The postseason tournament is a huge moment for Maine basketball families across the state. It’s not uncommon for parents to coach their kids, or players to hit the court alongside their siblings or cousins.
But it’s less common to see a grandparent coaching their grandkids.
For the Valley Cavaliers, that dynamic has become the norm. This is now the second year in a row that girls coach Gordon Hartwell and his granddaughters have helped lead Valley to a state championship.
Both sophomores Delia Hill and Liana Hartwell are two of Hartwell’s granddaughters. And they were also Valley’s leading scorers in Saturday’s Class S state championship win over Wisdom.
Hill led the team with 13 points and Liana Hartwell had 10.
Hartwell said after the championship victory that playing for her grandfather and winning back-to-back state championships together is an awesome experience.
“He’s a great guy. He’s a great coach,” Liana Hartwell said. “He always pushes us to be better, keep going at it. I mean every coach does.”
Having your grandfather also be your coach isn’t without complications, but this basketball family is enjoying it.
“Sometimes it’s a little scary, but we got it,” the sophomore Hartwell continued.
Both Liana and Gordon Hartwell acknowledged that he can sometimes be harder on his two granddaughters when coaching the team.
“Definitely, but I mean I think he’s very fair with us,” Liana Hartwell said when asked about that dynamic. “And he just wants us to be the best version of ourselves.”
Gordon Hartwell also has two grandsons on the boys team, and he said he’s careful not to show any favoritism on the girls bench.
“You’d never know I was a grandfather during the games, but afterwards it’s all good,” the coach said. “You got to separate it because, again, you don’t show any favoritism.”
He said that his granddaughters joining the high school ranks last season was part of the reason he returned to the high school bench after nearly a decade away.
“If anything, I’m a little bit harder on them because I expect more out of them. And I know what they can do and I know how far I can push them,” the coach continued. “But no, it’s wonderful.”