Most athletes at some point in their life have been coached by a parent. It might have been in youth sports, or at home in the driveway, or from the stands at a game.

For Jim Thorpe's Kayley and Payton Kovac, they not only have a coach at home, but they also have a coach on the court as well. Their father, Rob Kovac, has been the head coach of the Lady Olympians since 2007, and their head coach since the day they were born.Kayley and Payton were both in diapers when they started to learn about the game of basketball from their father.Rob Kovac was coaching at Panther Valley back then as he helped lead the Lady Panthers to three straight District 11 Championship appearances in 1998, 1999, and 2000.During the 1998-99 season, Kovac and his team took home a District 11 AA title, defeating Catasauqua, helping propel them to the Eastern Final of the state tournament.Kovac's success at Panther Valley and his love of the game built a basketball foundation for his two daughters. From diapers to Nike shorts, the Kovac girls have always had a basketball in their hands, which is something they know their parents are responsible for."I've lived in a gym since I was a little kid and that's because my dad has always been coaching," said Kayley Kovac. "To be honest the connection with basketball has made us closer. We have a great daughter and father bond and it's strong because we're together all the time. He's hard on both of us, but we know he just wants the best for us."Payton Kovac also added that having her father as her high school coach has helped her become a better player,"I don't know if we would be the players we are today without our dad pushing us and being our coach,"He's been coaching us our whole lives, so we know a lot about the little things of the game because of him."Being a head coach can be very stressful at times. For coach Kovac, you can multiply that times two. Not only does he want to win and coach effectively, but he also has the responsibility to draw a line between being a father and a coach to two of his starting players. It's a fine line and a task that certainly can be challenging."When I took this job in 2007 I knew most likely I was going to eventually coach my daughters and I wasn't necessarily worried about our relationship because I've always had a great relationship with my girls, but naturally worried about what other people might think," said Kovac. "But I thought about it and it didn't matter."I thought about all of my daughters' friends, who almost grew up in my house, a lot of those girls are on the team now and they've been totally accepting of the fact that Kayley and Payton are my daughters and that I'm their coach."Growing up in the gym has certainly aided the Kovac girls as they are the two leading scorers on a Jim Thorpe (9-5) squad that looks to be poised to make the postseason.Payton Kovac has made significant strides from her freshman to sophomore season as she leads the team in three-pointers (16) and is second on the team in points per game (6.53).Kayley Kovac has been one of the premier scorers in the Schuylkill League over the past two seasons. She was a Class 3A third team all state selection a season ago as a freshman as she averaged 24.59 points per game. This season, Kovac has picked up right where she left off, averaging 23.53 points per game."The fact that I can do something that I absolutely love and then also the fact that I get to do it with my kids is something that not too many people get to do and I 'm really grateful for that," said Kovac. "I also get an up close and personal look on their progress. I get to see Payton's improvement from last season and I get to enjoy what Kayley has been able to do. It's double gratifying because I get to see their improvement from a coach's standpoint and then personally too as their father."On the court, things look to be headed in the right direction, but what about the nights when some things don't go so great? The real question is, how do you separate father and daughter and coach and player?"When I'm on the court and he's on the sideline I look at him as my coach and not my dad, he's my coach. That's the mentality I try to have," said Kayley Kovac. "When we get home he's my dad and we do the best we can to try and leave basketball stuff in the gym and not bring it home with us."Watching a Lady Olympians basketball game, it's easy to see the competitive edge in coach Kovac and his daughters. Actually, competitive edge might be putting it mildly with the Kovac family."There's no doubt basketball is always going to be a subject in our home, but if we have a rough night we try to leave it at the door the best we can," said coach Kovac. "I'm not saying we always honor that rule, but we try and if we don't my wife Lauren will step in and lets me know what I could've done better - and then it usually ends there."*****A FULL MOON'S WORTH OF STATS ... Last Thursday, Weatherly's Zach Moon scored a game-high 27 points and drained seven three-pointers in an impressive win over Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech. The seven treys ties Jim Thorpe's Brendan Carroll for the most three-pointers in a game this season in the Times News coverage area. The last time the Wreckers had a player with seven or more three-pointers in a game was two seasons ago when Luke Reiner drained seven triples on December 20, 2013. Moon's 27 points were also the most points scored by a Weatherly player since Keith Barna accounted for 31 points on Dec. 23, 2009 in an 82-66 win over the same Columbia-Mountour Vo-Tech team.*****DIALING LONG DISTANCE ... Aside from Moon's seven three-pointers last week, Marian's John Woitko buried six long balls on Tuesday night against Tri-Valley. It is the 10th time this season that a Times News area player has recorded five or more three-pointers in a game (all boys). The lone sharp-shooter to accomplish the feat twice this season is Tamaqua's Thad Zuber, who had games of five and six three-pointers.*****FIRST OF THE SEASON ... Entering last Thursday, the Marian Fillies were the last undefeated team left standing in the Times News area. Unfortunately, they suffered their first setback when the undefeated buzzsaw Minersville handed them a 53-19 setback. The loss dropped the Fillies to 10-1 on the year.In a similar sense, the Panther Valley girls basketball team was the last area team still seeking its first win. The Lady Panthers got that on Saturday when they posted a 45-42 victory over Palmerton to improve to 1-10 on the season.*****THE EYE OF THE TIGER(S) ... Brady Mengel of Northwestern scored 21 points in Saturday's game against Brandywine Heights. He became the third Tiger player to score at least 20 points in a game this season. The others were Rob Seyfriend (28, 23, 21 and 20) and Parker Jones (27 and 23). Northwestern is the first Times News area team to accomplish that this season. Last season, it was done by six area boys teams, with Northwestern being one of them.*****THREE'S COMPANY ... So far this season, seven area boys team have made at least one three-pointer in all of their games. Panther Valley, however, can go one step better than that. The Panthers have had a least one three-pointer in 125 consecutive games. The last time Panther Valley didn't hit a three-pointer in a game was back on Feb. 13, 2010, against Tamaqua.*****CHARITY STRIPE OFFERINGS ... Pleasant Valley's Chris Barker went 13-for-16 from the foul line in Saturday's win against Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg. Both the free throws made (13) and free throws attempted (16) are season highs among Times News area boys players. What's interesting is that Barker had only made 14 free throws in the previous 11 games combined. Last year, the most free throws made by an area boy was 12 by Tamaqua's Bo Rottet. The last area boy to have made at least 13 free throws in a game was Panther Valley's Jake Szczecina, when he went 13-of-15 on Dec. 6, 2013.*****Every Thursday during the winters sports season, the TIMES NEWS will publish its annual basketball notebook reflecting back on the week that was, and highlighting both individual and team accomplishments, as well as interesting information that may have occurred in games from the previous seven days. Today's notebook will reflect back on all the happenings from last Wednesday up through this past Tuesday. Times News sports writer Jason Boris will once again be handling the compilation of notes and is encouraging all local head coaches to email him with noteworthy information that can be used in this column. Emails can be sent to

jboris@tnonline.com.(Jason Boris and Rod Heckman also contributed to this column)