The apprenticeship is over now for Kim Johnson at United South Central.

The former assistant coach for the girls’ tennis team was handed the program this season after Randy Halvorson stepped down as head coach and she inherits a team in great standing.

The Rebels went to the state tournament last year after winning the section championship and she returns with a core of players that had an integral role on the team that finished sixth at state a year ago.

“It will be fun,” Johnson said. “Definitely as a new coach you’ll have your ups and downs, but I know that Randy will be there supporting me. I know that I have a huge tennis community backing me. I know that they’ll do anything to help me if I need help.”

Johnson served as an assistant coach for two years before she accepted the head coach position this year.

“Randy really kind of prepared me without me knowing,” Johnson said. “He knew that once I took the assistant he wanted me to be the head coach. He really helped me along the way and let me be involved with everything that he did.”

After eight years of coaching the team, Halvorson decided the time was right to step down as head coach because he wanted to devote more time to teaching his first grade class. He will still serve as the girls’ and boys’ golf head coach in the spring.

The transition should be smooth for Johnson as she already has a familiarity with the players.

“I didn’t have to relearn a lot of names and the girls knew me,” Johnson said. “So it’s nice to step right in and have things ready for me.”

Johnson is a USC graduate who played on the tennis team during her high school career and is now looking to become a teacher. She is attending Augsburg and wants to become an elementary school teacher in the future. She has about a year left in classes and works as a teacher’s assistant at USC now.

Inheriting a team that went to the state tournament isn’t a bad thing either for Johnson and the program.

“You get there and they want to get back,” Johnson said. “We hold the girls to a high standard and they meet up to those standards every year.”

The Rebels won a number of conference championships under Halvorson and have fielded a strong squad in years past. That shouldn’t change this season as team lost five players from last year. USC has a strong senior class that Johnson will rely on this season as it tries to capture the conference title, something it lost out to rival Maple River last year.