April 2021 ~
Volleyball, basketball and softball.
Kristy Inskeep Carlson (Roosevelt, 1987) looked forward to every season, every game, every practice.
“I loved sports so much,” says Carlson, a 2013 PIL Hall of Fame inductee. Carlson played club sports as well, honing her skills for eventual volleyball and basketball competition at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.
But her favorite memories are of her 12 varsity seasons for the Roughriders.
“The bus rides, togetherness, team bonding. I made lifelong friends, people that to this day I cherish their friendship,” she says. “It’s amazing just how much comes from sports. Nobody can ever take that away from you.”
Family played a huge part in her athletics, too.
“Family was always there for me,” she says. “My mom (Dorothy) took me everywhere, never mind just the games, and worked at the school. My sister (Kathy) coached me in softball and volleyball.”
Carlson, at 5-9, played all the positions in basketball and volleyball (focusing later as a setter) and was a shortstop and pitcher in softball.
She describes herself as “competitive,” adding, “I was spunky, full of energy. Still am to this day.”
She had to be while growing up, as two older brothers were there to play backyard hoops with. “I had to be competitive to play,” she says.
Carlson, who works at Hosford Middle School, has stayed involved in athletics in different ways.
Her daughter Abby played sports for Franklin, and daughter Abby went from Cleveland to a current spot on the softball team at Warner Pacific University. And Kristy has been a PIL Youth Sports coach, a role she considers important for kids in Portland. “So many other districts had club sports or something that fed into their high school. I wanted to help build that here,” she says.
Carlson also has coached Portland Parks and Recreation teams and in ASA softball and hopes to do more of the latter in the future.
“Sports are in my blood,” she says.
