For those of you that get the CAF newsletter, Jeanne Eggart (now Helfer) is featured.
http://cougarathleticfund.com/feature/eggart.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=870115&hq_l=7&hq_v=a5b180690e
I wanted to share a story about her.
Coach Helfer was the girls basketball coach at Mead High School in Spokane for many years. She won at least one state title while I was in school, and coached some future D1 players, including one that went to Stanford.
Anyway, she was my PE teacher spring semester of my sophomore year. She was pregnant and took part of the semester off when she had her baby. She taught a racket sports class (tennis, badminton and pickleball) for juniors and seniors. I heard it was fun, so I signed up for fall semester for my junior year. In the fall semester you played tennis first, outside while the weather was still good. Coach Helfer would play tennis with us. They way it worked was you challenged the people ranked higher than you to make it up to #1. You lose, you move down, you win, you move up. Coach Helfer wasn't very good at tennis, and she would say that she was just average. She said that she just tried to be like a backboard, and knock the ball back over the net. I could beat her, no problem.
I had heard the stories about what a great athlete she was (one of the best in WSU history), and held all kinds of records in basketball. The story went that after she went to WSU, she of course quit her other sports and focused on basketball. Then she basically picked up the javelin again, and almost qualified for the Olympics. That story is true. She finished fourth in the Olympic tryouts in 1980. But let's say, that I didn't quite believe the hype. I could beat the formerly pregnant lady, who was in her mid-thirties in tennis after all. By her own admission she was just trying to get the ball back over the net.
Then we went inside to play badminton. After a week or so, I was on the number one court. My friend had been going 50-50 against each other, and I had a win streak for a few games. So, challenged me. She beat me 15-5. It was actually pretty lopsided up to the end, but I came back and made it slightly more respectable. I was a little embarrassed, but with the little run at the end I was confident that with another week or two of practice I could beat her.
Then she challenged me and my friend- 1 v. 2. She bet us 15-3. It was unreal. I mean unF-cking believable, with a capital F. She painted the lines with the birdie. Literally. Every one of her shots was within 3 inches of the line. About half of them were right on the line. She could cover space on her side of the court way better than the two of us combined, and we were playing on the doubles lines. When it was over, I wasn't even embarrassed. That's how bad it was. I was numb to the beat down. I realized something near the end of the game. She'd been toying with me when I played her 1 v. 1. She probably just got bored and I made that little run near the end while she was testing my backhand or seeing how fast I could move to my left, or something like that. There would be no beating her.
Coach Helfer is great person and a great Coug. She is definitely one of the best athletes in school history, and she is probably the fiercest competitor that I've ever met. She's in her late 50s now. And even if I spent the next three months practicing badminton, I'd be lucky to lose 15-3.
http://cougarathleticfund.com/feature/eggart.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=870115&hq_l=7&hq_v=a5b180690e
I wanted to share a story about her.
Coach Helfer was the girls basketball coach at Mead High School in Spokane for many years. She won at least one state title while I was in school, and coached some future D1 players, including one that went to Stanford.
Anyway, she was my PE teacher spring semester of my sophomore year. She was pregnant and took part of the semester off when she had her baby. She taught a racket sports class (tennis, badminton and pickleball) for juniors and seniors. I heard it was fun, so I signed up for fall semester for my junior year. In the fall semester you played tennis first, outside while the weather was still good. Coach Helfer would play tennis with us. They way it worked was you challenged the people ranked higher than you to make it up to #1. You lose, you move down, you win, you move up. Coach Helfer wasn't very good at tennis, and she would say that she was just average. She said that she just tried to be like a backboard, and knock the ball back over the net. I could beat her, no problem.
I had heard the stories about what a great athlete she was (one of the best in WSU history), and held all kinds of records in basketball. The story went that after she went to WSU, she of course quit her other sports and focused on basketball. Then she basically picked up the javelin again, and almost qualified for the Olympics. That story is true. She finished fourth in the Olympic tryouts in 1980. But let's say, that I didn't quite believe the hype. I could beat the formerly pregnant lady, who was in her mid-thirties in tennis after all. By her own admission she was just trying to get the ball back over the net.
Then we went inside to play badminton. After a week or so, I was on the number one court. My friend had been going 50-50 against each other, and I had a win streak for a few games. So, challenged me. She beat me 15-5. It was actually pretty lopsided up to the end, but I came back and made it slightly more respectable. I was a little embarrassed, but with the little run at the end I was confident that with another week or two of practice I could beat her.
Then she challenged me and my friend- 1 v. 2. She bet us 15-3. It was unreal. I mean unF-cking believable, with a capital F. She painted the lines with the birdie. Literally. Every one of her shots was within 3 inches of the line. About half of them were right on the line. She could cover space on her side of the court way better than the two of us combined, and we were playing on the doubles lines. When it was over, I wasn't even embarrassed. That's how bad it was. I was numb to the beat down. I realized something near the end of the game. She'd been toying with me when I played her 1 v. 1. She probably just got bored and I made that little run near the end while she was testing my backhand or seeing how fast I could move to my left, or something like that. There would be no beating her.
Coach Helfer is great person and a great Coug. She is definitely one of the best athletes in school history, and she is probably the fiercest competitor that I've ever met. She's in her late 50s now. And even if I spent the next three months practicing badminton, I'd be lucky to lose 15-3.
