Coupeville Sports

Keith Hovde with fellow CMS athlete Hope Lodell.

Hovde (middle row, second from left) on his select soccer squad.

One day changed everything.

Keith Hovde missed the first day of band practice in sixth grade, and found all the spaces for drummers had been filled by the time he showed up.

Forced to pick a new instrument, he wound up with the trumpet and has been going strong ever since.

Now an eighth grader at Coupeville Middle School, Hovde balances his time on the trumpet with action in the soccer net, where he plays as a goaltender for a select U14 squad out of Oak Harbor.

A big fan of the movies “Forrest Gump” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” he also enjoys BMX biking and history class and is the secretary for his school’s ASB.

His trumpet playing has been honed with work along side a family friend, a retired admiral who was also a composer and orchestra conductor.

Now in his 90’s, Dr. Lotzenheiser joins Hovde’s family for dinner each Thursday night, and has imparted some of his vast musical knowledge to a younger generation.

It’s worked, as the musically-included CMS student has blossomed behind a new instrument.

“I enjoy the fact that I can play the music that I so much love listening to,” Hovde said. “And that a bunch of kids can play music and make a wonderful sound.”

Following in the footsteps of his mother, who played the flute (“I, of course, think my mother has really helped me get confidence and pave a path”), Hovde is constantly striving to reach new levels.

“My strengths are tone and confidence, but I would like to work on my sight reading,” he said.