WARDSVILLE - Darren Heckman wasn't quite sure what to do in practice when he became the girls basketball coach at Blair Oaks in 2017.
He admitted it was somewhat intimidating at first. As it turns out, that time spent in the gym during practice would become his favorite part of being a high school coach for the first time.
"I told the girls several times that I really looked forward to that part of it, just being in the gym, watching them practice and get better," said Heckman, who has resigned from his position of head girls basketball coach at Blair Oaks after three seasons.
Heckman isn't a teacher at the school, but has been balancing the coaching duties with being the president of High 5 Communications, a marketing firm in Jefferson City.
His increased time commitment to that company impacted his ability to dedicate enough time to the Lady Falcons.
"One of the hard parts about leaving is I feel much more prepared now to coach at the high school level and understand what we're trying to build as a program," Heckman said.
Heckman's prior coaching experience was at the youth level. When the opportunity arose to coach at his alma mater, he took it.
"It was really the only place that I would have even considered," Heckman, a 1992 graduate of Blair Oaks, said. " It was special in that regard just being able to have that connection with the school you went to."
He added he enjoyed coaching high school basketball even more than he anticipated.
The Lady Falcons went 57-25 in the past three years under Heckman, including a 16-5 record in Tri-County Conference play.
"I'm proud of what we did," Heckman said. "Coach (Brandon) Moore and coach (Sarah) Bohl really did a great job of helping me. They brought a lot to the table, so I think collectively I'm proud of what we did. Coach (Ryan) Fick on the boys side was an enormous asset to the girls program. A couple of the other coaches at the school were very helpful."
But wins and losses weren't what was most important to Heckman.
"At the end of the day you want to try and win games, but I think, especially at the high school level, just remembering your role there," Heckman said. "It's part of the education process. I am not a teacher so the impact that I was able to have was only through the sport, but just remembering that the important role you play in the development of young people. That's really what I would tell anybody is to keep that front and center."
The job allowed Heckman the opportunity to coach two of his daughters: Claire Heckman, who graduated in 2019, and Natalie Heckman, who is a junior at Blair Oaks.
"It was a very unique opportunity to be around my kids more than I anticipated when they started high school," Heckman said. " As a dad, I'm very proud of how they played and what they brought to the program. It was very nice to be around them."