As 2013 nears its end, perhaps it’s a worthy time to reflect upon all the losses that Polk County Middle School coach Brandy Alm has suffered since the current school year began.
. . . And we’re done, because there aren’t any.
A perfect volleyball season plus an undefeated basketball season to date add up to a 21-0 record in 2013-14 for Alm, the head coach in both sports. Perhaps even more remarkable is that 19 of those 21 victories haven’t even been that close; only the basketball team’s 41-39 win at Rugby Middle and 30-29 triumph at Hendersonville Middle have offered much in the way of drama.
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Not that Alm is complaining.
“We’ve definitely had a tremendous end to 2013 in regards to athletics at PCMS,” Alm said. “As a player in college I never enjoyed an undefeated season. However, my senior year of high school (at T.C. Roberson) we came very close. We lost one game in basketball and I believe only one game in softball as well.”
Victory has been a common thread this year in the Alm household. BillyAlm, Brandy’s husband, serves as Polk County’s football and boys basketball head coach and has only one loss this season for an overall 13-1 record. All of which means the Alms are a combined 34-1 this school year.
Brandy Alm, though, is no stranger to athletic success. A three-sport star at T.C. Roberson High School, Alm opted to play college basketball and went on to become an all-South Atlantic Conference guard at Newberry, earning team most valuable player honors her senior season while finishing in the top 40 nationally in 3-pointers made per game. Upon graduation, Alm decided to leave athletics for a career in real estate. It wasn’t long, though, before she found herself back on the basketball court.
“After graduating from college I became a broker, but my heart wasn’t really in the business world,” Alm said. “I was more interested in what my husband and his teams were accomplishing. My husband is an amazing coach and educator, which motivated me to become a certified teacher and pursue what I was born to do.
“I realized, after getting back in the gym, helping out with the PCHS women’s varsity basketball team (in 2006), I needed to coach. I almost felt like a part of me was missing without basketball.”
In leaving business to return to athletics and find that missing piece, Alm has also been able to take her athletic personality and translate that into a coaching style that is evident in all sports she leads.
“I have four words that describe me and hopefully my teams as well – discipline, teamwork, communication and intensity,” she said. “As a coach I realize every athlete and team is motivated differently, so my approach in motivation changes depending on the athlete and the dynamic of each team. As all my girls will tell you, I am a defensive-minded coach. Defense leads to offensive opportunities. I say this before every game and several times during practice. I’m an intense coach, love coaching, love the game of basketball and I love teaching the game of basketball.”
Alm also has a deep love of her family, and her two kids, Gunnar and Kenzie, are familiar sights at Wolverine games, often surrounded by players from various Polk County middle and high school squads. That support has helped make the role of parent-coach much easier, Alm said.
“We have an amazing support system in our family and friends,” she said. “There are some late nights and tough bus rides, but our son loves watching the kids play and enjoys being in the gym or on the field.
“We are a family on and off the court, throughout whatever season it is, and every team Billy or I have coached has always made both kids feel like family.”
Having a second coach in the family has an added benefit for Alm.
“Throughout basketball season there have been many nights we stay up and bounce ideas off one another,” Alm said. “We look at things from different perspectives and that really helps. During football and volleyball seasons we very often have no idea what the other is talking about, but just knowing we support each other means the world to me.”
The undefeated run caps what was already a notable year athletically for Alm. In May, she was inducted into T.C. Roberson’s sports hall of fame, the Ring of Gold, for a high school career in which she earned numerous all-conference and team honors in basketball and softball.
“Being inducted into the T.C. Roberson Hall of Fame was such an amazing honor,” Alm said. “I feel extremely blessed. Plus sharing the experience with Billy, who was just inducted into his high school’s hall of fame in New York just weeks before, was really phenomenal.
“It has been a whirlwind sort of year. Time flies when you’re having fun and it’s nice to sit back and reflect on all of the positives in our lives.”
