Jill Christensen is the all-time winningest high school coach in South Dakota history with 837 career wins. Throughout her 36-year career with volleyball in Parker, she led the Pheasants to 14 state tournament appearances, which included a state championship in 1990. Jill Christensen, along with former players Rylie Christensen and Laurel Laubach, joined the 'In Play with Craig Mattick' podcast to talk about her legendary coaching career.
In the early 80's, Christensen's journey with Parker began. She was named the head volleyball coach with no experience of playing or coaching the sport.
"First and foremost, [the interview] was for the junior high math position and I was ok with that, that wasnt' going to be a problem. Basketball assistant coach was in there, that wasn't going to be a problem. Junior high track coach, that was in (the contract) too. I thought, I can do that, I was in track in high school," Jill Christensen explained. "And then I come to find out that head volleyball coach is also part of (the position), and I thought 'I can give it a try, I'll do my best.' And that's how I got started."
Now that she's retired, Christensen is enjoying a more casual schedule of sports in her life.
You can listen to this episode and more by subscribing to the 'In Play with Craig Mattick' podcast on Apple and Spotify as well.