Coach Kellen Ball
Rooted in Family, Guided by Faith
By: Chase Muro
Still in the Stands
Kellen Ball doesn’t play anymore, but his grandparents still come to his games.
They come to watch him coach basketball. They come to his youth football games. They continue to show up, even though their grandson is now on the sideline instead of wearing a jersey.
“They’ve came to everything,” he told me. “Even since I don’t play anymore, like they are still in the stands.”
When I asked Kellen what shaped him growing up in Vancouver, he started with them.
His paternal grandparents lived about five minutes away. Their house was a familiar place for him and his sister, full of games, movies, sleepovers, and time together. He remembers playing Yahtzee with his grandmother and watching baseball and football with his grandfather. He would sit with his grandpa and read the sports pages in the newspaper.
Those memories came easily as we talked. So did his gratitude.
“Having them close by was truly a blessing.”
Today, both grandparents are 81. His grandfather once drove him to practices. Now, they get to watch him help lead them.
Near the end of our conversation, I asked whether they were proud of him. His answer returned to everything they had done, and everything they still do.
“I want to make her proud,” he said of his grandmother. “Like I want to make both of them proud.”
That desire helps explain the person behind the whistle.
Finding His Voice in the Gym
Kellen fell in love with the challenge of basketball.
Scoring takes skill and timing. Defending someone takes focus. A good screen or a well-timed cut can create an opportunity that disappears a second later. He enjoyed learning how those details fit together.
“I like the challenge of picking defenses apart,” he said.
He also liked studying an offense, recognizing its rhythm, and figuring out how to interrupt it. Basketball gave him something to solve while requiring him to communicate with the people around him.
And communication suited him.
“I’m a loud person myself,” he said.
In the gym, being loud was encouraged. His coaches wanted him to call things out, help teammates, and make himself heard. His voice had a job to do.
That responsibility mattered to him. He described how frustrating it felt to let a play develop without warning a teammate about what was coming.
Years later, communication remains one of the central parts of his coaching. He is still thinking about how to make a message clear, how another person receives it, and what happens when someone needs help understanding.
Learning to Wear the Polo
After graduating from Seton Catholic in 2020, Kellen returned to coach during the pandemic-disrupted 2021 season. He became the school’s first freshman/C-team basketball coach.
He remembers how strange that first season felt.
There were masks. There were cancellations.
Basketball was happening during a different part of the year, and he remembers leaving the gym while it was still light outside.
He also remembers being nervous.
A familiar family connection helped him feel more comfortable. One of his players was the son of someone who had coached him, and that relationship gave him something familiar to build on as he stepped into a new role.
The games themselves were difficult.
His team played only twice because of cancellations. They lost both games by about 30 points.
“I was zero and two,” he said, “with like a deficit of 60.”
He can laugh about it now. At the time, it was an unusual introduction to the work he wanted to do.
Still, he kept coaching.
“I knew things were going to get better.”
He expected the pandemic restrictions to eventually pass. He believed there was more ahead than those first two games. That belief gave him a reason to keep learning.
As he continued coaching at Seton, Kellen found a role that made use of how recently he had been a player himself. He understood the experience of being on the receiving end of a coach’s instructions. He also knew the coach who had hired him, having played for him during high school.
That familiarity helped him explain the coaching staff’s message in language players could understand.
“I felt like a six-man almost,” he said, describing himself as someone who could bridge the space between coach and player.
But being close to the players’ experience also brought challenges.
Kellen spoke honestly about his early immaturity. Sometimes, he still talked as though he were a teammate. He had to learn that a coach’s words carried a different responsibility.
“I was still talking as if I’m a player,” he said, “but I got a polo on, not a jersey.”
He described conversations with his athletic director about those expectations. Becoming a coach required him to think more carefully about what he said and how he represented his role.
He continues to work on that growth. He wants to improve his presence on the court, communicate more professionally, and handle details such as practice reminders more consistently.
Becoming a head coach remains a goal. He understands that preparing for it involves his own habits as much as his knowledge of basketball.
A Different Route to the Classroom
Kellen’s path into elementary education began with a change of plans.
He initially went to college intending to study kinesiology. When he saw how much science the program required, he reconsidered.
He laughed as he explained it.
“That’s honestly why I’m a teacher.”
It was a practical turning point, but the work he eventually found has become deeply meaningful to him.
Kellen studied elementary education at Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver.
He taught at Our Lady of Lourdes and now teaches second grade at King’s Way Christian Schools.
When I asked whether he was happy with the direction he had chosen, he answered without hesitation.
“Oh, I love it. It’s honestly the most satisfying job ever.”
He acknowledged the hard days, too. Some days are exhausting. Some days, like in any job, the work feels difficult. But in describing his first several weeks at King’s Way, he kept returning to how much he was enjoying the experience.
Getting there took commitment.
While attending WSU Vancouver and coaching, Kellen also worked in retail at the mall. Time outside school and the gym often became time at work. Some nights meant closing at nine, then coming home to homework.
His schedule required him to pay attention to where his hours were going and what he had agreed to do.
“Actually meaning that you’re committed,” he said.
That chapter gave him practice following through when several responsibilities competed for his attention.
His schedule is still full. Along with teaching and basketball, he coaches defensive line and special teams in youth football. Games take up part of his weekends. Film can keep him awake late into the night.
