Now entering his 28th season at COAST, Jimmy Gekas has been embedded in the San Diego volleyball culture since his early days of attending UCSD in the fall of 1988. Prior to this, Jimmy grew up in the Los Angeles area, attending Arcadia High School and winning a CIF Volleyball Championship in his senior year.
While at UCSD, Jimmy played volleyball everyday, often scheduling classes so he could attend the daily open gym from 12-2. It was here that he met Ozhan, Luis, and a few more future girls club volleyball coaches. After receiving his Economics degree from UCSD, Jimmy went on to help coach boys varsity volleyball at San Dieguito High School and then Torrey Pines High School.
The high school volleyball coaching opportunity was a great start and Jimmy soon moved on to coaching girls club volleyball at COAST back in the fall of 1994. COAST only had 3 courts and a construction trailer outside as its “office” at the time. Nonetheless, Jimmy assisted 3 teams in his first year at the club before landing his first head coaching job for the 1995/1996 club season. Throughout the years, Jimmy has coached girls club teams at every age group from the 12 and under all the way up to the top 18 and under teams. The highlights of this journey include a gold medal at the 2014 Girls Junior National Championships for the 18 Open division, silver medal for 13 Open in 2016 and bronze medals for 18 Open in 2015 and 17 Open in 2022.
In addition to the team training, Jimmy loves to teach the technical pieces of the game to players, both in practices and in lessons. While the team accolades are valuable and impressive, Jimmy feels that the improvement of each individual player, both as an athlete and a person, is of greater importance. It is because of this passion to help the young athletes in whatever way he can, that Jimmy has remained coaching at COAST for 28 years.
In the small amount of time that Jimmy is not at the club coaching, he loves spending time with his amazing dog Simcoe, who you have quite possibly seen in the gym volleying the ball back and forth or greeting you as you walk into the lobby.
Jimmy is also a professional photographer with a love for the mountains and desert. And while he cannot wait to go on road trips to visit his favorite places to camp and hike, Jimmy also loves to photograph the sport of volleyball. Most of the action shots on the lobby’s tv are his and you may see him at some of the larger events with his camera if he is not coaching.