Not only is girls volleyball such an exciting sport to be able to watch, it is even more exciting to play. Shadow Ridge girls volleyball has come a long way these past couple years. Head Coach, Shannon Alia and Assistant Coach, Andrew Dubois are looking forward to new experiences and getting the girl’s to find a love for the game.
For Alia, sports came easily for herself and her kids. It’s always been a great move for her family, and 3 of her daughters have won State Championships in different various sports. Her fourth daughter will arrive at Shadow Ridge next year as a freshman.
With the new dynamic duo coaching staff, both Dubois and Alia will lead the Girl’s Volleyball Team to victory and get all the players their love for the game back.
Alia says, “I wanted to get back into coaching high school because I missed the rivalry of the high schools playing each other. I coached high school for 15 years and took about an 8 year break and I just thought it was time to get back into the high school scene. I miss it, and I’m excited to build this program. There’s a lot of athletes who come through this program and I wanted to create a positive environment for the young ladies to fall in love with the game of volleyball again.”
Dubois has also always been in the sports world at Shadow Ridge while coaching for multiple sports; Dubois coached softball and flag football but he made a switch from softball to volleyball this year.
Dubois says, “I enjoy the game, but I also enjoy the coaching staff. When Coach Alia had the opportunity to be head coach and asked me if I wanted to be a part of rebuilding and restarting the program, I couldn’t think of a better coaching staff to be a part of.”
Alia has great plans for their team to be successful and learn certain skills to get their team to play to the next level and to also move in a positive direction.
Alia says, “Our plan as a coaching staff for the volleyball program is to create a competitive and fun learning environment so the girls not only learn the game of volleyball but also life lessons, how to be a part of a team, how to work well with others, how to overcome obstacles and challenges, and persevere through and learn from our mistakes while being positive and always moving forward in a positive direction.”
Dubois and Alia both have very similar plans and expectations to get their team to be the best that they have ever been.
Dubois says, “Our plans are to get better each day, both in practice and games. Just getting better not only physically but mentally and helping each athlete become an even better athlete and person.”
Alia has had a lot of journeys in her sports life to get her to become the awesome coach that she is now.
“As a volleyball player I was lucky enough to experience a lot of different coaches and I was able to play different positions. I had to learn a hard lesson and I went from being a starter for almost my whole life to in my junior year in college when I transferred I had to fight for playing time. I became a non-starter and I learned to work hard, persevere and earn playing time,” Alia stated. “I know how it feels to be a starter, I know how it feels to be a sub, I know how it feels to play all the positions on the volleyball court. I feel like my career as a player really prepared me to be a coach in order to know all aspects of an athlete and where they stand, and how they feel when I can relate to them and maybe help them reach their challenges that they need to become successful.”
Alia values getting better each match and then peaking at the end during playoffs.
Alia says,“ I definitely value winning but development comes first. Of course everyone wants to win if you’re an athlete or coach, you get into the sports to be competitive and strive to be the best that you can be. If you focus on development then wins will come with it, and right now I told the girls it’s important for us to get better each match and we want to peak at the end of the season when it’s playoff time and not in the beginning.”
Dubois would love to win but chooses to also put development first and have the wins come while developing.
Dubois says, “Obviously as a coach and as players you always want to win, but at the end of the day development is going to be the best thing.”
With the new dynamic duo coaching staff, both Dubois and Alia will lead the Girl’s Volleyball Team to victory and get all the players their love for the game back.
