The boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams welcomed new head coach Alex Weaver. Currently instructing the boys’ club team in their spring season, Weaver will lead the girls in the fall.
Weaver’s experience with volleyball began as a freshman in high school. He later played Division I at Penn State for four years. Weaver then played on a club team for one year. Aside from youth volunteer coaching, this will be Weaver’s first time as a head coach.
“That’s part of why I’m excited to do it. I’ve never done something like this. I’ve been around the game a lot, but not as a coach,” Weaver said. “So I think this is, for me, a great learning opportunity as well.”
Along with coaching the boys’ club team this season, Weaver also ran Kahoots, a program that helps middle school players develop their volleyball skills. This year was the first year a separate boys Kahoots was held.
Junior Aiden Lin helped Weaver to organize boys Kahoots. Lin was a manager for the Conestoga girls’ team last season and is currently a co-captain for the boys’ team, which has been playing in its varsity pilot season since the beginning of March. He believes that this season is instrumental in preparing the team for next year, when boys volleyball will officially become a school varsity team.
“We’ve seen some promising growth among our members in the matches that we’ve had. We’ve been keeping up with the other teams and with more improvement (and) passion. I think we will be at the level of varsity sport next year, and we’ll be competing at a high level,” Lin said. “He’s (Weaver’s) going to help us improve in the way that he knows how to.”
Weaver is eager to see the team’s progress and is motivated by the establishment of a boys’ team at Conestoga. He encourages anyone interested in playing to participate this year to get a sense of what the boys team will be like.
“We’ll take everyone who wants to give it a shot, because now’s the best time to do it, before we’re varsity, and see what it’s about,” Weaver said.
Sophomore Katie Gelber was a member of the girls’ varsity team last fall. Gelber believes Weaver will bring a fresh outlook to the team as well as continue long-standing team traditions.
“He’ll definitely contribute new things, but he’s going to involve some old ideas and traditions,” Gelber said.
Weaver’s focus for the girls’ team is to win the Central League Championship. Along the way, he wants to help the team improve to work their way up.
“The goal is to win,” Weaver said. “From there we’ll figure out what we need to do to achieve that.”
Grace Hu can be reached at [email protected].
