Threinen embraces challenge as K-M A.D.

The Kasson-Mantorville activities director position has seen its share of faces in recent years.
After Kyle Huneke stepped down last June, his successor was going to be the fifth person to fill the role in the past 15 years. A couple weeks ago, that successor turned out to be Broc Threinen. Already entrenched with the community as a graduate, middle school science teacher as well as serving as the football and baseball coach, he felt the need to add some stability to the position as well as some hometown pride. “It seemed like a job I would like,” Threinen said of his decision to pursue the A.D. job. “I talked to Kyle about it quite a bit after he told me he [was stepping down] and he recommended it.
It’s an opportunity to fill the position with someone who will be here for a while and have a lot of pride and passion for Kasson-Mantorville.” To take the job, Threinen had to make the tough decision to step down as head coach of the K-M baseball team. While the departure creates a void, he knows that the program is in good hands and is part of the change that comes with jumping in as activities director. “It’s tough to leave something that you’ve done for such a long time,” Threinen admitted. “I had a lot of fun doing it and hopefully we helped some kids along the way.
My big thing was to help the kids and not get in their way, so I think we’re in a good situation there and I felt comfortable stepping down so we wouldn’t miss a beat.” Threinen also had to leave his middle school classroom where he taught seventh-grade science to return to high school. While the change will be different, he’ll see some familiar faces while continuing to work with kids.
“I love being in the classroom, but Kyle mentioned that I would be back with the older kids and that’s fun,” Threinen explained. “I get to still help and have an impact, but it’s just on a different level.”
As far the athletics go, Threinen’s objective is to encourage kids to play multiple sports. He believes that the benefits that come with that are great and will go a long way in not just promoting the athletics at K M, but promote growth within the classroom as well.
“We really want to promote school-wide awareness and pride for every activity,” Threinen revealed. “Every sport encourages their kids to play other sports because of the benefits it provides for the rest of his life. We want to have them fight the societal urge to just play one sport. I’m a big supporter of the three-sport athlete.”