POULSBO — Helen Smith, girls’ track and head cross country coach at North Kitsap High School, has resigned from both positions, athletic director Al Gleich reported Thursday.
Smith, who coached track for four years and spent three years as head coach of cross country, recently had her second child and said she needed more time with her young children than would be possible had she kept the positions.
“It was a heartbreaking decision,” Smith said. “I was planning on having a great season. But I have to put my family first.”
Gleich said North Kitsap will certainly have big shoes to fill, given the loss of Smith as coach.
“She had a passion for the sport and an expertise in coaching,” Gleich said. “She was also a Division I and scholarship athlete. But I think everything worked out for the best.”
Both North Kitsap programs grew tremendously under Smith’s time as coach. In track and field, teams typically started with 50 athletes, and the number would dwindle to 25 over the course of the season. Last year, 80 students tried out for the team alone.
Cross country in North Kitsap also flourished to new levels. Both girls’ and boys’ teams, both of which Smith coached, qualified for the district meet. That feat hadn’t been seen around the high school since the late 1980s.
The team also qualified individual runners for the state tournament during her tenure as coach.
The hardest part for the newly-decided stay-at-home-mom will be the fact that kids she coached as freshman will be seniors this year, she said.
She’ll still come out to the sidelines to see some of the athletes she coached, she added.
Smith also worked in sales and as a personal trainer while coaching the teams. For now, the focus will be on the family, she said.
“I knew this was coming with my second son,” she commented. “I’m really enjoying staying home with the kids.”
As far as her future in coaching, the outlook is uncertain, she added.
“Our lives are undetermined at this point,” she said, “But I’d like to (coach) when I’m older.”
Smith said that she’ll savor her new role as spectator to both teams.
“It’ll be fun to be a spectator and go to cheer on the teams,” she said.
