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Craig Mattick: Welcome to another edition of In Play. I'm Craig Mattick. Today's guest did not have the opportunity to be involved with some of the sanctioned high school sports that we have in South Dakota. Girls basketball wasn't sanctioned in South Dakota until 1975, and volleyball wasn't sanctioned until 1982. She didn't get to play volleyball in high school, but she started the volleyball program in De Smet, made the state tournament the first five years of the program.
She would also become one of the most respected volleyball officials in South Dakota. She has officiated 34 state tournaments. Oh, and by the way, she's a pretty good basketball and softball player. It's the Huron Tiger, Kim Weed. Kim, welcome to In Play.
Kim Weed: Thanks, Craig. Nice to be here.
Craig Mattick: It's crazy today that girls have so many options to them, whether it's playing sports and many options if they want to play their favorite sport in college. But you know what? In the early to mid-'70s here in South Dakota, there were not a lot of options. I know you loved sports growing up. What activities were you involved with then?
Kim Weed: I was big into softball just because that was something we played regularly in my youth. Really, until my senior year, we didn't have basketball. We had just that one year before I went to college. My big activities were any outdoor sports I could get my hands on, to be honest with you. When basketball did arrive at Huron, we just had that one year and that was great.
Craig Mattick: Yeah. You were right on the tail end of your high school years when basketball was sanctioned, so what was that basketball year like for you?
Kim Weed: It was really a neat learning experience. It's the first time I would say there was a true sense of teamwork, to be honest, because other sports, they just weren't as intense, probably sanctioned, maybe as organized as this was, and as intense as it would be for a brand new coach, coaching a brand new sport, which mine did.
It was intense, I think, in the idea that now it was a team sport and you made it a team sport. We just really had a fun and dedicated group of girls that first year. I followed them after I left, obviously, and they remained the same. It was good coaching, but it was just the thrill of playing because none of us had ever had that opportunity before.
Craig Mattick: Of course, playing in the ESD, you would play those ESD schools, and of course, Yankton wasn't too bad those first few years in basketball. What was it like playing some of those schools?
Kim Weed: Yeah, we'd play Brookings and we'd play Yankton. With all due respect, I think we hung in there with Brookings. We did qualify for the state tournament the first year, but it was almost all inspiring, to be honest. I know some of those people still today on opposing teams, and watching what we accomplished, which was a big deal back then.
I mean, we were at the beginning of Title IX. We really reaped the benefits of Title IX. I mean, I saw it through the eyes of a one-year player in basketball, and in playing those other teams that were just as skilled or more skilled, to be very honest, was awesome. It was fun to watch them grow. It was fun to watch. After I left, it was fun to watch that grow and become even better and better.
Craig Mattick: Was your family involved with sports?
Kim Weed: Not at all. Not at all.
Craig Mattick: Oh, really?
Kim Weed: I'm kind of... Yeah, kind of black sheep family. I have five sisters and a brother, and nobody, nobody was at all interested in athletics, including my mother. She was a single parent and she didn't have time to be interested, to be honest. But no, absolutely not.
Craig Mattick: Have their kids become athletes at all eventually?
Kim Weed: No, I have to say, not one of them. One of them tried baseball and he was so eager to play and he played his heart out. He just wasn't very accomplished and switched to music, and that was a good move.
Craig Mattick: Hey, there's nothing wrong with that either. No, not at all.
Kim Weed: No, absolutely not.
Craig Mattick: After high school graduation, I mean, you stayed in the area. You went to Huron College, right?
Kim Weed: Right.
Craig Mattick: And you played basketball. Did they recruit you or did you have to walk on?
Kim Weed: No, they actually recruited me. I got a scholarship to go to Huron College to play volleyball, which I'd never played in any organized fashion, basketball, and track. I played all three sports all four years. It wasn't a huge scholarship, but back in that day, it was significant by those standards, and they recruited me.
Craig Mattick: Well, the only news I could find about your basketball career at Huron College, I found a snippet from the Huron newspaper of January 27, 1980, and all it said, "Huron was led by Gail Roman with 14 points and Kim Weed with 13." I mean, that's it. That's all I was able to get. I don't know if you won or lost, or who you played.
