Ward named Tharptown girls basketball coach
Tharptown third-grade math teacher Abby Ward has been hired as head coach of the girls basketball coach.
While the position will be a new one for her, she’s no stranger to the game.
Ward graduated from the University of North Alabama in December and has been working at the school since January. She graduated from Vina in 2018, where her father, Richie Hester, is the current track coach and girls basketball coach.
“I have played basketball since I was three years old,” Ward said. “It has always been a part of my life.”
When Ward graduated high school, she began coaching Little League because she wasn’t old enough to coach in the county on a junior high or varsity team.
FAMILY AFFAIR
“When I was old enough, I started helping my dad at Vina,” Ward said. “I was his assistant coach for the past four seasons, and my little sister, she’s about to be a junior at Vina, she has always played basketball.”
Ward explained the love of basketball has always run deep in her family.
“Basketball is something we’ve always been surrounded with,” Ward explained. “It’s basketball all year long, not just a season for us. I love everything about it. Basketball is my passion.”
She said the high school level of basketball has “so much that can be taught through teamwork,” adding it’s “challenging,” but “there are so many rewards to the hard work that you put in and that can go a long way in the ‘real world,’ too.”
Ward said she’s looking forward to sharing her love of the game with THS players.
“I want it to be fun for all of us, and I want it to be rewarding,” she said. “We’re going to have a young team, and I’m just really excited for everything to start. I’m excited for summer ball, fall ball, everything.”
Ward said she wants the girls to understand teamwork.
“I want them to know that we win as a team, and we lose as a team, and everybody has a role on the team,” she said. “I want us to really work well together. Teamwork is going to be the main mantra of the season because we’ve got to work together if we want to succeed at anything.”
PERSONAL GROWTH
Ward said playing basketball in high school “was everything” to her. “I still dream about high school basketball games. It was everything I looked forward to.”
She explained it helped her grow in self-confidence, being out in front of everybody playing.
“It truly is my passion. We watch it at home all the time,” she added, “any time a game is on.”
Ward said her family has a little goal in the house, and she and her sons play in the living room.
“I’m just really excited and thankful for the opportunity,” she emphasized. “We haven’t had trials yet, but we will before school ends in May.”
Ward said the team will have some play dates over the summer.
“We’re going to be conditioning and working out, too,” she added. “We’re going to have a play date at Vina where my dad and sister are, and I’m very excited about that.”
Ward said her father has been “a great mentor” over the years, and she’s looking forward to coaching against him.
FATHERLY ADVICE
“Abby’s been my assistant coach for the last four years,” Hester said. “Two of those four years, she’s won the B team varsity girls championship, which is really good.”
Hester said when Ward was a high school player, she scored 1,600 points in her career and made 530 free throws, as well as got into the record book for 20 records for the Alabama High School Athletics Association for girls basketball.
“Steals and assists her last three years, she made the record book all three years in those categories,” Hester said. “When she played for me, she was like having a coach on the floor. The last four years she played for me, we won 90 ballgames.”
