Burckhard is a well-known last name in the South Dakota women’s basketball sphere.
Paiton Burckhard led Aberdeen Central to two state titles. She now coaches the program.
That includes her sister Lauryn – a budding star for the program.
SDPB’s Jackson Dircks sat down with SDPB Sports and Rec Reporter Nate Wek to talk about the sisters.
Nate Wek:
I think if you go to Aberdeen and you mentioned the Burckhard name, I think there's going to be a lot of people that are like, oh, great basketball family type of thing, right? You're going to get the people right away that know Exactly, especially Paiton, who she was, and now Lauryn being a high school basketball player there too, as a sophomore, she's still young and early in her prep career, but has turned a lot of heads and has a lot of people excited too. So it's a very good basketball family. Paiton, I think will always be remembered because she was part of the two state championship teams that Aberdeen Central had you look at when she was a sophomore in 2016, first ever for Dawn Seiler there. And then in 2018 when Paiton was a senior, not only winning the state title, but also really winning it in an impressive way over a good Harrisburg team.
Jackson Dircks:
Yeah, definitely. As you said, Paiton's certainly not adverse to winning at any stage of basketball. How do you think she's going to kind of bring that competitive spirit into the Aberdeen Central program again, where she has pretty big shoes to fill? I would say,
Nate Wek:
Yeah. I think you look at what that program did with Dawn Seiler at the helm, and Dawn had, when she stepped down, she was the winningest girls' basketball coach in state history. Now that got topped last year by Jim Bridge of Hanson, but Dawn Seiler still considered one of the winningest coaches in state history. And so, I think having Dawn Seiler still involved, not necessarily with the program, but as the athletic director at Aberdeen Central, I think having her in the building, having that extra person that has went through it that you can bounce ideas off of and talk over some things with, I think that's a big benefit to Paiton. When you look at the way she started the year seven wins already on the season, just two losses and their two losses are to the other, probably arguably the two top teams and class AA girls and Rapid City, Stevens and O Gorman. So, I think she's doing really well.
In her first year, we were actually there for their first home game and I believe it was right before Christmas, so December 20th, they hosted Spearfish, so we were there for her first ever home game. It went into triple overtime, but it was really cool being there and being there for the player introductions, player introductions, get over and they go and head coach Paiton Burckhard and getting a round of applause for that and being like, wow, this is cool. This is the first time that she's been announced as the head coach in front of her home crowd here at Aberdeen Central. So I think that was really cool to be a part of, to be there for that. And yeah, she knows what she's doing, she's smart. She understands the game of basketball. She played under Dawn Seiler, as we've mentioned, she played under Aaron Johnston of SDSU, two very iconic names when you're talking about basketball from two different levels in the state of South Dakota.
So, I think she's definitely learned under the people that would set her up to be successful. And as a 25, 26-year-old kid stepping in to be a head coach at the AA level, it might maybe look a little bit intimidating from if you're looking at it from maybe an upper view, an aerial view, but she knows what she's doing. She was talking to the refs when we were there going over things, just doing what you normally see coaches do. So the fact that she's got her team winning, playing good basketball, I think that's exciting. Not just for people of Aberdeen, but people that just love good high school basketball, especially girls basketball in the state.
Jackson Dircks:
What challenges and, let me say opportunities, do you see between Paiton and Lauryn being that sister and then coach-player bond. I know with me, I'm sure with my sisters, we might not exactly see eye to eye all the time, but how do you see that relationship kind of coming out on the court?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, we did see them communicate really well. We were there for a practice the day before, and then obviously the game. I think what Paiton does a good job of is just kind of separating it out. [She's like] "Yeah, we're sisters", but when it's practice or game time, "we're going to treat you all the other players type of thing." So, I think she does a really good job. It didn't really shine off where if you walked in having no idea who they were, you wouldn't have looked and said, oh, they've got to be sisters because of the way they're acting with one another. It wasn't anything like that. They did talk to us a little bit. [They said] "yeah, we still have those sister moments with a little bit of a bickering or disagreements with stuff", and they're both very competitive and passionate people, but I think they're learning as they go.
But I think so far, they've done a really good job of separating the two. And that's really what you got to do too, if you're a parent that is coaching one of your kids too, right? Because you got other kids on the team that are not your children, and I think you just kind of learn how to separate the two, separate the personal life from the basketball life a little bit, and from what we saw, we were there for two days, so take our word a little bit, maybe with a grain of salt as far as some of that goes, but you know what I mean? We didn't see anything that looked unusual. We thought bold foot were handling it really well, and they know each other so well too. So, I think people always probably will make a bigger deal about it than it probably is. The way we look at it, they're two really competitive people that want to have success, and that's kind of what we saw. Lauryn and Paiton are both just very passionate about the game of basketball, and that showed to us.