Kim Weed: We were an average team at best, I would say, but we really did have some good players, and we were fairly successful. Then we also ran up against the Northerns, and Kirk Fredericks Center, they just beat on us. It was in a time where I think even Huron College was growing their program as well.
I mean, we had a lot of players at maybe all SDIC, the South Dakota Conference. I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to make All Conference two or three years. I averaged, I think, a total of maybe 18 points, and it was like 15 rebounds over the course of those four years. I was more of a forward than I was a post player, but it was a great learning experience. Like I said, we weren't nationally ranked by any stretch, but we played some good ball against some good teams.
Craig Mattick: I mentioned Gail Roman. Since I mentioned her, we got to talk about her. What kind of a player was she? Was she the leading scorer?
Kim Weed: She was a really strong player, actually, and her sister, Susan, played on the team as well. She was very intense. She was just honestly a lot of fun. She was very dedicated. I would say that she played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion, and it was easy to play with her. Sometimes that isn't always true, but she was easy to play with because she played so hard and she really played the game the way it was supposed to be played. Very, very, very good player.
Craig Mattick: Kim, you mentioned you played volleyball too at Huron. How did you play volleyball when you never played it in high school? What was that transition like for you?
Kim Weed: It was difficult, but what was really neat about it is it was probably the best learning experience I've had because other than playing it in PE in high school, I didn't know the game. I didn't know the rules of the game. I didn't know the purpose of the game. I had a coach who had dabbled in it a little bit, and she was... Judy Jones was somebody who really wanted to be successful. She was able to put together a bunch of hoodlums who just wanted to play, and we'd get better and better each year.
It was a tough transition because I didn't know what my role was to be. I'm not overly tall, but I could jump and I have some power. But even back then, it doesn't even compare. It's like elementary ball versus high school ball today. I mean, there's just no comparison, but it was a great four years of learning the game. That's all I had with me when I walked into coaching, so it really was my foundation.
Craig Mattick: No records set playing volleyball at Huron College?
Kim Weed: Right. Yeah. But I mean, those are going to be your hitting records that I'm sure have been abolished by now-
Craig Mattick: Yeah. I can't find them.
Kim Weed: ... and things of that nature. Right. Exactly.
Craig Mattick: While at Huron College, you're working at becoming a teacher, right?
Kim Weed: Yeah.
Craig Mattick: What led you to that decision?
Kim Weed: I really enjoyed not just sports, but I really enjoyed the classroom. I wasn't a stellar student. I was a good student, but I was not on any honor roll. I really enjoyed the classroom setting. I put the two together. I liked teaching kids. I would coach softball in the summers. I liked that part of it, and that kind of led me that direction. The idea that I could teach and possibly coach combined was just really inspiring to me. It's something I was really attracted to.
Craig Mattick: Was De Smet your first school after graduating at Huron College?
Kim Weed: It was. It was. I went to De Smet from 1980 after I graduated through 1986. When I first started there, I coached... Well, for all of the years, I coached all three sports. That's back when basketball was in the fall. So I had basketball, volleyball, and then track. I was teaching senior English and health at the time, business, English and health at the time. That's really what led me to that. To the coaching, I think they were just... Terry Long, you'll probably remember Terry Long. He was the head basketball coach when I came in. Then we switched roles, and that's kind of where I got my start. Yep.
Craig Mattick: Let's start with basketball. That very first practice that you're the head coach, what was that like?
Kim Weed: Oh, scared to death. I would tell you that. I don't remember a lot, but I remember that. I think part of it was Terry's presence. He was so good and he's such a lovable guy, such a good guy. I had his sister on my team who was much the same. When you go in and you replace somebody who you think is not only talented, but just a good person to the soul, I think it's a little bit more pressure.
I went in, and I would say I was a very demanding coach and I think Terry was as well. I think that helped me. Through my history, I'm just a very demanding coach. I have very high expectations. I don't believe they're unrealistic expectations. If I have any regrets in coaching, it would be maybe if every once in a while I was unrealistic, but just very high expectations. It was never a question, I think, with my student athletes as to what those expectations were.
