This year, there are many new faces in the Palo Alto High School athletic department. One of those new faces is head volleyball coach Daniele Desiderio. Desiderio took over after former head coach Dave Winn stepped in favor of the head coach position at Mountain View High School. Unlike Winn, Desiderio still plays volleyball while coaching. He plays volleyball professionally, and has competed in many countries around the globe.

Desiderio has achieved a lot in his professional volleyball career. However, the achievement that he is most proud of came when he was on a junior professional team.
“When I was nineteen I was named ‘Best Player of the World’; that was something very huge,” Desiderio said. “For the junior team, we won the world championship with Italy, and I was named best player. If you can imagine how many people [were] playing volleyball at that time, it was really nice to be named best player of the world. [Being] successful gave me a lot of confidence in my playing.”

Desiderio values spending time with family as well as continuing his passion for volleyball. Although Desiderio plays and coaches volleyball for a living, he still has time to spend with his wife Olta and son Gabriele.

“[The volleyball life] is kind of a strange life because you are starting when other people [normally] finish working,” Desiderio said. “But I have plenty of time [to spend] with my son [who] is now four years old… Most of the time the [professional volleyball] leagues are pretty short, [about] six or seven months, so I have five months off. Of course [during the months off], you have to practice, but you can adjust your schedule. You can go early in the morning and spend more time with your family.”

Desiderio has traveled around the world and experienced many different cultures throughout his professional volleyball career. Japan was one of his favorite places to play, mostly because of the spectator attitude.

“It was really nice playing in Japan just because it was so different from the rest of the world,” Desiderio said. “We had 15 to 20 thousand people watching the games, so it was a nice experience because it’s always better as a player when you have many people watching your games.”

However, some of the cultural differences in the different countries that Desiderio traveled to were problematic for his family. The attitude towards women in Iran was especially challenging, because the strict rules made it more difficult for Desiderio to spend time with his wife.

“Iran was difficult at the beginning because my wife was not allowed to come into the gym,” Desiderio said. “They have rules there [because] they [don’t] want women coming inside the gym[s]. So, it was kind of strange, because [my family] had waited so long to watch the match and then they couldn’t watch me. So, for a while, we were separated.”

Players nearly always sustain a few serious injuries during their careers, and Desiderio was no exception. Ankle, knee and back injuries are common in Desiderio’s profession, and he has experienced all of them.

“I’ve gotten a lot of injuries [playing volleyball],” Desiderio said. “It’s part of the job, you know. It’s very bad when it happens to you, but if you talk to the other players, everybody has one or two bad injuries. [As volleyball players], we force our bodies to do things at the maximum level that they’re not used to doing… I always had professional people to help me come back, so it was fine every time.”

Now in the United States, Desiderio recently received a green card, a permanent residence card that allows a person to live and work in the U.S., in order to play in the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP). The process of getting his green card was difficult, but was made easier by his volleyball prowess.

“[Getting a green card] was a nightmare,” Desiderio said. “[My lawyers told me] that it was a lot easier to get a green card for ‘Extraordinary Ability’. [The rest of the process] was very difficult, because you have to show everything that you’ve done in your career. You have to bring every article, the original page with the name of the newspaper article and the date, translated into English from wherever I was… The rules are very strict, so I was happy to be inside this small ‘Extraordinary Ability’ category. [They told me that] I was actually the first one in history to get a green card for [‘Extraordinary Ability’ in] volleyball in the USA.”

Desiderio’s AVP partner is is David McKenzie, who played volleyball for America in the last Olympics. Desiderio and McKenzie have played together and won many different tournaments in the Bay Area.

“We also have won indoor and sand [tournaments] together here in Palo Alto,” Desiderio said. “We are good friends and we try to play without any stress.”

As for his coaching style, Desiderio believes in encouraging his players while also giving them constructive criticism to better their play.

“I like positive coaching,” Desiderio said. “I like to always have a team with full energy. I [have] played [in] several finals in my career, [so I know] how the energy of a team makes a huge impact on the game. I also like to give the players detailed [tips] on how they can improve their skills.”

Co-captain Jade Schoenberger (‘15) believes that Desiderio was a great choice as coach for the Paly volleyball team and likes his coaching style.

“Daniele is very positive,” Schoenberger said. “I think that he was a good change-up, knowing that Dave [Winn] was not going to be here this upcoming season. He brings a lot of new drills to practice, which is interesting with his Italian background, and he pushes us to be the best.”

Although coaching the Paly team takes up the majority of his time, Desiderio works as an assistant coach for Stanford men’s volleyball team.

“I just started two weeks ago [as an assistant coach for Stanford], Desiderio said. “I actually helped them a little bit last year, but it was an unofficial position because I was already on a visa for another club. Now that I have my green card, I can start with Stanford. It is of course something amazing to be over there, and I am really enjoying it.”

Desiderio finds many differences in coaching men’s and women’s volleyball, but really enjoys coaching at Paly.

“I played at the highest level on the men’s side, so sometimes it’s easier for me to give [the Stanford men’s team] tips because [their game] is closer to [mine],” Desiderio said. “On the other side, I really enjoy coaching the girls at Paly. All of the girls put all of their effort in from the beginning and they do whatever I am asking them.”

Schoenberger emphasized how Desiderio’s professional background is helpful for the team, as he can show them what he cannot tell them.

“It’s nice [that Daniele plays professionally] because he can demonstrate everything perfectly,” Schoenberger said. “Whatever he is trying to explain, if no one understands, he can just do it himself.”

Co-captain Molly Fogarty (`15) agreed that Desiderio’s experience has given the team a new perspective on volleyball.

“It’s interesting having such an accomplished coach,” Fogarty said. “He knows a lot about volleyball and has played and coached at many different levels which makes him very respectable. He knows many different strategies that work and that many of us have not done before which is really interesting.”

Desiderio does encounter some difficulties with coaching at the high school level.

“When you are coaching young players, you have to [deal with their] parents,” Desiderio said. “I was really lucky to find the right parents and the right players. I think that you are honest with people and try to help them improve, there is nothing that they can argue with you [about].

In the future, Desiderio sees himself staying in Palo Alto with the Paly volleyball program. He wants to transform the Paly volleyball program into something that reflects his own approach.

“I would like to keep coaching at Paly for a long time,” Desiderio said. “I live really close and my family [loves] Palo Alto. I am really enjoy[ing] this year. I will try to keep [coaching at Paly] and I am trying to develop my own private club this year… This year was a transition for me because most of the [Paly] program was built for the previous coach. My goal is for Paly to play according to my style of volleyball.”

Although playing and coaching volleyball has its downsides, Desiderio appreciates the positive aspects of his job cannot see himself doing anything else.

“The benefit [of playing and coaching volleyball] is that I am doing what I like, something that makes me happier,” Desiderio said. “I’ve been playing volleyball since I was 6 years old, and I was professional when I was 15, so volleyball is my life. I like being [in America], because it gives me a chance to be in one place in coach. As a professional coach in Europe, you have to travel the same as the players. When I knew that I could build something [in America] in volleyball for my family, I came here right away.”