• Replaces Suni Brown as head coach
The volleyball program at Star Valley High School has a new head coach as Kalin Schwab was approved by the LCSD No. 2 Board at the most recent meeting. Schwab is entering his eighth year with the district with much of his experience coming at Star Valley Middle School. He was the sophomore coach on Suni Brown’s staff this past season. Schwab has been around some volleyball titans while learning the ropes.
“When I first came back to the valley I was at the middle school under Coach [Brandy] Taylor and the head coach at the high school was Coach [Chad] Teichert,” he told SVI. “Then I coached eighth grade and Coach [Blake] Peterson was the head coach. I’ve coached under Teichert, Peterson, Toomer and Brown and now I’ll do my thing. It’s a little intimidating following that coaching tree. But I think I’ve learned from each one of them. I’m into the numbers of the game and I’m strategic-minded and hope to use that.”
Schwab’s older sister, Shay, was a standout for the Lady Braves and he fell in love with the game while traveling to watch her play.
“I have season tickets to the Utah Utes and have tickets for the new pro league in Salt Lake,” he said. “I went to the national volleyball championship in Tampa last year. I just love the game of volleyball.”
He takes over a team that has a strong tradition. The Lady Braves have advanced to the state tournament for the past ten seasons including the past seven in the 4A classification. But Schwab wants to have more post-season success.
“I would like to break that glass ceiling; we haven’t won that title at the 4A class yet,” he said. “It’s going to take a special group but I think we have the ability to do it. But it’s going to take a lot of fight and we’ll have to embrace the grind.”
With less than 100 days before their first competition Schwab outlined what the plan for his program.
“We need to hit the weight room this summer,” he added. “We need to hit some camps and figure out our identity. We have some pretty impressive people coming out. “We have some coaches from Utah Valley University coming and will be there June 9-11.”
He added that the concepts from middle school are the same as they are at the upper echelon of competition, just done more efficiently.
“It’s a lot of volleyball but we tackled the same things in 7th grade as we do in high school. But we’ll have a chance to learn from these coaches and it will be worth the time for these players. Incoming 7th through incoming seniors.”
Currently former players McKenna Johnson and Emmy Barnes will be in the sidelines as part of Schwab’s staff.
“I want to continue to build the culture of volleyball,” he concluded. “I want the people to love the sport and those that play, I want them to come back and help us build this sport. I want people to come out and support us and help us see what the team can do.”