Craig Mattick: You're at De Smet 1980, you're the basketball coach, but here comes volleyball coming in 1982. It gets sanctioned in the state. You saw it coming. What were your thoughts when it was coming, but you weren't the coach yet? Did you see it coming? Was it easy for you to say, "Yeah, I'll be the volleyball coach too"?
Kim Weed: I believe it was easy for me because I had just come off of four years of learning the game myself, and felt like there I was the only one that could say that, to be fair. Nobody else had experience with volleyball. And absolutely, because I wanted to coach every sport that I could, or at least help out in some way. It just seemed like a natural fit.
What was interesting about that is back in the day, you had athletes that would play all three sports, where today, many athletes, for all the right reasons, specialize in a sport. Back then, I had pretty much the same turnover of athletes that were going to go from basketball into volleyball. That was such a caveat for me because they already knew. I learned the game with them. To be very fair, I learned the game with them.
We got better and better. We were successful. We didn't lose much. I mean, we really didn't. In order to qualify for state those five years, we had 20 win seasons and we had some standout athletes that made the transition well and learned the game with me.
Craig Mattick: Did you have to twist any arms that first year? "Hey, come on, come out to play volleyball. It's this new sanctioned sport we have."
Kim Weed: You know, I think I did because the core of the basketball team came out, and then you have those athletes that are not basketball enthusiasts, but they wanted to try volleyball. So you did, and they felt immediately like they were competing with All Star athletes. Well, because nobody knew the game of volleyball, once you convinced them that everybody here is on the same level, we are all learning this, this is brand new to everybody.
Some of the athletes would tell you today, I believe, that the ones that came out that maybe weren't three sport athletes became the best volleyball players. It became their passion, and it became something that they excelled in, and they didn't have to be a three sport athlete to do that or to be the Athlete of the Year to do that. So yeah, initially, yes, just saying, "Everybody's got a fair shot here."
It really did bring... We had big numbers because we could put together an A, B, and a C team. I mean, we had the numbers. So yeah, I would say we twisted some arms, but once they got out there and learned to love the sport and saw they could be successful, it was a very positive experience.
Craig Mattick: Yeah. 1982, the sports played in the winter, there was no libero, there was no rally scoring, the state tournament was a double elimination event. Four year regular season, how many of the... I mean, this is one class too, one class. No Class A and Class B. It was just one class of volleyball. Some of the schools that you played during the regular season, did you get some of the current AA schools on your schedule?
Kim Weed: We did. We had Washington and... I have no idea why, but we mostly played like... Well, that was at state tournament, to be fair. We mostly played the Arlingtons, the Lake Prestons around our area, Iroquois. Those schools.
Craig Mattick: Sure, sure. When it came to the state tournament though, the whole pot was put together. Pam Johnson is up at Washington and Galen Bush is out of Todd County. I mean, they were kind of building some big time programs and here's De Smet. De Smet's a decent sized school, but not when you're playing some of these others.
What was that feeling like that first year going up against some of these bigger schools?
Kim Weed: I don't think it was a defeatist feeling. I think it was... I know I say this, but I say this as an official too. I don't think I've been at a state tournament where I haven't learned something from somebody, and I haven't been to very many volleyball matches that I can't say the same thing. Now, Galen was top notch, and Pam Johnson is in a world of her own back then.
I learned a ton just watching them, and then I was able to officiate them years later. I just learned more and more and more, but it was daunting. I mean, you look at De Smet in a Small Town, USA, and we were B then, and... Well, we were all class the first two years, you're right. Then we were B the next three years. We're going up these schools that are just so... They have so many more options for players than we did at that time, and facilities and all of that.
We'd practice at 6:00 in the morning. We had just zero advantages as girls sports back then, that it was daunting. It was daunting to play those schools, but gosh, what a learning experience.
Craig Mattick: Well, De Smet makes it to the very first state volleyball tournament. It's March of '82. It's in Brookings. You play at Brookings High. Of course, one class, and sure enough, you played Todd County, your first match at state. Oh man, what do you remember from that match?