Jackson Dircks:
Lauryn's actually following in her sister's footsteps, and she committed to SDSU. What can you say about that?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, I think talking to their mom and dad, Kevin and Chris, they were pretty excited about that too. But everybody we talked to too said, this is Lauryn's time. Paiton had her playing time. This is Lauryn's time. Yeah, Paiton's the head coach at high school, but Lauryn's trying to, she's got a little bit of a different personality, maybe a little bit more spunk than Paiton. We watched her as a sophomore. She was absolutely outstanding in the game we went to. So, I mean, super athletic, super fun to watch one of the best players on the court, no doubt. So, to see that from a sophomore I think is just truly outstanding in itself. I think her just going to SDSU, I know she went to a lot of games to watch Paiton play when Paiton was in college. So, there might be a little bit of comfort there as far as knowing the town, knowing maybe getting a chance to meet some of the coaches and understanding the administration a little bit in that athletic department and the standard. But I think Lauryn is very set, too, on her own legacy, which I think is absolutely great.
Jackson Dircks:
Yeah, definitely. I would 100% agree. I think she's got a lot to bring to SDSU when she's there. What would you say that the Burckhard family is sort of meant to that Aberdeen Central community, and how is that going to continue over this next year?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, I think they mean a lot to the community. I think people that are really involved in supporting the high school programs at Aberdeen Central, I think they are very appreciative of what Paiton did during her time. I think they're very appreciative and excited about Lauryn because she is so young, but yet so driven and very athletically gifted. I think, again, you mentioned that name in Aberdeen, and everybody's going to know exactly who it is. So, I think that name means a lot to the people of Aberdeen. And you look at the two state championships, you can say, well, there's a lot of other really good kids on those teams too, which there absolutely were not taking anything away from people like the Brianna Kusler and stuff like that. She was also a phenomenal basketball player who's also has dipped her toe into the head coaching waters as well. But there's some names up there where they love their high school, they love their high school athletes, they support their programs, they support the college programs as well with Northern and stuff like that. So, I think Burckhard, the Burckhard name is just another one of those names to add to a list of some very storied players that have went through Aberdeen, whether it be at the high school level or the collegiate level.
Jackson Dircks:
I think making that transition from player to coach is certainly a different beast. Has Paiton said anything about how that transition has been? Has it been smooth? What are the challenges she's sort of noticed, or has it been a pretty seamless transition?
Nate Wek:
She seemed very comfortable with us, really comfortable in the game we watched. I think there's always going to be a learning curve. I think you could talk to a coach that's even been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years, and they're still trying to learn new things or new ways to go about coaching kids, because kids are changing too. You can't be a coaching tactic that might've worked even 20 years ago is not going to work today. So even some of the things that maybe Paiton experienced when she was growing up from some of her coaches, even like a Dawn Seiler, those tactics might not connect as well with some of the kids today. So, I think it's always an ever-changing process, but I think that might work to her advantage a little bit too, because she is a little bit closer to some of their ages, so maybe it gives her a little bit of an edge as far as maybe connecting with some of the kids. And even if it's just in the casual conversations and the bus trips and stuff like that, just understanding what things it is kids are into today and things like that. Maybe that's something that gives Paiton a little bit of an edge. I don't know.
Jackson Dircks:
I guess my final question then would be when it's all said and done, what do you see this impact the Burckhard family is going to have on South Dakota basketball? I mean, there's [going to have] been eight years [of play], plus now still coming with a Paiton coaching where they've been pretty dominant in the state of South Dakota.
Nate Wek:
Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think it's one of those things where it's yet to be seen right a little bit just because of the legacy that Lauryn has created. There's obviously a ton of excitement for her. She's got a lot of playing years left. I know she's really gotten involved in basketball at a young age, obviously going to her sister's practices and even stuff like that. But she's got a lot of playing years left. Two more at the high school level, and then potentially for sure four when you get to college. So, I think it'll be interesting to see what that legacy will look like when it's all said and done and that kind of thing. But they also have a brother too, and he got involved into football, actually spent a year playing football at SDSU too, so it's an athletic family and meeting their dad, Kevin, mom, Chris, they're competitive people too. And their dad's really tall, way taller than I am. So very clear to see right away that, okay, there's probably some basketball here too, type of deal. So yeah, so very athletic family. You just have some of those athletic families in South Dakota where you really have no choice but to get involved at athletics at a young age and be good at it, whatever it is you do. And I think the Burckhard's certainly meet that list.
SDPB is featuring the Burckhard sisters as part of this year’s ‘Tales from the Hardwood’ show. That airs live Thursday, Feb. 27th on SDPB1-TV
