This is the fifth of eight installments of the Valley News’ weekly profiles of local high school coaches this summer. It’s a chance to better know some of the people guiding the area’s student-athletes. Today, we meet 28-year old Sunapee High girls basketball coach and equine enthusiast Stephanie Larpenter, whose assistant coach is her younger sister, Faith.
Family: Father Dean runs the family’s New London Wood Products business. Mother Pam helps with its office work and is a Sunapee third-grade teacher who’s done that job for 34 years. Brother Shawn is a 2007 Sunapee High graduate. Stephanie followed in 2009 and Faith in 2017. All except Pam were 1,000-point high school basketball scorers.
High on Hank: “Hank Tenney was my high school basketball coach all four years. We won two championships and I loved his style. He was all about the fundamentals, which I try to instill in my girls. He has a way of knowing how much potential you have and how to get it all out of you.”
Successful Charger: Larpenter, whose 9-to-5 job is serving as marketing and human relations manager for a Croydon paving company, played basketball and won a conference title at Colby-Sawyer College. She majored in sports management with a focus on marketing.
Bench beginnings: “I coached my sister’s third- and fourth-grade basketball teams when I was at Colby-Sawyer. I also did JV soccer and JV basketball for Kearsarge (High). I became an assistant varsity coach the year before my sister graduated. She won eight championships at Sunapee, three each in soccer and softball and two in basketball.”
Prized position: “I was ready for the job because my dream since I was little was to coach my high school’s varsity. It’s awesome. I have a great group of girls with a lot of drive. I’ve had the rising seniors since they were freshman and it’s cool to see how much they’ve grown.”
Light ‘em up: “My coaching philosophy is run-and gun and the more fast breaks, the better. You have the potential to score a lot of points off turnovers, so we’re super aggressive defensively and if they don’t happen, then we fall back.”
Not show ponies: “My dad had Belgian draft horses when we were little and got back into them about six years ago. They weigh about 2,600 pounds each and the miniatures weigh about 400 pounds. The pulling competition is that your team of two or three horses has to pull increasing weights 12 feet to advance to the next round.”
Giddyap: “You can’t pull competitively until you’re 15, but my dad taught us when we were young. I remember when his team would win, I’d ride on the back of one of the horses when they went to get a ribbon. My grandfather used to log with horses in the woods, so it goes far back in my family.”
Whinny while you work: “We train the horses every day from April to October and compete at fairs around New England. You want to get muscle on them and build up their endurance. That’s what this breed of horse is made to do and you can tell they enjoy it and get excited when we load them into the trailer.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.