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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Having a Ball
Central Oklahoma, OK
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By: Francisco Ojeda
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Photo(s) By: Ralph Trout
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Edmond Santa Fe volleyball coach Will Etheridge has been coaching for 15 years and has seen the sport grow in Oklahoma from a few high schools participating to becoming one of the top volleyball states in the country.
As soon as I played volleyball, I fell in love with it. It’s addicting. It’s fast-paced, a lot faster than people think. It’s like basketball with all the momentum making runs and points. It’s pretty intense. And since I was a teacher, it just made sense and was an easy transition to coach volleyball.
I started playing volleyball when I was in college. It was just something fun to do. I first started playing intramurals at UCO. Then I played in sand tournaments and in adult leagues. I also played on teams where we would travel to different tournaments around the region, like Texas. I played baseball and wrestling when I was in high school, and I played tennis. But it was nothing like volleyball.
When I started coaching at Santa Fe, there were 43 schools that played volleyball. Now there are 117. It’s grown to a national level, clearly in Oklahoma, because of the club programs. It’s become more competitive. It’s like AAU basketball. We travel all over the country. There are better athletes in volleyball now, where 15 years ago those athletes played softball.
I don’t think there will be a lot more schools starting up volleyball programs, but I do think it’s going to start becoming a lot more competitive. As opposed to more teams, you’ll see more parity. Ten years ago there were only three or four good programs. Now there’s a lot more competition and it’s getting higher and higher. The private schools will stay strong because they have such good feeder schools. But more kids are playing club ball and year round, so the level is getting more even. That will only help volleyball in the state.
When I first started, Oklahoma wasn’t even close to being recognized as a state with some of the top talent in the country. But now I put us in the top third. We are getting where we are competitive. I had a team (in club) that finished fifth in the national tournament. We’re breaking into the top third in the country and getting better. Our girls go to some of the top colleges in the country, and we have one of the best players, (Heritage Hall’s) Tyler Henderson.
A tennis director as asked me to be the coordinator of a new adult volleyball league, which was around 1987. I thought it would be a great idea since I played competitively and knew a lot of players. It wasn’t a struggle at all. It was just like adult softball; there were always players. It wasn’t as competitive as it is now. It was more popular with the adults than the high school kids back then. Now it’s only grown more popular with the kids.
I’ve had a lot of special moments coaching volleyball, but there are a few that stand out. The first three years of the program, my first three years, we won three straight state championships. Every single one of those is special. And then our fourth title, in 2004, was extra nice because my daughter Kylie was part of the team.
There are two players that stand out as the best players I coached. One was Kelly Smith, who was part of all three state championship teams in the mid 1990’s. She went on to play at Rice. The other is Michelle Boevers. She graduated in 2004 and is now playing at Gonzaga. They were both exceptional players.
I have definitely been at it a long time. I have been here 15 years, since the school opened in 1993. I’ve coached a lot of great players, made it to the state tournament all 15 years and won four state championships in eight title games. I have seen a lot of administrators, coaches and teachers come through here. But I don’t see any changes for me. I love it at Santa Fe. I am comfortable here. Why mess something up if you like it?
The Edmond rivalry is big, just like in any of the other sports. But there are some unique aspects to the volleyball rivalry between the three schools. The best players in Edmond play year round on the same club team. So they know each other well. The rivalry is as intense, but it’s more civil and respectful in volleyball because most of the year they play on the same team. They play on the same team more than they do against each other as Memorial, Santa Fe and North.
When you are one of the top volleyball teams in Edmond, you are one of the top teams in the state. We are not only battling each other for a city title, but a state championship as well. When these three schools get together, it’s three of the top five teams in the state. There’s some great competition and some great talent. There’s a lot of hype and the atmosphere is tremendous.
I’m a gamer. I love all kinds of games – card games and board games especially. I play poker a lot with the guys or with my family. A card game we play a lot is called, “The Lost City.” It’s kind of hard to explain, you just need to look it up online. There’s also a game that we play a lot in my P.E. classes called Pickle Ball. It’s like indoor tennis, just with a waffle ball.
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