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Local Coach Lauded With 2012 Coaching Award

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Tuesday April 17, 2012

By Cookie Steponaitis

Peter Quinn’s coaching dates back to 1980 when he started coaching the JV girls’ team at VUHS. While most Addison County residents might first recognize him from his years as a Little League coach in the early 1990’s or his elementary school basketball coaching two years later, the simple fact is Peter Quinn followed his own sons up as they got older and then just never left. Early on that team showed him the power of positive thinking and what true champions were all about. “I was coaching our last VUHS championship team (2001) when they were in eighth grade. That year, we were playing Rutland in a tournament,” shared Quinn. “ I called a timeout with 2:15 left in the game, with us down 16.  I told them we had to begin immediately playing better.  They did, tying the game in regulation, and then winning in overtime, 98-91!  This was a middle school game!  Lesson learned was to never give up until the final bell sounds. Any rational person would have suggested the game was over with 2:15 left, down 16 points.  If the team had accepted such ‘wisdom’ they would not have been able to play as hard as they did to pull out the game.  That team learned, because they FELT it, that all one can do is try to play their best at all times.”

It is those life lessons that Peter Quinn feels are so important and learned from organized sports. Stressing not only success and failure, Coach Quinn also sees his players learning the difficulties and joys of cooperation, how to submerge their own self interest for the good of the team, to appreciate teammates for more than their ability to score points, and in order to be better as a team and be successful, it is important to be better as individual people. On the court every since year coaching basketball and AAU, Quinn assisted former VUHS coach Gene LeBeau on Boys Varsity from 2000-2003 and began coaching Girls Varsity in 2004. “After winning only seven games the first year, we won the state championship the next two years,” shared Coach Quinn. “The fourth year when we had arguably our best team, we lost in the semis, largely because of an injury to our best player.”

Quinn took over the helm of the VUHS boys program in 2007-2008 and shared that his team has been in the finals twice since then; leading at half time both games, but was not successful in the second half. While he is appreciative of receiving the Lake Division and Division Two Coach of the Year Award for 2012, Quinn was quick to shine the light on his team and their abilities.  "I couldn't have done it without my team,” concluded Coach Quinn. “I really think such awards ARE a reflection on the team. I am as much a PART of the team as every other player and manager is; I just happen to have a specialized role.  It will always be OUR team, not MY team!  My guys made it easy to coach them and they always have tried to do what I asked of them.”  
The Valley Voice salutes Coach Peter Quinn for his diligence, determination, dedication and ability to reach into the lives of countless teens and show them not only the benefits of a life based on athleticism, but to become better people through their interactions with others both on and off the court. If you see Coach Quinn, and it may well be for AAU basketball which has already started up again for the season, give him a high five and let him know Addison County already knew what was on the plaque that now showcases his name and the title Lake Division and Division II Coach of the Year.

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