My dad has done many things for me in my life, but the one thing he’s done which has made the largest impact is the game of basketball. He introduced me to this game when I was only a little girl and I have not stopped playing since. I had fallen in love with the game by fifth grade. He has been my coach for several teams and is my coach at home as well. He taught me and drilled all of the fundamentals into my head. He made me a great basketball player by high school. He is two different people to me. When he is my coach, he is not Dad anymore, he’s just my coach, not treating me any different than any other girls on the team. But, off the court, he is my dad.

I remember the summer going into my junior year my Dad had been my summer basketball coach. He coached me and my other teammates at a high school Best of the State Tournament. I have never been a player to yell at the refs during a game, but I was fed up with those summer refs and getting no calls toward our team. I ran over to the refs after a bogus call and started screaming in their faces. I was pretty angry. My ‘coach’ pulled me out and I have never heard him yell so loud in my entire life. He embarrassed me in front of my team, and told me I could have cost the game for them. It made me upset, and other parents felt bad for me, but I knew my dad was only trying to help and make me a more composed player and person.
Since that day, I have never even thought about getting angry at a ref or in my real life blowing my top off at other people. A tragic incident happened to me on November 17, 2008, when I tore my ACL. The one thing I was good at and loved to do had been taken away from me. I couldn’t play my senior year of basketball, but of course I had a great team, friends, and family to help me through it all. That’s where my dad especially came in and educated me on how why things happen for a reason. I couldn’t have done it without him. My dad has always been there for me to teach me true lessons in life. My dad is a big part of my life and I would not be the basketball player or the genuine girl I am today without the advice and lessons of my dad, John Steven Hackbart. This is why I am nominating him for Educator of the Year because the way he has helped me he carries out with other people as well.