Kim Weed: I don't remember a lot, to be fair. I remember that tournament in general. I just remember as, from a coaching standpoint, scared to death. I think part of it is because I knew what was coming. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I kind of knew what was coming. We were so hyped. That community was so supportive and so hyped that those girls qualified for the state tournament, that that was a sense of calm.
We weren't just satisfied being there. We wanted to show up, and I think my girls did. I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't disappointed in them. I thought it was a great performance. I don't know that I came from any of those five state tournaments and didn't feel that we played to the best of our ability.
Craig Mattick: Todd County, by the way, went on to the championship match, lost to Washington. You wound up as consolation champs though. You beat Webster and Elk Point. That's a pretty good first start, first year of volleyball.
Kim Weed: Very much so. You get Cindy Nelson and Webster, and... I don't remember who was at Elk Point at the time. Girls who, like I said, developed with the game, learned the game with me, and just rose to the occasion. I think I'd said this to you before at one point, I was just so blessed with having talented athletes, that you could tell them what to do, show them what to do, and they would do whatever it took to learn how to do it. Yeah, it took us a couple of years to probably get a firm feel that we were a program to be reckoned with, but they were the right girls at the right time.
Craig Mattick: Got to remember at that time too, when it came to scoring, you had to serve to get the point, and you go to 15. Now, in that Webster match, in the consolation around, did you really beat Webster 15 to nothing, and again, 15 to nothing?
Kim Weed: I believe so. I would say that the one... It was something I was thinking about the other day. One of the players, Julie Beyer, that was just always her dream. Just sweet, innocent, hustling, little setter. She would be first server, and all she'd want to do is get back there and serve first. That's all she'd want to do. Her goal was always to get to 15. Back then, you could. You really could. Today you couldn't. Even if we went to rally scoring today, you couldn't. The defense is too good. But yeah, it's just... I mean, I had forgotten that. It's funny you say that.
Craig Mattick: Who were some of those stars that you had that first year?
Kim Weed: I had several. I mentioned Terry Long's sister, Anne Long, but I had Becky Geyer, Jill Beyer, Julie Beyer. We had Lisa Soares (phonetic), who's a coach, Wendy Van Meter. There's so many of them, that just... that Lana Danenberg (phonetic) would bring kids that grew into the role and were successful doing so. What was interesting is that they really kind of knew their part. They knew what part they played.
We had a couple of hitters, Jill Beyer probably being the strongest, Anne Long. Becky Geyer was a hitter, but she was an all around offensive player as well as an offensive threat. I would say they were probably the stronger that I remember right off the... There were many more after that, and I'm negligent to not being able to spit those names out, but that's-
Craig Mattick: Oh, that's right.
Kim Weed: ... that's my age.
Craig Mattick: 1983, second year of the state volleyball tournament, you're at the armory at Dakota State and Madison, and De Smet is back. First round, you lose to Rapid City Stevens. De Smet though finishes seventh in that tournament. You did beat Brookings and Webster that year, but you had the same stars on that team from the '82 team, right?
Kim Weed: I don't recall all of it, so you'll have to either fill me with information or just take me at my word, but I-
Craig Mattick: It was one of those years that you take on the big school, Rapid City Stevens in that first round. Then you beat Brookings though, in the consolation round. Then eventually, you finished seventh beating Webster.
Kim Weed: Yep. Yep. And the Brookings... I don't know why it was, but the Brookings was a big deal. Maybe because it was close enough to Dell Rapids... or De Smet, excuse me, at the time, that it just was a big deal. That was just one we went after, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because the first day tournament was in Brookings and it was a mindset, but I do remember and I do remember the absolute thrill of third place in those two years too, and the pride that went with it.
Craig Mattick: Yeah. 1984 may have been your best team, Kim. It was your third straight trip to state. You're back in Madison. It's now a two class volleyball system, but still double elimination. Opening around, you beat Howard, you lose to Webster, but then beating Bennett County and then Arlington before losing to Webster again for third. That may have been your best finish, plus you're named Coach of the Year.
