While most people think of volleyball
as a girls’ sport, first year boys’ volleyball coach
Ian Huffaker can tell you from first hand experience
that that perception is wrong. “People
are used to seeing the girls’ game and they don’t
realize the speed of the boys’ game,” he said.
Huffaker, who played volleyball
at Little Rock High School in Southern
California and in intramurals at
UCSB, stepped in to replace Coach Mio
Nishimura after she took a leave of absence.
Taking over a struggling program is
never easy, especially when you have to sell
both the players and potential fans on your program.
In order to build the program, Huffaker
said he has to get the word out and let people
know there is a boys’ volleyball team, it’s going
to take some building, but it’s a good sport
and that people need to try out and support
it. He said he’s hoping to get more basketball players involved since the skill set is so similar.
Although the team didn’t win
many games this season, Huffaker saw
growth. “Absolutely, lots of individual
improvement in the players,” he said.
Huffaker said two juniors are showing
future promise. Felipe Hernandez, the
varsity team’s captain, has shown extreme
promise in all aspects of the sport. “He
works really hard and is there every day,” he
said. Alex Hernandez has developed into a
real offensive player, according to Huffaker.
The lone senior on the team, Teddy
Ibarra, provides stability to the team. As an
experienced veteran, Ibarra helped other
members in areas that they needed help in.
He was also “a good leader for the team” as
Huffaker stated. Ibarra, like his coach, plans
on continuing his playing career in college.
Since the team only loses one player
to graduation, there’s reason to be guardedly
optimistic about next year, and Huffaker is
already looking ahead. He plans on working
on his players’ speed and jumping in the off
season to get them ready to compete next year.