BILLINGS — Melstone’s Ole Eike has a lot on his plate.
No, not as head coach of the Broncs girls basketball team, but as father to six girls, including two that play for him. But he’s able to keep it all in perspective.
“(My wife) Linsey has the tough job, because three of them stay home with her every day. The 6 year old finally went to kindergarten this year. But up until this year, the last two or three years she had four of them at home. It's a zoo. It's a circus around there, no doubt," Eike told MTN Sports.
Avery, a junior, and Maggie, a freshman, have had to grow up a little bit faster than most kids their age to help ease the burden on their parents.
“Sometimes they're reluctantly big sister, mom types," Eike said. "Deep down you can tell they love their little sisters and their little sisters love them. I couldn't be more pleased."
“We're always there to play with them. Anytime my parents are gone we basically play house together," Maggie Eike said.
Ole’s peaceful time is likely those four eight-minute quarters that occupy his weekends from December into March. His two oldest girls have grown and excelled in the Melstone basketball program and are just two of the most recent sharpshooters to come out of the community.
“From the time they were like 5 or 6 years old, we poured a great big concrete slab in the front yard and sunk a basketball court out there," Ole Eike said. "It's just get out on the court and get the shots up. And then of course I had the key to the gym, too."
But Ole is quick to remind them where that shooting ability came from.
“I can't tell you how many games of H-O-R-S-E I've played with these kids in Melstone," Ole Eike said. "It keeps the shooting touch up. You get running involved, I'm out. In a standstill game of H-O-R-S-E, I'm taking myself."
"I think if I were to play with my dad, I'd maybe beat him one out of 15 times probably," Maggie Eike said.
Melstone kicks off its quest for a state tournament berth at the Southern C divisional in Miles City on Wednesday evening against Ekalaka.