Kim Weed: That was the year where I had promoted three sophomores from the sophomore level up to varsity level just to fill some holes. I think the beginning of the year was a bit of a struggle, but they just gelled. I mean, these three very specific, the Lana Danenberg, the Lisa Sorenson and the Wendy Van Meter that I brought up, just rose to the occasion. I think that's the only thing I said. I do remember that year because of the things that I asked them to do and how it worked. It was a moment for the program that I think really, really proved itself.
Craig Mattick: You go on and you make the tournament the first five years of sanctioned volleyball there at De Smet. By the way, it was 1985, the '85 season, you placed third in Huron and you were named the Volleyball Coach of the Year. What did that mean to you when they told you you were the Coach of the Year?
Kim Weed: It was kind of difficult, honestly. Max Hawk called me. I knew who he was, and I'd seen him a couple of times in Yankton, but he called and told me. I said, "Are you kidding me?" I mean, I did. I literally said, "Are you kidding me? How?" It's because you're initially kind of in shock and you don't expect that type of thing because I do believe most coaches aren't out there for personal awards. They aren't.
They're out there to do the best job they can with their team, but you also take it for what it's worth. It's probably one of the more important awards I've ever received. I say that because it was almost in my world because I was a strict coach, and I was very demanding, and we were successful, but it was a validation for me. That to me... I have an Official of the Year award as well, and those two things are more than anything, they're a validation of hard work.
Craig Mattick: De Smet places fourth in 1986 and Huron, and so it's a five-year run. You're at the state tournament. When did officiating start coming in for you to spend more time maybe up on the chair than as a coach?
Kim Weed: '84, '85. They just couldn't find officials in the area. I got certified, that's back when the Duffys were big into this... or they were just starting in the end. They kind of pulled me in. I had a couple friends here. Peggy and Jana from the Sioux Falls area pulled me in. I would just go along, or I would officiate when somebody needed somebody.
My first handful of years, it was just sparingly. If I could get in 10, 12 matches in between my matches and not with conflicting schools, that's what I did. Usually, it was a different division. I would officiate at a different division. I also did some college officiating during that time. I think it was really when I went to Dell Rapids, I was the assistant volleyball coach and that was going to remain my role and I was absolutely comfortable with that, that I was able to dive in a little bit more.
That's when I really kind of went hardcore. I went completely around our schedule when I could and really dove in during my time at Dell Rapids.
Craig Mattick: Did you have that deer in the headlight look those first years as an official in volleyball?
Kim Weed: I did. I did. What was interesting is you learn so much more officiating the sport than you do coaching sometimes, and yet it was great insight. I will tell you, I became a better coach in the assistant role, having officiated, just because I saw things that I didn't see as a coach that I could see as an official. My behavior on the bench. I'd see in coaches some mannerisms that I'm thinking, "Man, do I do that? If I do, that's got to stop."
And I really did. It made me a better coach. Without question, it made me a better basketball coach because I was still a head basketball coach at Dell Rapids. It made me a better coach, and calmed me down a little bit because I'm very intense. Yeah, it was a deer in the headlights because it's a whole new respect for the game.
Craig Mattick: When was the move from De Smet to Dell Rapids, and what transpired your move to the Couriers?
Kim Weed: I moved to Sioux Falls. When I left De Smet in '86, I was actively searching for teaching jobs and the Dell Rapids one wasn't opening until the half year. I worked at Citibank or something while I was here before I stepped into Dell Rapids for that term. It was just to teach something else. I went into Dell Rapids, and I was teaching high school psychology, and sex ed, and health, and things of that nature.
It was just time... For me, it was just time for a change, for a little different challenge, to be honest. It was something that was a big step, and it was one I was excited to make.
Craig Mattick: Just volleyball, or did you do any other coaching?
Kim Weed: Nope, I did all three sports there as well. I went in in Dell Rapids and became the basketball coach right away, and then was the assistant volleyball coach, and then was the track coach.
Craig Mattick: Then one year at Sioux Falls of O'Gorman, where did that come from?
Kim Weed: That was the year between the De Smet and Dell, because there was that half year. Cathy Hunt was somebody... The coach for Oklahoma is somebody I'd played softball with or against for years and she had just said, "Hey," because she knew I had coached, and she had actually done a couple of our matches and said, "Hey, if you're interested, I just need a short term assistant for the year type of thing."
