Post-championship emotions tell the story of love between coach and player/daughter

There are two ways that a parent coaching their child, let alone simply raising them, can go: good or bad. And there usually isn’t an in-between point, though the positive relationship isn’t going to evolve without some bumps along the way.

For veteran Advance High School volleyball coach Erin Hoffman, and her only child, daughter, Lexi, yes, there were some bumps, but nothing that significant. And there was certainly nothing that occurred that could diminish what the two achieved over the past four seasons with the Hornet program.

“It was actually really good,” Erin said on Saturday after coaching her daughter for the final time in an Advance jersey. “We had our moments (though).”

Not many.

Lexi finished her Hornet career in Saturday’s MSHSAA Class 1 State Championship match, as Advance swept South Iron in three sets. The state title was the third for Lexi during her four years of high school, fifth for the Hornet program under Erin’s guidance, and sixth for Erin, who also won a state championship with Bell City in 2003.

“It’s probably the best thing that I have experienced,” Lexi said of playing for her mother.

That sentence was more difficult for Lexi to spit out than winning another state title.

Lexi was in tears as she contemplated that her and her mother’s journey with the Hornets was over.

When Erin passed out the medals to each player following the match, she hugged each athlete tightly. However, the embrace with her daughter was a little longer and a little stronger.

“She says that I like to back-talk,” Lexi said, “but we just exchange our opinions.”

In Lexi’s defense, find me a teenager who has never exhibited a degree of independence in a debate with mom and dad.

“We knew,” Erin said, “in the end, when we talked to each other, we meant it. It was just a bad idea for us to talk to each other when the emotions were high.”

Erin said what she’ll remember most about coaching Lexi, who has been at Advance since the seventh grade and played for her mother both in club volleyball, as well as with the Hornets middle school and high school programs, was her ability to transition to a new role in her sophomore season.

Lexi had spent time as a setter during her younger years, but Erin needed the 6-foot-1 athlete up front in the middle, and Lexi “just ran with it,” according to Erin.

“All of a sudden,” Erin said, “we needed a hitter, and she had never hit before.”

That is difficult to fathom today when you watch Lexi not only dish out passes with touch, but smoke attacks at the Advance opposition.

Erin utilized Lexi as a setter from the back row and a hitter when she was up front.

In the semifinal win over Galena, Lexi passed 12 assists, had six digs, and boomed 19 kills.

On Saturday, she totaled 18 kills, passed out 14 assists, and had 10 digs.

For this season, she had 542 kills (for the second straight season), 941 attacks, 423 assists, and 249 digs, to go with her three state championships won throughout her career.