Olympic's Callaghan began coaching on road less travelled

There was a time during Kelsey Callaghan's school days when she thought dental hygiene or biology could be career paths worth pursuing.

Instead, Callaghan sank her teeth into teaching. The 29-year-old is in her fifth year as a member of Olympic High School's physical education department and in her first season as head coach of the Trojans' varsity girls basketball team.

A 2011 graduate of South Kitsap High School, Callaghan earned Narrows League most valuable player honors as a junior and made the Kitsap Sun Super Six girls basketball team three times before playing four years at the University of Montana Western.

By the time Callaghan graduated from college in 2015, she knew she wanted to teach — but coaching basketball?

"I don't know if I was ever, 'Yeah I want to be a coach,' Callaghan said. "Of course, I have a great role model. It was kind of an easy transition."

On the bench with Callaghan this winter is her father, John, who amassed 304 career victories during 21 seasons at South Kitsap before stepping down in 2019. After spending one season (2021-22) as a volunteer assistant at Olympic College, where his son Ryley coaches the men's basketball team, John Callaghan opted to fill the same role on his daughter's staff. The Trojans ended the week in sixth place in the Olympic League 2A standings with a 3-7 overall record.

"I'm just there to help out," John Callaghan said. "It's fun for me because I get to hang out with Kelsey every day. That's a good day for me."

As a young South Kitsap ball girl, Kelsey Callaghan spent plenty of time with her father at the Tacoma Dome during South Kitsap's six-year run (2001-2006) of top-eight finishes in the 4A state tournament. It was in that same domed venue that Callaghan gained access to her first teaching/coaching job in 2015.

"Before I even graduated, my senior year, I came back home and there was a job fair at the Tacoma Dome," Callaghan said. "I said, 'I'm going to go and throw my resumé around and see if anyone bites.' I got quite a few bites."

One of the jobs that piqued Callaghan's interest was for a K-12 physical education teaching position in northwest Alaska in a 3.4-square mile town called Selawik with a population of roughly 800. Callaghan's long-term goal included teaching in the Puget Sound area, but felt drawn to this short-term stint abroad.

"They are selling the adventure," said Callaghan, who eventually accepted a job offer to teach and coach middle school girls basketball.

Callaghan said the National Geographic television show "Life Below Zero" describes life in Selawik in late fall and winter. You're talking Arctic Circle cold.

"It's super north," Kelsey Callaghan said.

"I got a text from Kelsey one day and it was minus-40," John Callaghan added.

Living in teacher housing, Callaghan experienced the Selawik lifestyle — fishing, hunting, escapades in the snow. She even continued to play basketball.

"The adult leagues were legit," Callaghan said. "We'd snow machine to different villages and play in tournaments. It was so fun."

During her second year in Selawik, Callaghan took over high school girls coaching duties. Want to know what road contests involved?

"Planes to games," Callaghan said. "Small little tiny planes that held nine people and we would sleep at the schools and play multiple games. And then we'd fly back."

In Callaghan's one and only season as head coach, she led Selawik to the school's first state tournament in over two decades. The team lost in the Class 1A champion to Scammon Bay. After the season, she returned to Washington and spent one year teaching and coaching in Federal Way before accepting a job at Olympic.

Callaghan considers her two-year sojourn in Selawik well worth it.

"I got the adventure I was looking for," she said.

Now just a handful of months away from turning 30, Callaghan said she'll continue to coach as long as it make sense with her teaching and family obligations. She married last year and said becoming a mom could be part of her future, so only time will tell where her coaching road may lead.

Right now, daughter loves having dad along for the ride, coaching the game they both love.

"Coaching is fun," Kelsey Callaghan said. "I like walking in the gym, talking with players about the fundamentals, running them through the drills ... and all of a sudden it clicks and it's like, 'Yeah!"

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Olympic's Callaghan began basketball coaching on road less travelled