From sneakers to whistles: East Mountain volleyball players learn the ropes of coaching

SANDIA PARK — High school volleyball players are used to taking directions from the sideline. But inside the humid gym at the Vista Grande Community Center this week, the roles have flipped, and the lessons in patience are coming fast.

“Kids are very stressful,” laughed Maddy Case, an incoming junior varsity player at East Mountain High School, reflecting on her shift from player to coach. “It made me very grateful for my coach.”

Case is one of several East Mountain varsity and upper-level junior varsity players spending their summer mornings trading their sneakers for whistles. They are anchoring the school’s annual three-day youth volleyball camp, running through Wednesday, which serves as both an introduction to the sport for local children and a foundational trial-by-fire for the high school’s own athletes.

The camp splits its focus to span generations of players. Morning sessions are dedicated to elementary-aged children learning to move their bodies and build fundamental coordination. In the afternoon, the intensity shifts to a fast-paced, dynamic camp for middle schoolers and an incoming freshman class of 14 players, which includes a handful of boys from the school’s boys’ volleyball program.

For first-year varsity head coach Claire Rose, the camp is the crucial first step in a larger blueprint to put East Mountain athletics on the map.

“We are working really hard on building this East Mountain volleyball culture,” Rose said. “We want girls who are here who are positive, who are supporting each other, and I want that to be injected at a very young age.”

Rose, a former competitive bodybuilder, is aiming to revolutionize the school’s approach to the sport. Following the youth camp, she is launching a dedicated summer weightlifting program for the girls — a standard she already established while running the boys’ (club volleyball) off-season training. The summer will culminate in a major program milestone: a 10-player trip to Colorado State University for an out-of-state team camp, where the Timberwolves will live in dorms, eat campus food, and compete against talent from across the country.

But before hitting the college circuit or the weight room, the high schoolers must first learn how to guide a gym full of energetic children who have never touched a volleyball.

“There’s definitely an element of them recognizing that coaching is not that easy,” Rose said of her high school volunteers. “How do I teach it to a young person who’s maybe never even touched a volleyball before? I think it really allows them to find patience within themselves.”

For some, the experience is a full-circle moment. Calla DiMaio grew up attending this exact camp before rising through the ranks to play for East Mountain. Now, she is the one demonstrating passing postures and cheering on the next generation.

“Growing up, I didn’t have the best confidence in myself within volleyball,” DiMaio said. “This is what really got it started, really started the spark… I want them to love volleyball as much as I do.”

That legacy is exactly what Rose is banking on as she looks toward the upcoming fall season and beyond.

“I want every girl who plays volleyball at East Mountain to know that they’re building a legacy,” Rose said. “They are spending their time dedicating their summer to help build the legacy of East Mountain Volleyball.”