BY CHRISTIAAN JONES, Sophomore
BLYTHEWOOD -- In Fairfield, South Carolina, Kenneth Frink grew up with a strong passion for basketball. Through his childhood, he enjoyed the sport, like every other young man who likes to play with his friends, but never would he imagine he would dedicate much of his time later in life to it. He played for the Fairfield Central High School team all four years of his high school career but when he stopped playing, his love for the game did not stop.
Although he did not continue to play in college, the lull in playing changed his plans and he made the firm decision to begin coaching.
Frink’s began his coaching career at the Lower Richland High School basketball team for eight years and now he spends his time coaching the Blythewood High School varsity basketball team.
This change from school to school has forced him to alter his coaching style from a very aggressive style to a more passive and less aggressive style. In Richland 1, the students needed more motivation and faced more challenges off the court than students in Richland 2, which constituted a more strict practice in order to keep the focus on the game.
What separates Coach Frink’s coaching style from others, in his personal opinion, is “having players believe in it” and therefore ensuring the coach as well as his players perform under a similar influence and motivation.
Frink’s impact has been felt by not only the players which he leads, but his coworkers which share the responsibility of the success or failure of the team.
Coach Nabb, another basketball coach at Blythewood High School who has spent his time here since the school opened, as opposed to Frink’s three years at Blythewood, when asked about Coach Frink’s style, insists it is “fantastic” and he is “one of the hardest workers [he has] ever met.”
The two met while Frink was at Lower Richland because Coach Nabb was coaching at Keenan High School at the time.
In addition, Nabb remarks on the sacrifices Frink makes for the team.
Waking up as early as 4 A.M. in order to complete all of his daily tasks as quickly as possible so nothing gets in the way of his practice time with the team and leaves the school often times as much as an hour after the last student has left.
Coach Washington, another basketball coach at Blythewood High School who has been at the school for the same amount of time as Coach Frink, talks about the way Frink treats his players.
“He treats them fairly and never babies them,” Washington said.
This treatment is likely reflected from his time at Lower Richland High School where he was accustomed to being on top of his players all the time and if he ever babied them and gave them too much space to mess up, the team would face some serious problems.
Frink is known to be one of the top assistant coaches in Columbia. He pushes his players as hard as he can and works the best he can to make his players dreams come true both on and off the court.
Coach Frink has a goal outside of basketball which is to mold his players into young men who can help their community.
One of Coach Frinks biggest traits is his character. Frink is a very humbled man who loves what he does.
In addition, Frink has a very high love for the game of basketball which he has had since he was young.
He believes one has to put in countless work to be able to play at the next level and he makes his player believe this to be true.
Coach Frink looks forward to a long career with the Blythewood High School team.
While he has never won a state championship in his coaching career, his ambitions drive him to lead the Blythewood High School varsity team to be known as one of the best basketball teams in the state of South Carolina.
He plans to use this record of never winning a championship as motivation because he believes as soon as the team wins their first state championship, the feeling will leave a permanent impression on the players and this impression will push them through the following season.
“When this happens,” according to Frink, “the team will begin to be a team to be reckoned with and will be feared by other teams all across the state.”