It was just a no-brainer. I learned probably as much about the game watching her coach being part of it, which was really nothing because she did it all to be honest, and watching Kim and Julie Sudd (phonetic) that play. I mean, that was a great year. It was just a great year.
Craig Mattick: There came a time though that being in the classroom was enough. When did that come about?
Kim Weed: I think... I'm not going to call it burnout because I don't know that that's it, but there was a point where I felt... As far as leaving the classroom, I mean, I'd go back today. That's how much I enjoyed it. I felt there was a time where I wasn't able to do enough, and this isn't critical of anybody or any school system. I felt like I wasn't able to do enough for some kids, and sometimes that's heart-wrenching when you figure it out and you think, "Are these kids getting the best from me? Are they getting the best learning from me?"
I would say I was a good teacher. I don't have any qualms about that. I just felt like maybe I tapped out and I didn't have as much to give as I thought they needed. I don't even know if that makes sense. It wasn't a dislike for the profession. There was a dislike for the politics involved in that profession, but that's true in any profession. It's not singularly teaching or education. I just felt the need for change.
I had been doing part-time work... I'm sure pay was part of it. I was doing part-time work during the summers where I was making good money and I just slipped into that full-time.
Craig Mattick: By being out of the classroom and not coaching, that allowed you then to really pick up your schedule when it'd come to officiating, correct?
Kim Weed: It really did. That's when it was just full bore, and that's your 30, 35 matches a year, that's your going to state tournament and not having to beg out of school to do it. There were times that I needed to do that too and just take... To go to the state tournament, even if you're working as an official, you have to pay for your own sub, and you have to do whatever, and you have to take personal leave.
I found that a little bit disgruntling, but I got it. I get why they do it because I'm double dipping at that point. But yeah, it allowed me to just go in full bore and I've never really turned back. It's what I do for sure August through November. Then I've picked up more here in the winter with the Pentagon Ball.
Craig Mattick: Early on, was there a mentor out there who encouraged you to become a volleyball official?
Kim Weed: Yeah. Peggy Kessler and Janet Carlson were two that probably started from even before it was sanctioned, would go out and do the matches that some of these high schools would have. They really did. They were probably the two primary mentors that I had. Peggy passed away seven years ago. I just saw Janet here a week ago. We still talk volleyball. I mean, they ask about volleyball and things of that nature, but they were by far the two biggest forces behind my... Then I got to know the Duffys, honestly. Gary and Terry, and they very much took me under their wing as well.
Craig Mattick: You were an official at a time where we didn't have rally scoring early on in volleyball. What were some of those officiating nights like when you didn't have rally scoring?
Kim Weed: Depending on where you officiated, because you're going to do the JV match, and then you're going to do the varsity match. You could walk out at 10:30, 11:00 and night, and it just could be... Nobody wants to say, "I'd hope this could done in two games," but yeah, you would. You would hope it would get done in two games.
Craig Mattick: And you're going to 15.
Kim Weed: No one can lie about that.
Craig Mattick: You're not going to 25, you're just going to 15.
Kim Weed: Those games, sometimes I would say today would take longer than going to 25, and it's 25-18 or 25-20, because net serves, out of bound serves, just no reward for good defensive play. It was all on the serve. They took forever. They took forever. I do think it was hard on the game as far as keeping people involved... not athletes, but keeping spectators and fans involved because it was laborious. It was hard.
Craig Mattick: I talked to a number of old time coaches and even players who remind that there would be some nights that you would almost have to spend the night in the gym because it took so long just to get two out of three matches to 15.
Kim Weed: Yes.
Craig Mattick: They would take forever. Forever.
Kim Weed: We would do tournaments and it was tough. They wanted you done in an hour, an hour, 15 minutes. That's not happening. Most tournaments, you'd start at 9:00 in the morning and you hoped to get out at 9:00 at night. That was the dream. The pay was horrible, and the kids were just dragging. It wasn't good for them. That's just the way the sport was. I understand that. Tournaments were a good thing back in the day. The way it is now, obviously rally scoring was just huge. It was such a positive change for the game of volleyball.
