Today's post is written by Lyndsey Kenealy-Perry:
It’s hard to believe how many years have passed since I last wore a Lion jersey, however, it’ll take more than years to take the Lion out of my heart! I am Lyndsey Perry – formerly Lyndsey Kenealy - and I played for Missouri Southern from 1996-2000 and I am honored to contribute to the blog and let you all know where these last 10 years have taken me.
You may notice that my playing years pre-date Coach Mitts and her coaching staff, as they arrived on campus in 2002, but my connection runs deep. I enjoyed my playing career at Southern immensely under the direction of Amy Townsend – we were not the winningest teams, but I came away from my experience having built strong character and with meaningful relationships. I graduated in 2000 and married my college sweetheart, Paul Perry, that summer. His job was in Kansas City, so we were moving back to my hometown of Liberty, MO. I met with Coach Townsend about my future and thought I might want to coach – she made a call up to Rockhurst University, where Coach Maryann Mitts was in need of an assistant coach. The rest, as they say, is history. Coach Mitts impacted me greatly in the year I worked for her – her authenticity and passion are unmatched. I walked away learning some amazing life lessons and with a lasting friendship. After the 2000-01 season, my alma mater found themselves in need of a new women’s basketball coach and I could think of no better situation, for MSSU or for Coach Mitts, than for her to fill that role. After the search and interview process, Coach Mitts was hired and I was faced with one of the toughest choices in my life. My husband is about a big a basketball fan as they come and he was so supportive of my playing and coaching career – he even came to every practice at Rockhurst and ran the clock and helped with laundry after work each day! However, for some reason, despite sending out numerous resumes in Joplin – he wasn’t able to find a job that would allow us to move with Coach Mitts and me to continue as a member of her coaching staff. We trusted God to open and shut the doors that led to our future and our family. It was a disappointment to take myself away from the coaching world, but God has blessed our path tremendously with a beautiful family and a new direction.
Which leads me to where I am now. I am a stay-home mommy to three wonderful children: Emma, who is 7 and going into the 2nd grade, Gabe, who is 4 and has another year at home with me before kindergarten, and Millie, who is 2. It's been a tough transition for me these last 7 years to change my focus, but Paul and I are confident it is in the best interests of our family for me to be home with them full-time. I love being with my kids and finding new and exciting things for us to do and learn about and I love my front row seat to watching these 3 little people turn into who God made them to be. We enjoy being active in our church home and keep ourselves busy serving in many different areas there. This past fall, one of my little dreams got to come true as I coached Emma's 1st and 2nd grade basketball team, Sidewalk Chalk. Although it would be hard to grow up with Paul and I as parents and not love the game of basketball (we skip sending out Christmas cards and instead send out March Madness cards) - we have been careful not to force basketball on any of our kids, but with Emma there's no question - she totally loves it. We recently purchased a new home and put up our first outdoor basketball goal - she told me it would be hard because she wasn't going to be riding her bike for awhile after school since now all she wanted to do was shoot baskets! We had a great season - all 10 girls on our team made huge improvements and, more importantly, came away with a love for the game. That is one thing that I've carried with me since my time at Southern and my time with Coach Mitts - passion. It's so important to keep dreams and passions alive - its taken me a few years to remember that, but these little gals helped me get back on track.
For the past 3 summers I have made a point to take a trip to Joplin during the week of Coach Mitts' Lil Lion camp with Emma. Even though Sidewalk Chalk was just a Parks and Rec. team, I wanted to be sure we treated it as a real team and focused on fundamentals of the game. Coach Mitts taught me that there are no shortcuts when it comes to fundamentals and I knew that I had an opportunity to teach 7 and 8 year olds basic basketball skills to help them in their future careers, so I didn't take it lightly. At the end of the season in February, as I presented them each with their awards, I included a brochure for Coach Mitts' summer camps and mentioned that I take Emma every year and would love to have any of their daughters come along. I am confident that Coach Mitts is one of greatest teachers of the game I have been privileged to be around and her staff puts on stellar camps each summer, so I felt I would have been remiss to not provide an opportunity for my girls to attend her camp. Coach Mitts ran her Lil Lion camp the 2nd week of June and I was there, along with 6 players from our team. Coach Hubbard and Coach Moeller were so helpful as I registered 6 girls from Kansas City and my girls felt so welcomed when they showed up. They had 3 wonderful, basketball-filled days and learned so much more than we ever got through in our one hour a week practices back in the winter. They got to interact with great Southern players like Erin Rice, Danielle Harris and Kelby Fritz and Coach Mitts even showed them the locker room and weight room before we drove back to Kansas City on Wednesday. It was such a gift to share one of the places that has impacted my life so deeply with my daughter and her teammates.
I love to reminisce on my days at Southern and am so grateful that Coach Mitts and I crossed paths. I look forward to the many things that the future holds for my family, including sharing in our love of basketball and all of the life lessons it has taught me.
Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!
Lyndsey Kenealy-Perry
Class of 2000
