When Hannah Bartok walks into West Side School each morning, she greets her kindergartners with the same enthusiasm she later brings to the basketball court as head coach of the Harrisburg Middle School girls' basketball team. For this lifelong Bulldog, the dual role represents a perfect blend of her passions—teaching and athletics.

"I grew up with sports," Bartok explains. "There was never a time where I would just go to school and come home. It was, ‘go to school, go to practice, then some sort of practice after that.’"

The third of four children, Bartok was "the sports girl" in a family where athletics was a way of life. Her father, who coached her through her early years, instilled both skill and character that would later define her coaching philosophy.

After trying "softball, basketball, soccer, track, cross country, and volleyball" in middle school, Bartok eventually narrowed her focus. She earned a soccer scholarship to Kaskaskia College before transferring to Lindenwood Belleville to complete her education.

Life took an unexpected turn when COVID-19 hit during her student teaching, forcing her to return home to Harrisburg. In January 2021, she found herself stepping into a kindergarten classroom at West Side School, taking over mid-year for a teacher who had to leave.

"My bosses at the time, Eric Witges and Mallory Wilson called me into the office and said, 'We need you to step up,'" Bartok recalls. "I was like, 'Really, are you sure?' And they were like, 'We would not put you in this spot if you weren't ready.'"

While she adapted to teaching, something felt missing—the athletic component that had defined her life. "I would go to school and just come home. It was so weird. I never experienced that," she says.

At her uncle's encouragement, Bartok reluctantly agreed to become the assistant coach for the middle school girls' basketball team. "I didn't want to take on more than I could handle," she admits. But once she started, she "fell in love with it."

This past season, her first as head coach, Bartok led the team to an impressive 20-6 record and a fourth-place finish at the state tournament—an achievement that holds special significance for her.

"I've been an athlete my entire life, and I never had a chance to go to state, ever," she says. "I won a regional title in high school, and that was it."

What makes this accomplishment even more remarkable is the journey. Many of the eighth graders on this year's state team were part of Bartok's first coaching experience as sixth graders three years ago.

"We were both kind of learning from each other," she recalls of that first season. "The first three games we lost, and I was like, 'Okay, this is going to be great.'" But the team turned their season around, eventually winning a tournament in Eldorado, defeating the same teams that had beaten them earlier.

This season brought its own challenges—snow days forced cancellations, leaving the team to face their first regional game without having played since before Christmas. Illness swept through half the team just before critical tournament games.

Through it all, Bartok leaned on her faith and the support of assistant coach Ryan Harbison. "I give all the glory to God because He got us through so much," she says.

Bartok coaches with the lessons learned from her own playing career fresh in her mind. "I've had good coaches and I've had bad coaches," she notes. "I want to do what made me better."

That approach includes holding players to high standards while providing unwavering support. "These girls had trials this year, they really did," she says. "But I want them to know I'm going to support them in anything they do."

For Bartok, coaching has come full circle—she now coaches the daughter of Jake Stewart, who was her own coach from seventh grade through her senior year. Stewart still attends practices and games, offering guidance as Bartok builds the program.

"I'm still on the sidelines, still cheering them on," she reflects. "But now I get to say it as a coach."