From base hits to birdies, from the classroom to the court, Kim Zimmerman has been around kids and sports his entire life.

While the Aberdeen man has now retired from teaching, he still remains active as an official, Aberdeen Central girls’ golf coach, and Youth Baseball Coordinator for the City of Aberdeen.

“From teaching to coaching, baseball and golf right now, to refereeing basketball in the wintertime, to doing the youth baseball coordinator in the summertime, I spent a majority of my career dealing with teaching and coaching youth,” Zimmerman said, “which I’ve enjoyed doing and I’m still doing it today.”

An Aberdeen native, Zimmerman grew up playing baseball and was a member of the Aberdeen Smittys and later the Northern State squad.

He soon got into coaching the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teener team and success immediately followed. Zimmerman guided the squad to multiple state championships and never had a losing season in more than 15 years with the Teeners.

He said coaching was a natural progression for athletes to stay involved in sports.

“Everybody’s playing days are numbered,” Zimmerman said, “so that’s kind of the direction a lot of people end up going.”

Zimmerman soon found other ways to stay connected to athletics as he began officiating basketball games 36 years ago.

He spends an average of three to five nights inside a gym during the winter months. While he enjoys being an official, he said it can get to be physically demanding.

“I think the average fan probably doesn’t understand that we’re doing it that often and a lot of us officials, I think I can speak for a lot of guys, are getting up there in age and we’re still trying to keep up with 16, 17, 18-year-old kids three or four nights a week. When they’re probably playing two games a week, we’re out there three or four nights a week,” Zimmerman said. “It catches up with us.”

Zimmerman, who spent 33 years as a teacher for the Aberdeen Public School System, balances out that physically demanding position with one a bit easier on the joints in his role as girls’ coach for Aberdeen Central.

He said there is a big difference between coaching boys in baseball and girls in golf, and not just because of gender. Zimmerman noted that in baseball, he was responsible for all kinds of game-day activity, while in golf, a lot of the coaching is done during practice and players are ready to go when meets take place.

“They have to be prepared going into that meet,” Zimmerman said, “and you do a lot of your strategic things, your mental approach, things like that, leading up to the event, the meet, that day.”

While there is still plenty of coaching that takes place in golf, there is a much bigger mental component to it. That’s where Zimmerman’s steady demeanor comes into play.

“You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low; it’s a roller-coaster ride once in a while,” Zimmerman said. “You just try to keep an even keel.”

Zimmerman said one of the keys to golf is having the right frame of mind.

“I think if you talk to a lot of the golf people, the golf professionals and the golf gurus,” Zimmerman said, “they will tell you, that the most important part of golf is between the ears.”

Zimmerman said there is just something inherent about golf that makes the game both physically and mentally challenging.

“Some people that are very good athletes, who have played a lot of sports, they always come back and say golf is the most challenging, just because of that part,” Zimmerman said. “You’re never hitting the same shot twice, and now you’ve got the weather elements, and there’s just a lot of factors that go into having a good round of golf.”

Zimmerman said he had solid role models throughout his life that have helped to shape his calm personality, most notable, the late Vern Jark, “a person I admired and looked up to a great deal.”

Jark was also a former teacher, coach, official and baseball player.

“It was enjoyable working under him for the time I did,” Zimmerman said, “just seeing how he handled situations.”

Looking back on the way things have turned out, Zimmerman said he can’t imagine doing anything differently.

“Based on my age and where I was at in doing things, I don’t think I would do anything different coming out of high school and college,” Zimmerman said.

Now at age 63, Zimmerman continues to enjoy the right blend of activities in his life that still keep him involved in sports and working with kids.

“I enjoy the golf right now, I really do,” Zimmerman said, “and I enjoy the reffing right now, and the baseball coordinating fits in good with my schedule in the summertime.”

Zimmerman knows there will come a time when his active schedule will someday take a toll on him physically and mentally, but for now, he has no intention of slowing down.

“It’s just basically, day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year, right now,” Zimmerman said.

He said he will know when the time comes to do something else.

“When you don’t enjoy going to practice, when you don’t enjoy going on the road trips, meeting the kids, you kind of lose that edge a little bit,” Zimmerman said, “that maybe is a sign that you need to take a step back.”

For now, though, it’s full stride ahead for Zimmerman, who continues to play an active role in the lives of kids in the community. He said the benefits of being around youth goes both ways.

“All in all, the athletes have pushed me in all sports in all activities to be better and to get better,” Zimmerman said.

That quest is ongoing.

“I really try to surround myself with good people and pick their brain on stuff,” Zimmerman said. “Even at my age, I’m still looking to get better.”

And through all the ins and outs, Zimmerman has managed to maintain the proper perspective.

“Those banners and those trophies and those things like that are all important,” Zimmerman said, “but it’s the relationships that I’ve made with the athletes throughout the years.

“That’s priceless.”