By Jeff Budlong, sports writer

Kyle Peterson can sing a song, play one of three instruments or teach an important life lesson, but it wasn&8217;t until he found a seat on the Albert Lea boys&8217; basketball team&8217;s bench that more people started to notice the talents of this 26-year-old.

Peterson is in his second year as a varsity assistant coach for the Tigers and it is an experience that he has treasured.

&8220;I will walk into a gas station now and someone will stop me to say hi and we will talk,&8221; he said. &8220;It has been so good to me, and I have met so many people.&8221;

Basketball has always been important to the Cold Spring native &8212; his Cold Spring Rocori team finished second in the state his senior season &8212;

whose hometown is crazy for the sport, but it was a bit of an adjustment for the first-time coach a season ago.

&8220;(Head coach) Chad (Feikema) and I got along great as people,&8221; Peterson said. &8220;But we come from completely different backgrounds and styles. Chad grew up where they are famous for this run-and-gun, full-court pressing, in-your-face style, which is how he wants to play. I love that type, but my background is let&8217;s just take our time and pass the ball around. They were two opposites, but both very successful.&8221;

Peterson takes on the role of teacher with the players in a one-on-one fashion during practices, handles a lot of the scouting responsibilities and points out tendencies and calls some plays for the Tigers during games.

The coaching position was one that came as a surprise to Peterson. He went into Feikema&8217;s office last year to talk about volunteer coaching, but ended up as one of the top assistants for a varsity squad that went to the section finals.

&8220;I wasn&8217;t looking to be a full-time paid coach; I was looking to help out anyway I could,&8221; Peterson said. &8220;It just all kind of fell into place.&8221;

&8220;Our personalities work well together and philosophy-wise we like to do similar things,&8221; Feikema said. &8220;It has worked out well, and he is an important part of our program.&8221;

Peterson and his wife, Donna, who is expecting their first child in April, moved to Albert Lea almost three years ago so he could take the position of associate pastor at the Assemblies of God Church.

&8220;We had just gotten married in June of 2004 and then we moved down here,&8221; he said. &8220;I am the full-time youth pastor, and I work with high school and some college kids mostly.&8221;

The job was the first for Peterson after completing college at North Central University, a religious-focused school in the Twin Cities. He studied youth ministry and music and puts both to use at the church.

&8220;It has been really good, and I am very happy with where I am now,&8221; Peterson said. &8220;My job is to try to help students understand God, spirituality and how to live. It is more than just Bible, but that is a huge part of it. We talk about choices and how those choices will effect how they live.&8221;

His work with the church also allows the singer/songwriter who can play the piano, guitar and

saxophone to indulge his other passion.

&8220;It is a fairly big hobby of mine and it is great because I can do it in a church setting,&8221; he said of the music responsibilities he has with the church.

Because of his many talents Peterson is able to reach kids on many different levels.

&8220;My faith has always been very important to me, but it wasn&8217;t until my third year of college that I decided it was something I wanted to do and needed to do,&8221; Peterson said.

His ability to relate to high school kids is also a major asset to the basketball team.

&8220;Coaching is more about people than coaching a game and Kyle is very good with young people,&8221; Feikema said. &8220;That is more about coaching than people realize. I think a lot of people understand the game of basketball, but they don&8217;t know how to teach it to 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids and Kyle is able to do that.&8221;

For Peterson one job lends itself to the other with his responsibilities as a youth pastor giving him the flexibility to coach. However, both jobs allow him to work with kids and teach valuable life lessons they will use for years to come.

&8220;There is a big distinction because as soon as you walk into a school faith is out the door for me

as an adult but it has been really good,&8221; he said.

It has led him in a direction he has known he was headed since his own high school days.

&8220;My coach always told me I was going to be a coach someday,&8221; Peterson said.

Peterson has proven his coach right guiding the youth both on and off the court.