AHS alumni looks back on illustrious coaching career after leading Little River to State Championship

Nov. 2—By Jayshaun Jones

Abilene Reflector-Chronicle

Kim Rolfs is an Abilene High School alumn who now is a volleyball coach for the state-champion Little River Redskins. Rolfs has experience coaching all over Kansas, experiencing multiple state titles and near-perfect seasons. She also has experience in coaching basketball and has found a great amount of success in that as well.

Rolfs started coaching her first year out of college in 1995.

"My first year out of college back in '95 I was thrown into coaching volleyball as a head coach at Quivira High School with zero experience other than playing high school ball," Rolfs said.

She coached at Quivira High School for seven years until she decided to take a year off after having her second child, Trey Rolfs. After that, she followed her husband Trevor Rolfs to Mankato, Kansas, and then to Pratt where he was following his dream of coaching college basketball.

Her time in Pratt she was the head coach at Pratt High School, though this period was more about self-reflection.

"I found out I needed to step down and learn some things at this higher level," Rolfs said.

She would be an assistant coach for a few years before she would follow her husband again back into this region.

"Following my husband again back close to where it all started, Trevor had taken a job as the Athletic Director at Barton Community College. Our kids, Taylor and Trey attended Central Plains, where I was an assistant basketball coach for Pat Stiles during the start of multiple basketball titles," Rolfs said.

Before her daughter's junior year the head volleyball coach position was available and she decided to coach those kids despite working as a teacher at Great Bend Middle School. She credits her players at Central Plains for their success.

"While at Central Plains I was blessed with some talent. Going 83-3 in two years and winning a state championship in 2015 with a 43-0 record was an unbelievable feat but honestly, I had some crazy talent on that team," Rolfs said.

Once Rolfs' daughter graduated from high school she wasn't able to teach in one place and coach in the other, so she decided to resign from her position at Central Plains. Sometime in the spring after leaving Central Plains, Little River High School reached out to her, asking her to become the Head Coach of their volleyball team and hire her as a full-time teacher.

"My son, Trey was already itching to go to school there because he had grown up playing not only football with a lot of those Little River kids but also basketball, so off we went 45 minutes from Claflin and joined the community of Little River," Rolfs said.

Rolfs has been the head volleyball coach at Little River High School for six years and has two state appearances under her belt.

"Last season we got over the hump and finally won a substate final, but we couldn't get out of pool play at state. We lost to Centralia and Spearville, who ended up winning it all in 2021," Rolfs said.

She said her team knew they had left something on the court from the previous year and they were determined to get to the Saturday that mattered most the State Championship.

"That wasn't an easy feat as we ended up with the defending state champs Spearville and Flint Hills who was the number one seed in our pool," Rolfs said.

Little River and Spearville went into the state tournament while being ranked number one and number two in the state.

"What better way to start off the tournament, we played outstandingly and beat them in the first round. Going 3-0 in pool play was something I didn't think was going to happen because our pool was tough," Rolfs said.

She was very anxious that Friday night, fresh off going undefeated in pool play.

"Sleeping that night was tough. Looking back, that anxiety was from knowing we had played so well, I just knew if we kept playing how we did in pool play, we would have a great shot at winning it all," Rolfs said.

This group is very special to her.

"They are great kids on and off the floor. They have super parents who support their kids and our program. The community here at Little River has been the best! I've been to a lot of places over the years and I can say that this has been the best support from the administration and the community," Rolfs said.

After finishing the year 40-4 and topping it off with a state title, she looks back and believes this is a year she will never forget.