The longtime head coach of the Panorama girls basketball program continues to lean a teaching hand to the Panther’s softball program. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network had Dan Druivenga as a guest on Monday’s Guthrie County PM Sports Page to discuss several topics including his role as the assistant coach to Ryan Nail on the Panther softball program. Druivenga says his head coaching career started in softball at the Yale-Jamaica-Bagley school district for three seasons before the schools merged into the Panorama School District. After a few years away, he came back as an assistant coach and has helped out in the dugout over the past two decades. Druivenga, a proponent of multisport athletes, says skills learned in softball can help you on the basketball floor as well. “It’s a team sport. And they have to learn their roles (on the team) and what they do in each sport.” Druivenga said, “But it’s still an individual type game between the pitcher and batter. It’s that one on one competition during basketball but it’s still a team sport in that you have to work together to cover your area and do your role. I love athletes that are out for softball, basketball or any sport.”

Druivenga says the girls’ basketball team worked on skill development drills during the month of June and will start attending several team camps now that the softball season is over. The Panorama softball season ended with an 11-12 overall record.