Craig Mattick: Kim, you were named the Official of the Year 1999 by the National Federation Interscholastic Officials Association. What was that feeling like?
Kim Weed: That was really important to me as well, because I had really dedicated a lot of my time. That was during the time when I was still doing some assistant volleyball coaching and doing some officiating. It was like putting the two pieces together. Again, it was validation that I was working hard and being recognized for that.
I know I went to and have officiated a lot of state tournaments, but I would also say because I came from the coaching arena first, that some of those invites or selections to the state tournament were name-based only. To be very fair, they saw the name Kim Weed. "Well, she coaches volleyball and now she officiates. She must know what she's doing."
Not necessarily, but I can honestly say, I think the first few nods to state tournament were based on name recognition only. When you get an award like that, you start to, like I said, I keep using the word, but you validate your position or your existence with that. That was important to me.
Craig Mattick: In 2012, you're named the South Dakota Girls and Women and Sports Officials Leadership Award. I mean, you're racking up accolades there, Kim, but it just shows how much that you are respected as an official in South Dakota.
Kim Weed: That part is probably what I appreciate the most, is because I believe so much in the game. I mean, I really am a true patriot of the game and love the sport, have a passion for the sport, and will continue to be involved in the sport as long as I can successfully. Being respected for the game is probably the most important thing to me because it's one of my mantras.
When I go out and I mentor, when I go out and I evaluate officials, my number one requirement is that they show respect for the game, and that can be in 10 different facets, but to respect the game. If people respect me, I'm hoping that they respect the game as well. That's important to me.
Craig Mattick: How much volleyball officiating in college have you done in the past?
Kim Weed: I did about three years, and then when they were switching seasons, it just, for me, it wasn't good. I did it one year during the season switch in high school, and it was too easy to confuse college rules with high school. It just wasn't a good fit for me. I enjoyed college. It was a whole different level, and it was fast-paced, and it was good play, and it was quite a step up from high school at that time. But for me, it didn't gel because the rules were significantly different at the time with what you could and could not do between the two, and I opted to go with high school volleyball.
Craig Mattick: There's got to be one volleyball match out there in your long career that you still think about once in a while. Is there one out there, one that was either just crazy, or one that with the athleticism was just unbelievable?
Kim Weed: I can think of two. One was as a coach, and that was just back in De Smet when we were doing well. It was, I think, '84. It might have been '85. We were playing really, really well as a team as a whole, but we were having a bad game. I had Terry and Gary Duffy officiating. Back then, you didn't do this, but I stood up and I said, "Substitution." Terry Duffy turns and looks at me and I said, "Six," and I just pointed at the bench. I just put six different people in.
The look I got from Gary and Terry would melt anybody to stone. I mean, it was amazing. Now I'm laughing, thinking, "Well, that's totally inappropriate," but I put six players in. This is 40 years later and they can't let it go. They remind me constantly that I did that and we would never, ever have anybody substitute this player.
Craig Mattick: I've never heard of it.
Kim Weed: Yep. I'm unique that way. That would be from coaching. I think in officiating, this is probably four years ago at the state tournament. It was an O'Gorman-Washington matchup. This was before Harrisburg went on their run. I think the year before Harrisburg went on their run. Washington, I wouldn't say was favored, but they probably were favored and they just swept the first two games just pretty handedly.
This is Bergen Riley days. You'll appreciate why I remember this one. It got very intense, but O'Gorman won the third set and then they won the fourth set. And so, now you have the possibility of a reverse sweep. Well, my down official was Sandy Negebaugher (phonetic) and she does a fantastic job as an R2 or down official. I made a call on O'Gorman for being over the net, and it was critical. I don't know what the point was, but it was critical time.
The place erupted, of course. We were the only match playing that late at the state tournament, and this is the championship match. There are chairs pulled up behind... We're on the end court, and there are chairs pulled up behind my stand, two, three people deep. All the stand, everybody's watching. I make this over the net call, and O'Gorman goes ballistic.
