game. It always seemed like an around the clock type of thing. That preparation and what drives him to want to do that and help the kids definitely made an impact in my life for wanting or not wanting to coach. Right now I do.”
The series continues tomorrow with Exira-EHK’s Tom and Tyler Petersen.
Jason Holst:
Blake Holst:
