Sam is a COAST alum, born and raised in San Diego. She attended Francis Parker high school (class of 2014) and played varsity volleyball there. She served as a captain her senior year and received the CIF sportsmanship medal. Her junior and senior years, the team won back to back State Championships. Sam also played club at COAST for 3 years. Her 16s team won COAST’s first Open gold medal at Nationals under the leadership of JJ van Niel, whom she considers highly influential on her coaching style and specialties.
Sam started coaching at age 19 with Parker’s varsity boys indoor and beach volleyball teams under the mentorship of volleyball legend John Herman. She focused on training liberos and outsides and also kept statistics. While coaching, Sam attended the University of San Diego, where she graduated in 3.5 years with a 4.0 GPA. She also worked for USD’s women’s volleyball team inputting their live stats.
In 2018, Sam began coaching at COAST on the boys side. She has been fortunate enough to work with Coach Jake and the 18-1s. Sam uses her own stat system which she created to deliver specialized reports. With the help of Coach Berkeley, she has evolved her system to both stat and scout, allowing her to relay and adapt strategy in-game.
Sam has spent the past 2 years in Austria, where she taught English and completed a Fulbright scholarship. She also assistanted and statted for an Austrian men’s team, where she got to work with middles and setters, and on offensive strategy. Sam has remained connected to her COAST family by providing scouting reports from abroad, and she will continue doing so as she plans on returning to Europe to teach.