Kittson Central graduate named Knights’ head volleyball coach – The Kittson County Enterprise

By Anna Jauhola
In 2012, the Kittson County Central volleyball team had a big challenge ahead of them. A set of very tall girls on an opposing team made coach Tina Turn think outside the box. She invited juniors Darwin Kasprowicz and Caleb Christenson to help the team with hitting around tall blockers. The boys were well over 6 feet at the time – specifically Kasprowicz was 6-foot-3. He now stands 2 inches taller.
This is where Kasprowicz found his love of volleyball.
“For a couple of seasons, he came in to practice with us when we needed to simulate certain things. He was always game,” said KCC Coach Tina Turn. “I could tell he was falling in love with the sport; I recognized the signs.”
She said she named this specific blocking drill “The Darwin and Caleb,” and it left its namesakes “absolutely dripping in sweat.”
Kasprowicz, a 2014 Kittson Central graduate, assisted the team in practice through his senior year and moved on to play in intramural leagues in Grand Forks while he attended college. During that time, he also came home with a team of volleyball players for the sand volleyball tournament in Kennedy, which Turn organized.
“And his team always won!” she said. “It was fun to visit with him because he had joined several leagues and was playing almost all year long.”
Turn noted the sport brings people together, forming a tight-knit community full of connections and friendships.
“I coached one season of our Northside Knights Club team. Then I was asked to be the junior varsity coach for (Grand Forks) Central. I did that for three years,” Kasprowicz said. “This year, I interviewed for the head coach position and I got that.”
He will begin his varsity head coach career this fall, coaching girls he’s already gotten to know through coaching junior varsity. During the day, he’s an accountant for Aatrix Software in Grand Forks, a job he’s enjoyed for the last 10 years. The Northland Community and Technical College graduate said he started there as a part-time accountant during his time at UND, and accepted a full-time position.
One evening, Turn received a message from Kasprowicz’s mother, Brenda, just saying, “You get the credit for this!” and a link to an article announcing the hire. While Turn doesn’t claim credit, she said Kasprowicz’s love for the sport led him to this path.
“Darwin fell in love with a sport that’s pretty easy to fall in love with, and he put in a lot of time and effort to learn and grow in the sport as a player and coach,” she said. “Maybe Jami (Carr) and I inspired him a little to give the sport a try, but that’s about it.”
As he looks to his first season as a head coach, his biggest concern is connecting with all the players. This is also his favorite thing about coaching, connecting with each girl and helping them grow in the game.
“This will be the second year coming back to the same team, there’s a lot of returners,” he said. “Just building relationships with the girls more and more will be a goal.”
He said it’s exciting to see the girls build new skills as they continue to grow in the sport. And it is, of course, difficult to see the end of a season too, so continuing to learn how to handle emotions will be a challenge as well.
He saw this early on when he helped the KCC volleyball team. He enjoyed watching his peers and classmates play and grow, excel in their sport. While it was fun, it could be emotional too.
His biggest challenge will be public speaking.
“I’m just not comfortable with talking in front of big crowds, so that’s something I’m going to have to get over and work through,” he said.
Although he doesn’t have a ton of coaching experience, Kasprowicz said he’s honored and excited to coach the Knights varsity volleyball team.
“It’s a little crazy, not having the most coaching experience. But doing the interview process and Central still picked me, I feel like that shows the dedication I have to the program,” he said. “That the school can see I want the girls to succeed. Something I liked about Central is they see the potential in me. That’s encouraging, being 29 and the head coach for a decent-sized school. That’s cool.”