DUBLIN, Va. (WFXR) — For Pulaski County freshman volleyball player Bethenny King volleyball is a sport she loves…….she loves something even more…family. Back on October 7th in a Pulaski County JV volleyball match against Carroll County, Bethenny’s brother in US Air Force Senior Airmen Shaun King and his wife Samantha Lippert surprised Bethenny by attending the game.
It was the first time the siblings have seen each other in 14 months as King and Lippert were deployed.
“I thought they were actually gonna be important teachers instead of my brother. So I was expecting it but the moment I turned around, I just felt joyful and so happy that he was here,” said Bethenny King.
Bethenny’s mom asked for help in surprising her daughter by her coach Duane Minnick.
Coach Minnick was thrilled to help.
“Mrs. King texted me and came up to me after game and said how do you know I want to surprise Bethenny my son’s coming in she haven’t seen him in a long time and she started to kind of go into that and talking about him being in the military and how long it been and she said we can do something like absolutely you know,” said Minnick.
Overall, the event was special not only for the King family, but for the entire Cougars volleyball team.
“I have military history for me. My grandfather was a POW in World War II so the military is really close to my heart and I think it did a lot of good for the girls that we were all together the whole team, both of varsity and JV and and and for them to be able to see that motion and and be able to relate to that and see, it was really rough for them the girls actually talked about a lot. It really helped our team camaraderie and and brought us closer together you know hearing Pulaski county work we family you know we talk about that a lot and especially here at the school. You know everything we do here at the school. We try to do it as a family so that’s important us here,” said Minnick.
