Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Silent Running
DOUGAN MAKES TRANSITION
PRAIRIE GROVE —A key cog in the well-oiled machine the Prairie Grove girls basketball program has become is assistant coach Shelley Dougan, who is also head coach of the tennis team.
“I was doing basketball and picked up my second sport,” Dougan explained, who saw foreign-exchange student, Maria Maraver, win the district singles girls tennis tournament Oct. 8 at Fort Smith.
Dougan is accustomed to game intensity seated alongside Kevin Froud, Prairie Grove head girls basketball coach, who is very vocal throughout a hoops contest, yet, coaching tennis requires a more relaxed approach.
“It’s completely different coaching-wise. You have to sit over here and you can’t say anything,” Dougan said.
Her first tennis season was in the fall of 2012 and she didn’t have any previous experience as a tennis coach although she played for recreation with her husband. This year Dougan has been back on the tennis court after school and Prairie Grove installed lights so play can continue after dark.
Sarah Gauldin was the only returning girls player so Dougan did a little arm twisting using the relationship established with quality athletes from the girls basketball program to get more kids out for tennis and more boys came out, too, inspired by the play of Britton Madrid, a 2013 Prairie Grove graduate, who advanced to the 2012 state tennis tournament.
“We had a really good leader last year in Britton Madrid. He kind of set the bar for a lot of them,” Dougan said. “They’re all really competitive, they don’t like to lose. They set some pretty high goals. The girls doubles team (Callie Robinson and Abby Smith) wanted to go to state. They got to see what Britton got to do going to state. They’re very competitive girls, they want to be successful. They just fell a little short.”
Senior Lacey Beeks joined the tennis program with Dougan in 2012 and is one of a number of athletes, who practice basketball in their last school hour of the day, then come to tennis practice until 5 or 5:30 p.m.
“A lot of the girls basketball team is out for tennis. We all get along really well, boys and girls both,” Beeks said.
“I’m really proud of them, a lot have not been playing very long,” Dougan said. “Several of my older girls just started playing last year and several new boys have never played before.”
The tennis season will wrap up with the state 4A meet set for October 21-22 at Arkadelphia and Beeks, who didn’t qualify, knows she may be expected to carry a bigger scoring load with the graduation of several key players from last season’s state runnerup girls basketball team.
“I am prepared for it,” Beeks said. “I am willing to do anything it takes for my team to get a win.”
For Dougan, investing her coaching time and efforts is a way to give back to the community.
“I grew up here, so it means a lot to me,” Dougan said.
Dougan played on a Prairie Grove girls basketball team that went to the state finals in her senior year under then head coach Bobby Smith, who eventually moved on to Fayetteville.
Dougan’s six-year-old son, Parker, is a regular presence when his mother conducts practices and coaches in games.
“He has no choice but to like basketball. He loves it,” Dougan said. “He gets so excited, he’s into it.”
Parker’s favorite player on momma’s junior high team last season was Camree Bartholomew while Justyne Huber (Class of 2013) was his favorite on the senior high Lady Tigers.
When asked if he intends to play football for Prairie Grove when he gets bigger, Parker responded with an exuberant, “Yes.”
“I’m going to play football and basketball, its my favorite sport in the whole wide world.”
Dougan admits there may have been times when she has used a motherly tone when addressing Parker Galligan, who placed third at district and will play at state. Galligan has the same first name as Dougan’s son.
“My Parker comes to practice a lot so we have to call him (Galligan), ‘Parker G,’ and refer to ‘Parker D,’” Dougan said.
Dougan has been happy with the team commitment.
“Considering we practiced all of July from 6:30 to 8:30 in the mornings. They got up on time and were very committed,” Dougan said. “We have very competitive and very hard, working kids so that makes it better.”