Kirk Martin spurs his team during a timeout with his typical fervor. His players point some credit back to him. "He had a really impressive way of making the young women on the team want to run through a wall for him," said Kari (Flunker) Hoffman, who played under him for four years and assistant coached on his staff for another six years. "He had high expectations for us," Hoffman said. "You will be in chapel every day and you won't be in the back row. You will go to church on Sundays." Like any other sport, the best coaches develop coaching trees, a network of assistant coaches that have success long after their legendary predecessors retire. Martin and Hoffman have that relationship. Hoffman took over as head coach when Martin hung up the whistle, and did so well in her five years coaching Cedarville that she moved on to coach Division I Wright State. Martin always believed in Hoffman. He believed in her enough to fly to northern Wisconsin for a recruiting visit on a dinky plane sketchy enough to make him so sick he threw up in her front yard. He believed in her enough to ask her to join his coaching staff the year after she graduated. And he believed in her enough to hand her the keys of the program he gave a legendary status. "I didn't really have a choice," Hoffman said with a laugh. "He primed me for that and talked in that direction for a couple years before he retired. He convinced me that I was the person for the job." Hoffman learned from Martin. It would be impossible to spend 10 years with a hall of fame coach and not learn. One thing she learned was when to push her players to their limits and when to keep things fun. Just when Martin's players expected a tough conditioning practice, he would declare they could forego basketball in favor of whiffle ball and ice cream, a tradition that lives on through Hoffman's teams. "He had a way of relating to us, it was just easy to get behind him," Hoffman said. "There's not too many male coaches who have that ability to relate to college age women and then get them to play hard for them. He had a really good balance of caring about us, keeping boundaries, but also pushing us to great lengths to get the best out of us." When he made the jump to the college level some things remained as constant as ever. Martin ran many of the same plays under the same names he ran at Southeastern, perfectly recognizable for Southeastern fans in the stands watching their old coach. "I loved my time at Cedarville trying to figure out what my limits were as far as a coach and how good I was or wasn't." As it turned out, his high school wins were more than a product of a program led by another hall of tamer, Gary Bradds. Martin was just that good. "I came to Cedarville and had no desire to go anywhere else," Martin said. Given his love for daily chapel and Locust Hills golf course, he could never find a reason compelling enough to leave. But when the time came, he didn't hesitate to leave the office and never come back. "Kari was ready," Martin said. "And I have a golf course that needs me." Alan Brads is a senior journalism student and sports editor for Cedars. He enjoys playing the drums, speaking Spanish and watching Buckeye football like his life depends on it. Serving others: The Cedarville fire department in action By Josephine Schmidt-Kroyer When you ask a kid what they want to b when they grow up, many will say a firefighter. The blaring sirens, the bright flashing lights, and a truck speeding past on th road. A child looks at firefighters with fa cmation and wonder, dreaming about one day b coming like them. Th p ople at the Cedarville Volunteer Fir D partm nt, have turned this dream into r hty for themselves. Their h roIsm and cour g mpower them to r scue and assist others in their gr t t tIm of n ed. Th d p rtm nt not onl stnv s to erve but acti ely Fall O 3 ott Hu ■ I!] embodies the selflessness required of its members. With just two full-time staff members, their operational success relies heavily on volunteers Many of these volunteers are students from Cedarville University, contributing their time and effort to keep the fire department functioning seamlessly. In return, they gain valuable EMT training and other essential skills, all while making an impact on the community they serve. Behind the scenes, these local firef and volunteers are committed ands lfless. ke cl&~E~ look at their stones by scanning the QR cod belo watch tile film. l7
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