POULSBO — Karla Hawes, a former player and assistant coach at Central Washington University, has been named as the new girls’ basketball coach at Poulsbo Junior High.

Hawes will take over for NKHS teacher Tony Bressan, who is on a leave of absence.

Hawes, a teacher at PJH and an assistant volleyball coach at North Kitsap High School, briefly spent some time away from teaching while earning her master’s degree — “I spent time away from teaching, and I missed it,” she said.

Now settled at PJH, she is resuming a second love: coaching basketball.

“I love coaching,” Hawes said. “The opportunity to work with my students in an extracurricular activity was also interesting to me. It allows you to develop a rapport outside the classroom. It improves your efficiency in the classroom.”

She said, “I love the relationships that are built … the challenges that present themselves.”

Hawes attended Goldendale High School, where she was a good volleyball and basketball player. She attended Central Washington and played basketball there, mostly playing the small forward spot, and graduated in 1994. After a stint teaching in the Bellevue area, and then two years coaching basketball and teaching at Eisenhower High School in Yakima, she returned to Central to earn her master’s in athletic administration.

It was there that she began coaching at the college level, as an assistant on the womens’ basketball team.

Hawes said that, as a coach, she will concentrate on teaching the players.

“I look forward to watching them grow throughout the year,” Hawes said.

Hawes said that hopefully, the lessons can be applied beyond blindside picks and bounce passes.

She said, “While coaching, you have the opportunity to teach kids skills they’ll need in life, like communication and teamwork. Throughout life, they’ll be presented with groups they’ll have to get along with.”

Hawes’s Panthers will take the court in January.