CHESTERTON — For 16 years, Jack Campbell has been the head coach of the Chesterton girls basketball team.

For most of those same 16 years, another Campbell has been in the starting lineup for the Trojans.

Whether it has been Jack’s oldest daughter Carrie, who is the only one not to play in college as she went into a career in speech pathology, or Jill, who attended Valparaiso University and played three years of pro ball in Amsterdam. And don’t forget about Jackie, who finished playing at Colorado State last season.

Wonder what those conversations must be like at the Campbell dinner table?

The last of the Campbell daughters, Cat, is in her last season, and like her most recent preceding sister, Jackie, she plays point guard, a position that is regarded as an extension of the coach. It goes deeper than that at Chesterton.

“I have a lot of confidence in her being point guard,” Jack said. “She doesn’t always think like me. She thinks like an 18-year-old. I’d prefer her to think like a 50-year-old. But she’s done it for four years.”

You would think Cat would have the chance to learn from her older sisters from watching them in high school.

But their more recent exploits have grasped Cat’s attention.

“With the closest being five years, I didn’t see as much of them in high school,” she said. “When I’ve seen them play in college, that’s when I’ve learned the most.”

According to dad, the bigger obstacle is the sisters having a chance to come watch Cat play.

After tearing her ACL while playing in Europe, Jill is now around to watch her sister, and give any advice that Cat may want to take.

“Jill’s a good one for advice,” Jack said. “Cat doesn’t necessarily listen all the time.”

The younger sister fueled the jovial family discussion even more.

“It’s not necessarily good advice, but she’s full of it.”

Beyond the joking around that all families experience, Cat accepts the notion that a little more pressure falls upon her shoulders because of her relation to the coach.

“He does expect more out of me because I’m his daughter. Sometimes more than I’d like,” she said with a chuckle before returning to a serious tone. “It’s really not difficult at home, though.”

The toughest, or most uncomfortable times, may have been before each sister arrived at Chesterton. That’s when they went to Bailey Middle School where Jack teaches.

According to Jack, you really couldn’t tell for the most part that they were his daughters, adding that each called him Mr. Campbell in school.

Besides basketball, each of the Campbell girls played another sport at Chesterton. That resembles Jack, who has coached baseball for 34 years, in addition to girls basketball.

Carrie and Jill played softball while Jackie and Cat played volleyball.

Cat decided not to play volleyball this year to focus on basketball.

But despite Jack being involved with their athletic lives in high school, he has tried to remove himself from them the rest of the time.

“I never coached (the girls) in the summer, whether it was AAU basketball or softball,” he said.

“I didn’t want to be a parent who coached his kids all the time.”

Contact Steve T. Gorches at 648-3141 or by e-mail at sgorches@post-trib.com.