And so, we finish and I send Bergen Riley back because she had a question for me. I sent her back and we continued to play, and then O'Gorman calls a timeout. Sandy goes over and checks it at the book and she's checking with the book, and Shelly, you and Shelly were there. Shelly says-
Craig Mattick: We were doing a championship match on SDPB. Yeah.
Kim Weed: Sandy came over to me real quick during that time out and said, "Shelly replayed that. She said you made the right call." Honestly, you don't know. You don't know what something like that does for you. I mean, Sandy gave me a thumbs up, but she said that and it was like a whole weight was lifted. It was an intense game. I was totally calm, but you let those things play in your head a little bit in something that close.
O'Gorman reverse swept and won that, and they were not expected to. It was an excellent match. I think the Shelly confirmation, as I like to call it, really set me at ease. It just put me in a better place because nobody wants to make their own call. And you're going to. You're going to make them more than you want to. That to me was just, I don't know, it just gave me a sense of calm. The match was excellent, and it was a five gamer, and I love championship matches.
Craig Mattick: That was Shelly Buddenhagen working with me with state volleyball that year. Wonderful. That's a great story. Kim, what are you most proud of over these past 40 years involved with volleyball, whether it was even as a player at Huron College to coaching, to then officiating, what are you most proud of?
Kim Weed: I think in a sense, I'm most proud of the relationship that I've built with some of those former athletes. It was just two or three years ago when it was the 40th in '82. So in 2022, so three, four years ago, when it was 40 years since I started volleyball at De Smet, that a bunch of those athletes from all over got together and said, "We're going to meet in Sioux Falls at such and such a time this weekend. Can you meet with us?"
These were honestly girls I coached 40 years ago, some I hadn't seen in 35 years. That to me was just awesome. Some I kept in touch with, but it was just the idea that I still had a place in their heart. They still had a place in my heart. It was just a good couple of days of catching up, seeing where people were in their lives. When students come back to me, and again I've been out for 30 years, when students come back to me and talk to me as a teacher or remember things, that to me is probably the most important part of my life.
I get that with volleyball moms that come and say, "You officiated." That's kind of embarrassing. "You officiated me 100 years ago and now you have my granddaughter," so that's maybe a sign. It's time to get out, but it's those. It's those moments when people come up to you and remember the past and it's positive.
Craig Mattick: Kim, I've got two more quick ones for you. What is keeping you busy today?
Kim Weed: In the summertime, I have two part-time jobs at golf courses: one in Sioux Falls at Elmwood, and one in The Lakes out in Madison. Then in the fall, obviously, I have volleyball through November. December, January, those are my down seasons. Then I start with volleyball kind of a spring season out at the Pentagon. That's what I do.
I started golf late, probably about 10 years ago. I'm learning to get better. I need a better temperament, I guess, if I'm going to get better. Golfing and just semi-retirement, hanging with my two dogs. Life is good.
Craig Mattick: Kim, I want you to think about this. You are a spectator at the very first sanctioned volleyball matches in 1982. Then haven't been to a match since, but then showed up at the recent state volleyball tournament watching matches between Northwestern and Warner, or Chester and Warner, Dell Rapids and Dakota Valley, Sioux Falls Christian or Harrisburg versus O'Gorman.
What would they think today about high school volleyball in South Dakota?
Kim Weed: I think the first reaction, I don't know that the person... I would close my mouth. I mean, I would be in awe. The skill level from Step 1 to step Z, if that's where we are now, is so amazing. I mean, it's the skill level, the dominance, the absolute team play. I don't think... Every year it gets better, and I don't know how long we can continue to do that, but every year it gets better.
We're seeing seventh and eighth graders out there playing ball and they're fantastic. We couldn't put seventh and eighth graders on our teams years ago, regardless of their ability. The skill level, because of all the opportunities they're afforded I understand during the off season, makes these teams and makes these athletes who they are today. You would be absolutely in awe. It's like watching the Northern Lights, you can't speak to it.
It is just that dominated. It is so impressive to watch. When I don't work a state tournament, I can sit and watch all 12 matches, or all six sessions and all 12 matches without leaving the gymnasium because it's just that good.
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This has been In Play, with me, Craig Mattick. This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
