HAYTI – It’s been a two-week stretch of basketball that Travis Wadsworth won’t soon forget.

Wadsworth spent the year serving as an assistant coach for both the Hamlin girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, which both feature his children. Both squads qualified for state tournaments so Wadsworth has been a man on the move lately.

“I haven’t been home a lot the last two weeks,” he said, “but it’s been a lot of fun.”

Wadsworth, whose daughter Kami played for the girls and whose son Jackson is on the boys’ squad, has been involved in both programs in the past, but not to the same degree as this.

“The two years prior to this I was on the girls’ side of things and I just helped out with the boys where they needed, but this year we lost our boys’ assistant coach,” Wadsworth said. “So they asked me to slide to the boys’ side, but I wanted to finish up through my daughter’s senior year with the girls, just sitting on the bench because I had done it the last two years. So I went to all the boys’ practices and I sat on the bench for both and I really enjoyed it.”

The scheduling worked out perfectly, because Hamlin always plays doubleheaders and there were no conflicts.

Not only did Wadsworth have children on both teams, one of his other daughters also served as an assistant on the girls’ team.

“They take advice. Every kid is a little bit different,” Wadsworth said. “It was also kind of neat because my oldest daughter, Lexi who graduated from Northern, she was on the bench with us as well. So Kami had a lot of people in her ear, but she took it well.”

Wadsworth said he has learned that one approach for giving advice might not work for the other.

“It was interesting, Kami takes advice from me differently than Jackson takes advice from me,” he said. “I’ve learned to adapt over the last couple of years to be able to help them both.”

Wadsworth is grateful for Hamlin head girls’ coach Tim Koisti and head boys’ coach Todd Neuendorf for allowing him to be a part of the squads.

“I’m pretty blessed to have two head coaches letting me sit on their benches and just be along for the ride,” Wadsworth said. “To be there with my kids was really, really special.”

What made the last two weeks even more meaningful was the fact that the Hamlin girls won the State A championship, and the Hamlin boys finished third at the state tourney.

“I can’t believe it to be honest with you and then to win the girls tournament and be sitting on the bench there watching, that was unbelievable,” Wadsworth said. “And our boys have taken a big stride this year. To make the progression from not being in the state tournament for 30 years to where it is now and to have a front row seat for that is pretty cool.”

Wadsworth said at times it was a bit difficult separating the roles between that of coach and parent.

“I have certain responsibilities and certain things (the head coaches are) asking me to watch for, and as you’re watching for them, then you kind of find yourself being a parent at certain times while you’re watching for them,” he said. “Anybody that says they remove themselves is lying. It’s impossible to totally remove yourself. There’s a ton of different emotions that go through your head, wanting the team to do good and doing your responsibility at the same time, wishing well for your kids.”

After a demanding, stressful, emotional, yet extremely rewarding schedule of non-stop basketball the past two weeks, how did Wadsworth spend his Sunday down time relaxing? He drove back to Sioux Falls for his son’s AAU basketball practice.

And the fun is just getting starting for Wadsworth.

“I have to start calving now. We’ll start calving here in two weeks and start getting ready for the farm, and I’m going to be a grandpa in two weeks, three weeks, so that’s pretty cool,” he said. “My youngest is a freshman and now my daughter is having kids, so maybe we can reload and go at this again in a few years.”