It was Thursday Feb. 14, the very last boys basketball home game of the season.

The members of varsity Knightline huddled together after their performance and talked about how it was senior Amber Friedman’s last game. Then suddenly, coach Heather Hallvax-Box told the team that it was her last game too, as she wouldn’t be coaching the team anymore.

“[When she told us] I was so surprised that she could leave,” junior Kelsey Monroe said.

Hallvax-Box made the decision to stop coaching Knightline because she was recently married and is planning on starting a family in the near future.

“It is very important to me to be at home,” Hallvax-Box said. “I love this and I love the girls but it’s important to be at home with family.”

Hallvax-Box has been coaching at North for three years now. Before she coached at North she was the dance team coach at Marquette for three years while she taught at Union. She later began teaching at North and an assistant coaching position opened up and she took the job.

“I love dance and I like coaching so it all just fit together,” Hallvax-Box said.

Hallvax-Box says that her favorite thing about coaching is seeing the turnaround with the squad experience. She is very proud of the fact that for the first time in several years they attended three competitions this season.

“I love it,” Hallvax-Box said. “I love the bonds, I love watching them progress and change. I love the competitions, the trips, and watching their final project be performed.”

Although she doesn’t plan on coaching the girls anymore, Hallvax-Box still plans on being there for the girls to help them. Tryouts for next year’s team were April 1-4. Hallvax-Box plans on coaching the team until the school is able to hire a new coach. So far the job opening has been posted by the activities office but no one has taken it yet.

“She will still always be there for us,” sophomore Deidre Meyer said. “She just wont be our coach.”