Head volleyball coach of both boys and girls programs, Iris Najera
Who are the coaches that coach your favorite high school team? The Coaches’ Corner Series puts a different coach each week through a obstacles course of questions to give a little more insight into these sideline warriors.
This week I get away from football and dig (see what I did there) into the volleyball world with Gahr volleyball coach Iris Najera. Najera was the Press-Telegram’s Dream Team boys coach of the year last spring.
PT: Coach, you had that great run last season with the boys to the CIF finals. What was your best run as a player?
IN: It brings me back to my days are Gahr, I was a junior, and this was before they had the libero, so I was the opposite hitter playing in the back row and we upset the No. 2 seed Mayfair in the first or second round. We went all the way to the semifinals and that was a fun run to be apart of as a player and I try to tell my girls that was the last run Gahr has had, my junior year.
PT: You’ve been around the game for a good amount of time. What are some of the biggest changes you have seen in the sport?
IN: Volleyball is a lot more specialized now. Fifteen years ago it used to be everybody played all around. Your big hitter could also play defense and your short person could also be a hitter and now it’s very specialized. It’s very rare when you see a talented front row player also in the back row. When you do see it it’s very special.
PT: You coach both the girls and boys programs at Gahr. Is it different coaching young men versus young women?
IN: It’s different. A couple years ago I probably didn’t expect it to be so different. It is a different sport. Dealing with young men is very different from dealing with young women. I’m having a fun time getting the two programs to work together and be a big family. Sometimes we have scrimmages and sometimes the girls help the boys and vice versa.
PT: Coach, are you a big sports fan?
IN: Yes I am. I’m a big sports fan. I don’t get to follow professional sports as much as I want to because I’m always at the gym at Gahr. My favorite sport to watch on TV is football and my favorite sport to watch live is baseball. I’m a huge baseball fan.
PT: Do you have favorite teams despite not being able to follow as closely as you like?
IN: I don’t, I just like watching talented athletes. I like when controversial athletes come onto the scene. Sometimes you root for them sometimes you don’t. That’s always fun. I like to see teams overcome adversity and I always relate that to my students at Gahr as well.
PT: Do you have any hobbies outside of volleyball?
IN: I do like traveling with my husband. We are probably going to go camp at Big Sur when season is over and we are planning a Europe trip after that.
PT: So you teach here?
IN: Yeah, I teach 9th grade health.
PT: What’s that like?
IN: That’s a lot of fun. The kids don’t fall asleep in our class because we are talking about tobacco and peer pressure and other examples. I have a fun time teach 13 and 14-year-olds about grown up stuff they need to know.
PT: Are you a tough teacher? Tough grader?
IN: I have to be because they are freshman. They have to learn. If I hold their hand and give them them second chances sophomore teachers won’t be happy with that.
PT: You went to Gahr and now you teach here. How has it changed?
IN: We have changed with the times, I think our athletic program has a good tradition. I know other teams in the area have improved and we are still us. We have 2,000 students and a lot of our competition have grown, 5,000 student populations. I know the hard work from the teaches is there and the passion for teaching is still there and with the students the kids are the same funny kids we get from Artesia, Norwalk and we get some off the bus from Bellflower and Compton.
PT: Now you played at Long Beach State. What was it like begin a college athlete and what memories do you have from that time?
IN: It was great. I wouldn’t be the person I am today or be in this position as a coach or teacher if I didn’t have the experience I had at Long Beach. I played for five years there and I made some life long friends. Some highlights as a player was winning league twice.
We always had a rivalry with Cal Poly and Santa Barbara so that one year beating them. Now it’s more of a rivalry with UCI but for us it was always those two. We went to Europe, that was my first time going. We took a nice trip to New York over Labor Day one year but I do have a lot of good memories.
PT: Last question is can you finish this sentence: The best thing about coaching your alma mater is…
IN: …is not having to adjust to the students because I was one of them so I know what’s it like. I know some of the struggles I went through, what my friends went through I know they are going through the same thing. I know these kids really well.