Senior setter Jessica Parker was only 13 years old when she first started working under the tutelage of St. Charles North coach Lindsey Hawkins. And it wasn’t always easy.
Before Parker even arrived at St. Charles North, Hawkins knew she had something special. From their first meeting, Hawkins began to push Parker to reach her potential.
“She would be the first to tell you I was really hard on her,” Hawkins said.
That tough love has been paying off. Parker surpassed 1,000 career assists last season for the North Stars, and is now orchestrating a team with lofty expectations.
“We’ve known each other my whole life,” Parker said of Hawkins. “She was really hard on me. It turned out to be in my favor, and it was definitely worth it, no matter how upset I was.
“She wanted the best for me. I’m happy she was hard on me. I’m happy she has a lot of trust in me.”
As a result, that trust has led to chemistry between the head coach and the coach on the floor, with the pair working in unison.
“I know what to expect and where I can push and challenge her,” Hawkins said. “To watch her now in her senior year, watching her be the leader I knew she could be, she grew into that.”
Hawkins has challenged Parker to expect the same level of play out of her teammates that she demands from herself.
“We want to see her get her teammates to that level too,” Hawkins said. “She’s trying to maximize everyone’s potential and get the most out of them. As a setter, that’s crucial.”
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Parker is setting primarily out of the center of the court, allowing her to utilize her outside hitters while keeping the opposition guessing.
Senior Kayla Davern, Maryland-bound junior Katie Scherer and freshman Haley Burgdorf are seeing the results for St. Charles North (5-2).
“I think it’s going really well so far,” Parker said. “We’ve started off really strong and it’s looking really good, even though we’ve only had a week of games so far.
“We have really high hopes and we have things to work on, but our system is working.”
Whatever decision Parker makes on the court, Hawkins has confidence it’s the right one.
“She’s very smart with the ball,” Hawkins said. “You could see her IQ for the game at 13. The comment I always get from other coaches is she fakes people out all the time.
“That’s her IQ. She sees the game differently than even I do as the coach. Sometimes, she sees things I’m not even picking up on, which is great.”
College coaches also took notice of Parker’s skill set. In January, Parker committed to NCAA Division I Elon in North Carolina.
With an eye toward a business degree and a desire to study abroad while also playing volleyball, Parker quickly found her home at Elon.
“I know I’ll be happy getting my degree there,” Parker said. “Stepping on campus, I knew it was for me.”
Meanwhile, even though Hawkins knows her team has the potential for special season, she has been tempering her expectations.
“We have some work to do, but we’re happy with how we started off so far,” she said. “We have some young kids and some pieces that have been in place for a while, so we have good experience. It’s a good group.”
Parker’s job is to keep the North Stars on point.
“Over the weekend was the first time we really competed against super good teams, some of the best teams in the state, and that was a lot of fun,” Parker said. “Staying out of our heads and looking at the task at hand is what Lindsey has told us to do.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.