FARMINGTON -- Marshall Ward is beginning his fourth season as Farmington's head coach after being recruited out of the classroom and into the coaching arena by Farmington students. He continues to enjoy the role.
"I've gotten to know a lot of kids and parents that I otherwise wouldn't have. I've got to be a part of some big wins, very celebratory," Ward said. "It definitely gives you some more ownership with your school and it does have a family feel to it. When you get to know your parents and kids and see them succeed, it's kind of hard to beat that."
Ward admits coaching has granted him a fresh perspective and opened up his vision to the bigger picture in athletics.
"It's definitely given me a new respect for my former coaches being a high school athlete myself," Ward said. "I understand there's more to it than I ever realized."
A native of Berryville, Ronnie Clark, who the Bobcat football facility is named after, was the head varsity football coach when Ward was playing the sport in junior high.
"He was a very successful football coach," Ward remembers, adding, "All mine were great, they were good influencers."
Ward played high school football at Berryville for Ben Larimore, who succeeded Clark and also gives a nod to former Berryville assistant football coach Ed Hula for helping mold him as a young man.
"My coaches were always people I looked up to. They influenced me in a positive way," Ward said. "So, it's very rewarding to try and be that for someone else."
Among the challenges facing Farmington is the disparity between working to improve a relative young program while competing against schools where volleyball is a long-established tradition.
"We've had some tough games. The 5A is taller and faster. A lot of them [5A schools] have had volleyball a lot longer than the 4A schools," Ward said. "We're not even in our tenth year in volleyball at Farmington. Some of these schools have had a program for 30 years."
Yet, Ward is seeing progress. During his first three seasons Farmington has qualified for state each year, twice as a member of the 4A-1 and in 2014 breaking into the 5A West.
"This [past] year [2014] was definitely the toughest. It was our first time to actually advance at state. The girls did very well," Ward said, referring to a first-round upset of No. 1 seed Hot Springs Lakeside by his No. 4 seed Lady Cardinals.
Farmington was not about to quit there. The Lady Cardinals split the first four games against Nettleton in the 2014 5A quarterfinal and went into a game-five tiebreaker, nearly pulling off an second consecutive improbable win before falling 16-14.
"In the game versus Nettleton there was an insane amount of energy coming from the bench," Ward said. "Even girls who weren't in the game, they were in the game even if they werent' [on the court]. These are the girls coming back and a lot of the girls on the court are coming back as well."
Farmington students traveled to Jonesboro to air state tournament matches live via PG Telco webcasts and Ward likes the exposure that gave his program. He is also looking forward to hosting matches this year in Cardinal Arena.
"The tech department broadcasting our games was a huge step forward. Playing in Cardinal Arena is a huge step forward."
Sports on 08/19/2015