Without much knowledge in the sport, SBHS boys volleyball head
coach Luis Espinoza has picked up enough in his four years at the
helm, and has the Balers on the brink of one of their best seasons
in recent years
Just five years ago, San Benito High boys volleyball coach Luis
Espinoza didn’t know anything about volleyball, and he openly
admits it.
”
I didn’t know what a rotation was,
”
he said.
”
I didn’t know anything about boys’ volleyball.
”
Without much knowledge in the sport, SBHS boys volleyball head coach Luis Espinoza has picked up enough in his four years at the helm, and has the Balers on the brink of one of their best seasons in recent years
Just five years ago, San Benito High boys volleyball coach Luis Espinoza didn’t know anything about volleyball, and he openly admits it.
“I didn’t know what a rotation was,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about boys’ volleyball.”
So how did Espinoza, an SBHS graduate who took over the junior varsity football team in 2004-05, make the transition to boys’ volleyball from scratch that same year?
Well, it started out as a favor.
Following the departure of then-junior varsity boys volleyball coach Jennifer Beale, who left to coach a Division II college in Maryland, the team was suddenly in a bind, and in the middle of the season, no less.
Espinoza and Beale were friends at the time, and although her request came out of nowhere, Espinoza recognized the position she was in and decided to help out, figuring the favor would last only for the remainder of the season.
“It was a surprise,” Espinoza recalls. “She was in a bind. She needed someone to take over.
“I did it as a favor.”
So how did Espinoza, whose “passion” was in football, take over the helm of a sport he knew nothing about?
Well, he just so happened to be roommates with Jay Johnson, an SBHS graduate of 2000 who played on the boys’ volleyball team. Johnson, luckily, was available, and the two developed a mutual coaching tandem
“I did the paperwork. I did the team stuff, and he did the individual drills,” Espinoza said.
“What I knew was discipline, conditioning and pretty much how to talk with kids and how to work together as a team. And that’s what I worked on my half year (with the junior varsity).”
Espinoza didn’t try to play the know-it-all role as head coach in his half-year. He knew what he knew, which at the time wasn’t volleyball. But while others would have shied away from coaching an unknown sport, Espinoza decided to help out and find a way to make it work.
Heck, it was only for a half-year, right?
“They asked me to come back,” Espinoza said. “I was skeptical.”
Once varsity coach Hank Mao decided not to return the following season, the team was once again in a bind and in need of a coach. Espinoza signed on in January of 2006, leaving little time to prepare for the upcoming season. Said Espinoza, “The juniors on the team needed a coach.”
Following a year in which the Jon Crepeau-led Balers went 11-4 in the TCAL, 14-12 overall, Espinoza began to surround himself with volleyball knowledge.
Beale faxed drills and instructions from Maryland; Gilroy head coach Craig Martin helped out where he could; girls’ JV coach Maxine Cunningham, mentor Marlene Villegas and current boys JV coach Jennifer Andrade helped along the way; and even SBHS girls head coach Dean Askanas provided some pointers.
“He was very instrumental in helping me out,” Espinoza said of Askanas. In between two-a-days for football in the fall, Espinoza would sit in on Lady Balers practices in the gymnasium, taking notes.
“They had a lot of impact into where the program is now,” he said. “As soon as I walked into the program, I had a lot of support. I can’t say I did it on my own.
“The athletes I’ve had come through here have been a great help to me. You try to mold the kids and make them better, but what I think they did for me was make me a better coach.”
Senior right side Brian Hawks has been on the varsity for three years, and has watched the development of Espinoza as a coach practically from the start.
“My first year as a freshman, I could see he didn’t really know what to do,” Hawks said. “Now he knows how to help us adjust and pass better. He’s a good hitter and blocker, too.
“He’s doing really well this year helping us adjust.”
Senior outside hitter Erik Rodriguez has also been under Espinoza the past three seasons.
“He’s willing to listen and learn as a coach, which I think is important.”
Espinoza said he’s still learning as a coach, but it’s difficult to teach the dominance San Benito has displayed this season. The mutual coach-player tandem between Espinoza and the Balers have compiled a 9-0 record in the TCAL (Thursday’s match at Monterey took place after The Pinnacle’s press time), 18-7 overall.
More important, San Benito has yet to lose a set in league play, and with wins over Monterey and Gilroy next Tuesday at home, the Balers could very well be on the fast track toward a TCAL title and a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs, two things that haven’t occurred since 2001.
“When I first started as varsity coach, that was my goal,” Espinoza said. “I kind of pushed it. I pushed it a lot and it kind of backfired on me.”
With a different approach, Espinoza said he simply tries to keep the team together now, keep the focus. Attributing much of the team’s success to its year-round play for club volleyball teams – five of his seven seniors played club last offseason – Espinoza can’t get enough volleyball now.
Funny how a half-year favor turned into what could be a lifetime passion.
“I love it,” Espinoza said. “This sport exemplifies what it means to be a team. You have to have all six players on that court, communicating and playing together.
“As a coach, that’s what you strive for.”
