When Greta Sohn (’11) realized that she had grown tired of playing volleyball after four and a half years on the court, she racked her brain for a way to stay involved, so she decided to coach.

Sohn retraced her steps to Jordan Middle School, where she first played volleyball, and coached the girls’ sixth grade B team last fall season. Now, she helps coach an Under-11 Developmental team for the Palo Alto Elite club.

Sohn is not the only student at Palo Alto High School who decided to expand her sport repertoire for coaching; other students work as assistant coaches, manage clinics or classes, or serve as head coaches of younger teams.

As the head coach of the B team, Sohn incorporated many of the techniques she learned from former coaches to teach fundamentals. She teaches the girls the basics in fun ways so they become second nature.

“I tell them that it’s fine to make mistakes, just as long as they are giving 100 percent effort,” Sohn said. “I like being able to tell the girls what techniques they should use to pass or serve, because they listen to me, just how my coaches have taught me in the past.”

One of the girls on Sohn’s U-11 Development team, Eva Herr age nine, likes that she can look up to high school age coaches. Herr notices a different energy with her younger coaches than her older coaches.

“They’re a lot of fun, they’re a lot more fun. The older coaches are like, do this, do that, because [the younger coaches] are still growing and still want to have fun,” Herr said.

Sohn knows that her team needs to have fun in order to learn, so she makes an effort to ensure that the girls have a good time at each practice.

“You need to be able to communicate well, to enjoy the sport you’re coaching, and make the kids enjoy it, too,” Sohn said. “At such a young age, it should not only be about competition, it should be about having fun at the same time.”

Grace Harris (’11) and Gayle Schumacher (’11) worked as assistant coaches for a U-6 girls’ American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) team during the fall season of their sophomore year. Initially, they took on the job so that they could earn community service hours while also spending time together, but by the season’s end, the season had turned into a learning experience for both Schumacher and Harris.

Harris saw her coaches as role models and hoped to have the same relationships with the girls on her AYSO team.

Schumacher and Harris found motivating the team to be easy, but keeping the girls focused and on task was another story.

“Running drills don’t really work for five-year-olds, but they end up learning a lot from scrimmages and games like cat and mouse,” Harris said.

Throughout the course of the season, while the girls giggled and raced around, Schumacher found that her communication skills improved. Making sure that the team paid attention, stayed happy and wanted to play turned into a life lesson about the importance of communication.

“I just learned how to be better around little kids,” Schumacher said. “Little girls are sometimes irrational. Just in terms of being able to calm them down and make them feel better when they’re crying; it’s people skills.”

Schumacher loved seeing the girls grow together as friends and players, especially when one girl would improve suddenly. During a game, one of the shyer, quieter girls scored her first goal of the season.

“She was so excited that she had scored a goal and so proud of herself,” Schumacher said. “I think that was the best moment because she looked so excited. It was absolutely the cutest thing ever.”

Working in the same club as Sohn, Ke’ili Deal (’10) assistant coaches for the U-16 Power team at Palo Alto Elite.

Deal has not seen her schoolwork suffer because of coaching, but she does not always feel up to tackling a stack of homework late at night after coming home from an all day tournament.

Nevertheless, the performances that her players put on during the tournaments make Deal’s time well spent. Deal wants her team to stand out as tough, but also wants them to be remembered as respectful.

“I try and let them know that they are representing our club when at tournaments and people will remember if they are polite and sportsmanlike, but also if they are the kind of team that works hard,” Deal said. “I think that it motivates them to try harder, they all have teams that they look up to, there is no reason that they shouldn’t be looked up to by other teams.”

Since Deal coaches sophomores in high school, keeping them on task during practice is not a challenge, but she runs drills that require the girls to concentrate and focus intensely. Deal learned patience from explaining drills and techniques to her team and that coaching is not the easiest job.

“I have learned that I have to be patient and I’ve gotten to see the other side of sports that I hadn’t seen yet,” Deal said. “It gives me much more appreciation for my old coaches.”

Marissa Florant (’10) has discovered that she also has a newfound respect for her coaches after her experience with the Palo Alto Volleyball Club (PAVBC).

“I have learned to respect my coaches more because I now see practice from a coach’s perspective and not only a player’s,” Florant said.

About a year ago, Kevin Coleman, a head coach for PAVBC, approached Florant about coaching for the club. Coleman had coached Florant in multiple sports, including soccer and volleyball, and saw her as a dedicated player with an exciting personality.

“I’ve watched her play sports, I know she’s very passionate, and she has a lot of personality and she relates well to people,” Coleman said. “I just thought I’d give it a try and see if she had the time.”

Since Florant wants to focus on her own volleyball career at this point in time, she does not have enough time to commit to a full-time coaching position. Florant has played volleyball for seven years and played for Paly’s varsity volleyball team this season. She often fills in for Coleman and helps lead clinics that the PAVBC puts on. Coleman has found that he can rely on Florant to fill in for him when he cannot make it to practice and she can lead practice on her own without help from him.

“It’s to the point now where sometimes, like last week, I couldn’t do something, so I just showed up, helped her set up the nets, and left, and she ran the whole practice,” Coleman said.

To pass on her knowledge of the game, Florant creates drills that focus on basic skills, but are also fun for the girls. Florant finds that her upbeat attitude and creativity help to motivate the girls into trying their best while having fun, and are good tools to teach the girls new skills.

Florant sums up the majority of the coaches’ views on their favorite aspects of coaching, and why they devote so much of their time and effort into coaching.

“My favorite part of coaching is passing on my knowledge and skill to someone else,” Florant said. “I feel as though I am passing a torch for someone else to hopefully succeed in the game like I have.”