Parker Warriors’ new volleyball coach

“It’s my sport,” R. Parker says

Robyn Parker is excited to be taking part once again in a sport she has had a passion for since she was little.

“I love volleyball,” the new varsity head coach for the Del Norte High Warriors said. “It’s my sport.”

Parker was the head track and field coach at Del Norte last season and is a teacher at the school.

She has played volleyball since she was a kid and excelled  on club teams and at high school in Hamilton City.

While she played three other sports, Parker said she was always drawn to volleyball and enjoyed it the most. As a junior, she received conference honors and was already receiving interest from colleges. But Parker suffered a torn Achilles tendon “that pretty much ended my hopes of playing,” in college.

But the love of volleyball never left her. As only an 18-year-old, she was the freshman coach in Hamilton City.

When she was asked to take over the program at Del Norte, Parker said it was an opportunity she could not pass up.

Co-coaches Pablo and Debbie Lorenzi resigned after last season. The pair had been involved off and on in the program for a number of years and were two major components in helping the team to 21 straight conference titles from 1989 to 2009.

Last season, the squad took second in the Big 5 Conference with a 5-3 record and finished 10-12 overall.

Parker said that while it is a bit intimidating to take over a program with such high expectations each year, she is excited about the challenge and continuing the team’s strong play.

She has already begun a summer training program for the players to get ready for this fall and said their enthusiasm and interest in the sport has been encouraging.

When she asked her players when they would like practice  to start, the girls said 8 a.m. would be perfect.

“For them wanting to get up that early shows a lot to me,” Parker said. “They want to get better.”

Parker said that a key to a successful volleyball squad is “teamwork.”

“A lot of volleyball is about trusting your team,” she said.

She said the squad has the talent in place.  If they can work as a cohesive unit, be on the same page and keep errors to a minimum, they have a chance at success.