When Mike Campbell was hired to take over the baseball program last June, Oglethorpe County High School Principal Bill Sampson knew he was the man for the job because Campbell shared a key value with the rest of the staff and community — “a commitment to family.”
Campbell has coached both of his children: sophomore Reese Campbell worked with her dad on the softball team, while Nash Campbell spent time with his dad on both the football and baseball teams.
“He’s very helpful,” Reese Campbell said. “He’s the reason I know how to play softball right now. He’s helped me ever since I was 9; he coached my travel ball team. He’s mainly the reason I know how to play.”
This thread of parent-child coaching is clear in Oglethorpe County.
Football head coach Mike Holland and his son, Kingston Holland, also worked together this year.
“It was really cool,” Holland said. “I’ve coached his Little League teams, stuff like that, (but) he’s never played football before. To be able to coach him in my job and at the school, and for him to be a part of what we’re doing day in, day out, I really enjoyed it.”
Holland wasn’t sure if his son would like football. However, playing under his dad, he found a love for the game, and even began running track to prepare for the next football season.
Kingston Holland said he’s loved having a source of football knowledge right in his home — a point Nash Campbell also expressed. The two said they can just wake up and ask their dads about anything.
Nash Campbell, after suffering an injury during football season that kept him out of baseball this year, appreciated having his dad there to help him work and find ways to improve his game off the field.
“It’s definitely been awesome to have him there the whole way and know that he’s trying to help me get better in every way I can,” Nash Campbell said.
Head soccer coach Erich Forschler, like Mike Holland, hadn’t coached his daughters since their rec league days. However, he became the head coach for both the boys and girls teams before this season, which allowed him to coach twin daughters, Madeline and Emily Forschler, once again.
“It’s really nice (to be) part of what they’re doing,” Erich Forschler said. “I’ve been around at the high school while they’ve been playing soccer, and even though I haven’t been coaching their team (until this season), being there and being a part of it and being to see their games is definitely a blessing.”
Forschler got into coaching specifically to coach his daughters, and eventually fell in love with it, so he became certified and landed at the high school.
After a few seasons of coaching the boys team, he added girls soccer to his list of duties.
“I don’t know how he does it, because it seems stressful and stuff, but he’s definitely one of my favorite coaches I’ve had yet,” Madeline Forschler said. “He’s really good at what he does.”
Both Forschler sisters noted how much fun they had working with their dad.
Emily Forschler said she grew as an athlete, but she also witnessed how well the team came together under her dad’s leadership. She noted her dad had no problems pushing her and her sister a tad harder, which all three other students echoed.
Kingston Holland said his dad will use him as an example of what to do or not to do, a role he embraced.
While the coach-kid connection at the high school level is strong, it’s just as present at the rec department.
Brandy Haynie, father and volunteer Little League coach, has coached his four kids since his oldest (who is now graduating) played Little League. He is still coaching his 8- and 5-year-olds, Jackson and Magnolia.
“Just the extra time with my children and spending time with them, being able to coach them was kind of cool and special to me,” Haynie said. “But also just spending time with those other kids, all those kids are like my own children whenever I coach them. I feel like I have a special bond with them.”
Haynie, who lives in Crawford, wants his kids to experience the same family and sports environment he had as a child. Being a former athlete, he knows firsthand the importance of family support.
In discussing the challenges of coaching his own children, he said he had to balance his expectations with their perceptions of the sport.
“I have to be careful because they’re my children,” Haynie said. “ And you don’t want to go too far with that because you want them to enjoy themselves and you don’t want them to have a negative experience, but at the same time, I know what they’re capable of, so it sets a higher bar sometimes, but I try to do my best to treat them the same.”
Haynie said through the experience and time he’s spent with his kids, he not only wants them to take away the feeling of the family tie but also the life lessons that sports teach like: teamwork, hard work and striving through adversity.
While Reese Campbell, Kingston Holland and the Haynie siblings have two or more seasons left with their coaching parents, Nash Campbell and the Forschler twins know that their time with their parents is running short.
All three enter their senior seasons next year.
“I’m super excited. I just wish it would slow down a little bit,” Mike Campbell said. “It seems like every year goes by faster and faster. It’s unbelievable how I can remember being little and tiny and playing T-ball and now they’re all grown.”