Kelly Beattie, better known as Kelly Pilcher during a standout high school and college sports career in Missoula, doesn't really care for soccer that much and doesn't really care that the sport wasn't around much while she was growing up.
But she has become the ultimate soccer mom, introducing her four daughters to the sport as part of her busy life in Midland, Texas. The girls, who also play basketball, are Kayla, 12; Alissa, 10; Makenna, 7; and Leia, 6.
"The reason we got into it was it's something you can do from a young age," Kelly said, noting that one of her girls started at age three. "It's just something that they can go and run around and get exercise. You can't really do basketball that young or some of the other things.
"But once you start, be careful," she laughed. "It's hard to get out."
Beattie, married to the brother of former Lady Griz teammate Carla Beattie, also has done some coaching since leaving Missoula, something she's getting back into since she, Ken and the girls moved back to Midland last summer.
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Ken, a petroleum engineering graduate from Montana Tech, and Kelly were married in 1994 shortly after she graduated. They were immediately off to Denver, Colo., where they lived for a little less than two years.
They followed that with just under two years in Baker, Mont., and then moved to Midland for the first time.
After six years in Midland - about halfway between Dallas-Ft. Worth and El Paso - Ken was transferred to Houston, where they spent about three years before returning to west Texas.
"We've gotta go where the oil is," Kelly explained.
Ken worked for Burlington Resources for some 13 years before it was bought out by another firm. He chose to leave and sign on with a small independent, and Kelly thinks that will bring more stability to the family.
"We should be here to stay," Kelly predicted. "We won't have to be transferring around anymore."
Kelly grew up
the daughter of a coach. Her father, Russ, spent years as the head
track coach at Big Sky High School before finally retiring to
Polson.
"I just loved it," Kelly said of the experience. "I just went with my dad whenever I could. I remember especially going to track meets and just following him around.
"If he were to stop, I would bump into him," she laughed.
The "sports thing," as Kelly put it, was what the Pilchers did as a family.
"I'm just so thankful for that growing up," Kelly said.
Living so far from home has meant Ken, Kelly and the girls have had to become their own family and rely more on each other because they didn't have family close to them for so many years.
But since her father's retirement, Kelly's folks have been able to visit them, often staying for up to a couple of months.
To make things even better, Carla (Beattie) and her husband, Seth, moved to Midland last August.
Seth had been in the U.S. Army, doing a couple of tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. When Seth left the Army, Ken Beattie hired him to work in the oil fields near Midland.
At Big Sky High School Kelly played three years of varsity basketball for coach Ben DeMers. Another former Grizzly, Marty Green, coached her as a freshman.
She also played volleyball and competed in track.
Big Sky High teammates Trish Olson and Ann Lake came to UM a year before Kelly did, helping pave the way. The three were at Big Sky when it won back-to-back girls basketball state titles.
Oddly enough it was not a goal of Kelly's to play Lady Griz basketball because track was more important to her at the time. In fact Kelly concentrated on track during the summers rather than playing hoops or attending basketball camps.
"That (Lady Griz basketball) was kind of an afterthought almost," Kelly recalled, "but I'm really pleased with the decision I made."
One of Kelly's top sports memories did come from basketball, however. She knocked down a three-pointer to lift Big Sky to a state title win over Kalispell at the end of her junior season. The Eagles had beaten Great Falls High the year before to capture their first girls basketball crown.
Kelly also was on two state champion volleyball teams at Big Sky.
As for college, "it was just all a great memory," Kelly recalled. "Especially my senior year it was a lot of fun playing UNLV in the NCAAs and beating them and going on to play Stanford. And also playing Tennessee was a great highlight of my career."
Kelly said playing for coach Robin Selvig was great, even though it had its moments.
"I just respect him so much," she said. "He's a great coach. You've gotta kind of get used to him, but really he's a great guy and he cares a lot for his girls.
"Sometimes it doesn't look like it maybe, but he really does," Kelly added. "He's just a great motivator."
Beyond Selvig, Kelly's father probably was her greatest mentor.
"I can just remember being a little girl, and he was the coach," Kelly said. "I just thought that was so cool that he was the coach."
As a young girl Kelly remembered looking up to any and all athletes. As she got older she developed a strong admiration for women like Shannon Cate.
"I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to play with her," Kelly noted, adding that she also appreciated getting to continue to play with Olson and Lake at the college level.
Kelly Pilcher dishes off to an open Lady Griz teammate.
UM SPORTS INFORMATION Photo
Kelly's favorite part of the game, especially at the college level, was dishing out assists to her teammates. She ranks fifth all time at UM in career assists, and eighth in steals. Twice during her senior season she had 15 assists in a single game.
Her 215 assists in 1993-94 still rank second at UM for a single season.
"I did get some opportunities for some scoring, but I really did enjoy dishing the ball off to people for baskets," she said.
Looking at where she is now based on where she thought she might be, Kelly said landing in Texas was a surprise.
"I never would have envisioned myself in Texas," she said. "(But) I didn't ever really think long term, like I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that or I hope I'm here."
During their years in Denver Kelly saw other company employees get transferred to Midland and recalls thinking, "I never want to live in Texas. That would be horrible."
But she's a convert now.
"I love it in Texas," Kelly said. "We have really enjoyed it here."
Kelly said she's becomes even more thankful that she played Lady Griz basketball the longer she's away from it because, at the time it was happening, she might have taken it a bit for granted.
"Now I realize it's not that easy (to play Division I basketball)," Kelly pointed out. "It was such a great experience. It was so fun. Carla and I talk about it a lot.
"The traveling and the games and the tournaments and all that, it was just such a great experience," she went on. "You just learned a lot about yourself and life, things that have helped me now, I think."
