By Medicine Hat News on November 21, 2019.
Kennedy couldn’t be more excited to be in St. Paul today, set for the Alberta Schools Athletic Association 3A girls volleyball championships to begin.
She knows full well that this is the end of the line for her high school career, and how rare it is to have her parent as her coach.
Except that this story is about two Kennedys, playing for schools mere blocks away from each other, both headed to the same place for the same reason.
Kennedy Lanigan and Kennedy Galloway will lead their teams into the fray starting this afternoon, and they’ll be cheering each other on.
“Since we’re both from Medicine Hat there’s the support from both teams that we give them, and they give us,” said Kennedy Lanigan, whose mom Trina is the head coach for her Monsignor McCoy Colts. “Kennedy (Galloway) said that when we’re playing, her and her whole team are going to cheer us on. And I think it’s mutual that we cheer them on when they’re playing, because both teams are from Medicine Hat.”
The Colts won the local league title over the Crescent Heights Vikings, coached by Scott Galloway. But the Vikes and league MVP Kennedy Galloway took the league title this past Saturday in a five-set marathon over the Colts, whose Kennedy finished second in the MVP voting.
Their stories mirror each other’s right down to their first names, and even what the Kennedys have to say about being coached by their parents.
“Sometimes we get on each other’s nerves but it’s awesome because he knows that he can push me, he wants me to reach my greatest potential,” said Kennedy Galloway. “Sometimes he’s a little hard on me but it is what it is, love him to death.
“I appreciate it, it’s made me into the player I am today.”
“She does push me to be the best I can be,” said Kennedy Lanigan. “Sometimes it’s like mental telepathy, when I make a mistake I know exactly what I did wrong because I had her for so many years, it’s like repetition in my mind.”
Most of McCoy and Crescent Heights’ athletes have played together on club teams and since they’ve been slotted into different six-team pools, they won’t have to worry about a fifth head-to-head matchup until after the round robin.
Yes, they’re 2-2 in those head-to-head matchups.
There’s no question the two teams have pushed each other, along with last year’s zone champion Eagle Butte which fell to McCoy in this year’s zone semifinals. Only two spots were available for the South Zone at provincials, otherwise nobody doubts the Talons would have been a great representative as well.
“With that level of competition, it’s great because it forces your teams to be better and push,” said Trina Lanigan. “Sometimes when you have blowouts, the girls become complacent… they’re not being pushed to reach their potential.”
In the long run, however, neither of the Grade 12 stars are likely to remember how they finish this weekend – unless they win the whole thing. Their parents have been telling them that, both as parents and as coaches.
The other common thing they’ve been hearing? Those parent-coaches are extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished already.
“Those types of things, knowing the hard work she has put into the game and her love and appreciation of the sport, for her to play another week is so gratifying,” said Scott Galloway.
“There is some sweetness to it in a sense of I’m going to miss it, but at the same time I know she’s moving on to bigger and better things,” said Trina Lanigan. “It’s been so much of our lives for so long, so it’s coming to an end of an era. There’s some bittersweet-ness to that but also you know what’s coming is a new adventure.”