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November 17,2023

Inside the Mind of a Volleyball Coach: An Exclusive Interview of Coach Brown

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 By Song Kim, Celine Shih ('25)

As the 23-24 JV Girls' volleyball season came to an end, we decided to interview Dr. Brown, the Head of School, who stepped up to become the JV Girls' volleyball coach this year. He worked alongside Coach Hebe to plan practice drills and lead each volleyball practice with incredible enthusiasm and dedication. We were astonished by the growth the volleyball girls showed during many of the qualifying games, and were eager to know what Dr. Brown thought about this season's games and the girls' performances.

The primary goal and objective this year was to unite as a team rather than solely relying on individual efforts. At the end of the season, Dr. Brown witnessed the girls's achievements in improved communication, heightened team spirit, and mutual encouragement, which resulted in astounding performances. By continuously showing significant progress, the team even took the only undefeated school, MAC, to the third set of a game. 

Throughout the whole season, there were moments and achievements that particularly stood out for Coach Brown. When our volleyball girls played against IIS for their first qualifying game, the two teams engaged in intense rallies which persisted and created a nerve-racking atmosphere. When IIS came back strong unexpectedly and took the second set, the AST girls started to panic and stressed about not winning. Nevertheless, the girls quickly unified and concentrated on the task at hand. Ultimately, the AST girls won the game with a close score of 15 to 13. Coach Brown admired the way the girls came together as a team during the stressful challenge and persevered. Another instance was when AST played ICA and dominated the court. The girls weren't overly satisfied with the win knowing they could have played better. This was gratifying for Coach Brown because it showed that the girls were developing into a team that did not just care about winning, but also cared about constantly improving and playing well together. Coach Brown realized the girls were pushing and challenging themselves to be better, which made him very proud. 

The team's remarkable communication and teamwork were evident on the court. Everyone showed a lot of positivity in supporting each other. Coach Brown noticed that unlike previous seasons, this year's team displayed a consistent huddle, giving each other encouraging words, even when they were behind on points. Coach Brown also lauded the team for their sportsmanship and attitude towards both victories and defeats. Coach Brown emphasized how AST's volleyball team was the “classiest” of all. The girls demonstrated fantastic sportsmanship by playing hard, but fair. Even when the team won the game, the girls celebrated their wins without showing off to anyone and acted respectful towards the losing team. 

Coach Brown’s decision to step into the shoes of a volleyball coach came from wanting to help the girls. Last year, he watched many games the girls played and noticed their performance in the tournament. From his observations, the girls possessed many individual skills, but it seemed like they were not playing as a team. That was when Coach Brown decided he wanted to support these girls to build a sense of team and pride in each player. He also wanted them to greatly improve their skills under pressure and this meant, at times, practicing the same drills over and over again. Coach Brown believes by practicing drills over and over, it builds confidence in each player to properly execute in a game situation.

Throughout the season, Coach Brown was not the only one with the task of coaching the girls. He was working alongside Coach Hebe. Coach Hebe had very technical ideas and thoughts, and paired with Coach Brown's leadership and motivation, the two coaches worked well together. Both coaches brought strengths, made the coaching of the team stronger and paved the way for the girls' many improvements shown this season. 

The girls experienced both victories and losses. Sometimes, the losses are hard to process. As an experienced athlete, Coach Brown admits that sometimes losses are hard to take, especially when scores are close. However, Coach Brown suggests the best thing to do is get over the initial sadness, reflect on the positive takeaways and successes from the game, and focus on what can be learned from the experience. There is always an opportunity to learn, whether you win or lose, and to think about the improvements you can make the next time. This year, even in games they won, the JV girls always tried to see how they could get even better in the next game. 

The girls had the best volleyball season ever, and that is all thanks to Coach Brown and Coach Hebe's guidance. They can’t wait for the next!