When I asked how he finds time for it all, he returned to his love of the game.
Looking for the Pattern
Kellen’s interest in solving basketball’s challenges is still evident in how he watches film.
He looks for patterns. What does a team repeat? Which actions appear again and again? Who gets the ball when a possession matters?
He pays particular attention to the fourth quarter.
“You can always see what a team goes to when their back is against the wall,” he said.
It is a detail that reveals how much thought goes into the hours beyond a practice or game. He wants to understand what another team trusts under pressure, then use that knowledge to help his own players prepare.
That preparation is one part of the coach he hopes to become. Another part is learning how to turn what he notices into something useful for the people he leads.
Faith in the Everyday
When our conversation turned to faith, Kellen’s response was immediate.
“God is so good.”
He repeated it as he reflected on the opportunities in his life. Teaching and coaching were things he had wanted to do, and he sees God’s goodness in having the chance to do them.
At King’s Way, the ability to speak openly about Jesus and pray is a central reason he wants to be there.
“That’s why I’m at King’s Way, first and foremost,” he said.
He also credits his time at Seton with helping shape his faith. He remembers the school’s weekly Masses and the influence of being in that environment.
When he considers what faith can offer young people, he thinks about difficult moments.
“They always know that somebody’s in their corner,” he said.
But the person whose example stands out most is his grandmother.
“If I could attribute my faith to anybody,” he said, “my grandma is like number one on that chart.”
He recognizes her influence in his father as well. As he talked about both of them, faith became part of the family story he had begun telling at the start of our conversation.
Kellen continues to think seriously about his own faith journey. He attends Mass and has considered becoming Catholic, but he wants to approach that decision through prayer and personal conviction.
“I want to have that conversation with God,” he said.
He spoke about wanting the decision to be his own and giving it the attention it deserves. His faith is an active part of his life, with questions he is still willing to explore.
Returning to a Community He Loves
This summer, Kellen joined the basketball staff at Hudson’s Bay High School.
His connection to the community began before the coaching opportunity. While studying at WSU Vancouver, he student taught at Harney Elementary. The experience stayed with him.
“I love the community there,” he said, “and I love the kids.”
After interviewing for head coaching positions without being selected, Kellen still wanted a way to contribute. He reached out to Hudson’s Bay’s new head coach, J.C. Alexander, and arranged an interview.
That conversation led to an assistant coaching position.
He now teaches at King’s Way and coaches at Hudson’s Bay, balancing the schedules of two schools. It brings logistical challenges, including getting from a later school dismissal to his coaching responsibilities.
It also gives him the opportunity to work in two communities he cares about.
At Bay, part of the work involves helping secure basic resources for the basketball program. At the time of our interview, Kellen said they had only 10 basketballs for 39 roster spots.
The staff had been raising funds for basketballs, practice jerseys, and other needs. They visited businesses in downtown Vancouver and asked for support.
Kellen was encouraged by the response.
“They definitely were very gracious to us,” he said.
He especially appreciated being able to speak directly with small-business owners. Those conversations gave the staff a chance to explain what they were trying to build and gave local people a way to help.
For Kellen, the team has promise. He described a young group with a mix of sophomores and seniors, including players who participate in several sports.
There is work ahead, and he knows it. He wants to help create opportunities for the players to improve and spend more time in the gym.
There is also a familiar opponent ahead. During our conversation, Kellen said Hudson’s Bay’s first basketball game of the season would be against Seton Catholic.
He smiled at the connection between the place where he started and the place where he is continuing.
He still knows people at Seton. He still planned to go watch a football game there. Moving on has left him with relationships that remain part of his story.
Still Showing Up
As we talked, Kellen moved easily between basketball, teaching, family, and faith. Each part of his life brought him back to people.
The grandparents who babysat him and his sister. The grandfather who drove him to practice. The coaches who taught him, then helped him learn to coach. The students he met while preparing to become a teacher. The businesses willing to help a school basketball program.
He has benefited from people giving their time and attention. Now, much of his own time goes toward young people.
Some days, that means second graders. Other days, it means a practice, a game, a film session, or a conversation with a player who needs something explained a different way.
He is still learning how to do that work well. He was open about the parts of himself he wants to improve and the responsibilities he hopes to earn.
And while he works toward those goals, his grandparents continue to come.
They have watched him grow from the child reading the sports pages into the adult standing on the sideline.
Something Worth Sharing
Near the end of our conversation, I asked Kellen what “Everyone Has a Story” means to him.
“Everybody’s got something to share,” he said.
He explained that a person might be carrying a weight, a burden, or something they have wanted to get off their chest. There may be a story someone needs the opportunity to tell.
“Everybody has something that the world needs to know.”
Kellen’s story is still unfolding in a second-grade classroom, on a basketball court, through his faith, and in the daily work of becoming the leader he hopes to be.
He wants to coach his own program someday. He wants to keep growing. He wants to make a difference for the young people in front of him.
And there are two people in the stands he still wants to make proud.
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Kellen,
Best of luck this season! Kick ass! I’ll have to come out to a few games. Let’s get some open gyms going too, and I’ll try not to get injured... haha.
God bless you and your journey, friend.
Go Cougs!
Chase