This is a production of SDPB.

We've spent the last few years highlighting football and basketball with tales from the Gridiron and Tales from the hardwood.

But tonight we debut a new installment to the high school sports series.

Since being sanctioned in 1982, volleyball has seen significant growth in South Dakota, both in level of play and popularity.

It's a sport that has become a staple of high school athletics in our state.

I'm Nate Wek and welcome to Parker.

This is tales from the net.

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Tonight's show is all about the leaders who mold our volleyball players.

The coaches.

We're going to share three stories with you in this program that highlight the stories around a few of our coaches in South Dakota.

But before we do that, we need to take a moment to mention one of the all time greats who called this gym and Parker home for so many years.

Jill Christiansen coached volleyball for 36 seasons and became the winningest coach in state history with 837 career victories.

Her teams qualified for the state tournament 14 times throughout her tenure, and she added a state championship in 1990 to her resume as well.

Jill retired from coaching in 2019, but she's still active in the high school volleyball scene as an official today.

Her resume extends well beyond the walls of this gym.

She helped lay the foundation for volleyball in South Dakota and set a bar for other schools to aim for when building their programs.

She's a true pioneer of the game.

This December, Parker will hold a ceremony to honor Jill Christianson, along with legendary Parker boys basketball coach Gail Hoover and the renaming of this floor to Hoover.

Christiansen Court.

Our first story tonight highlights a coach who knows Jill Christianson well.

Jean O'Hara from Chester.

Jean has built Chester into a class B volleyball powerhouse.

And it's not something that happened overnight.

Chester's success as an example of hard work, commitment and a strong culture.

But as you'll see, volleyball isn't the only passion in Jean's life.

Let's head up to Chester and check out the Harmony with the Fliers program.

When you think of the Chester Fliers, volleyball is one of the first sports that seems to come to mind.

The success is there with numerous state tournament appearances and three state championships in the past decade.

One common key to the secret recipe has been coach Geno Harrop, who this season is coaching in her 25th year.

25 years has kind of gone by in a blur.

It goes by really fast.

Quarter for century.

Hadn't thought about it in that regard.

It's it's been fantastic.

Honestly, I truly get to do what I love every single day.

And I'm so thankful for all of the, students and student athletes that, you know, I've got to work with and enjoy.

So I feel pretty, privileged to be able to have done that for that length of time.

And Thursday we are on the road.

Imagine our picks.

It is third.

We really have to work, to be able to maintain that level.

I think it's part of it is longevity and staff.

You know, Coach Hodge and I have worked together for every single one of those 25 years, and I think that makes a huge difference.

I think even when you look at some of the strength of some of our programs across the state, and you look at the strength of a Northwestern or Warner, it's the same coaching staff that's been working with those kids for that length of time.

And I think that builds some stability in the program.

I think it builds trust amongst your players.

And so I think that, of course, helps a lot.

I think the level of play, you know, that maybe we kind of, I hate to say demand, but maybe that we expect our players to be I think, helped that.

I think that we have our players involved in our youth programs so involved, that when these kids were, you know, third, fourth and fifth graders, they wanted to be the older volleyball players.

Jean's passions in life are a bit different than you see with most high school coaches.

While some coaches teach history, government or math, Jean spends her time in the music room to honor Dig to NEA.

Just back and forth.

You're not going to move your hand, you're just going to switch strings with that finger right?

First finger on both of them.

So 1011.

And.

It's kind of an unusual combination.

And pending on the chat I'm wearing, I tend to be the only music teacher in the volleyball coaches room, and I tend to be the only volleyball coach in the music teacher's room.

But I love them both dearly.

And I really would not feel, you know, complete as a human being if I wasn't able to be doing both of them.

Well, I sort of taken piano lessons when I was in kindergarten.

Believe it or not, I started taking them from, some nuns at a convent, and it was a terrifying, actually.

But then, when I only did that for a couple of years, and my mom was very musical, and I took piano lessons from my mom, and my mom taught piano lessons out of our home as a kid.

There was always extra students getting off the bus after school and taking piano lessons.

And so, you know, it is something I've always loved and something I've always been involved in.

You know, it's it's fun.

Every single day at my classroom is fun.

I often joke around with them that, you know, your algebra is important.

You know, calculus is important to, you know, your sciences are important, but you may not be doing those.

When you're 40 and 50 years old, you're still going to be singing.

Being a good musician is really not unlike being a good volleyball player.

There's so many intricate little things that the tiny things make you better, and when you can consistently do those little things better, you are going to get better as a whole and your groove is going to be better.

And I'm equally as demanding, you know, in the choir room as as I am on a volleyball court.

Volleyball debuted in Chester during the 1985 86 season, back when it was a winter sport.

The head coach at that time was Jean's father, Steve.

Well, I played volleyball in the service and, they had no one else.

And John Peterson, who was the superintendent, asked me if I'd be interested.

And I told him, sure, I'd like to give it a try anyhow.

And then took off from there, or did a lot different, you know, now they have rally scoring.

You know, back then we had to be serving for you can score a point.

You go five, ten minutes without anybody scoring.

So one major improvement that they made.

I mean basically we ran like for two or orphans back and over back in the day, and now they try to take to a more complicated with no middle hitting and so forth.

And now they've you can hit from anywhere.

You know, my mom and dad are our biggest fans.

They they come to every game if they can.

And I always get to talk to them afterwards.

And there are I love it because there's things, dad, you know, still see it, that whether I see him or I don't, he will point them out.

And we have a lot of really good, lively volleyball discussions.

And I'm we'll be forever grateful for those discussions that we get to have.

Dad always has thoughts.

He still has thoughts, and I'd love to hear them.

Well, I throw out suggestions sometimes you.

And sometimes she does, but I throw them out there anyhow.

Oh, makes me proud.

You know, things that I graders have mentioned.

The instill in the kids and so forth.

And this year continue that and improve dramatically.

There's a lot better job than I did with them.

Make me proud.

I just love being a Chester flier.

I came in eighth grade, so I haven't been here like everyone else, but it feels like I have been here my whole life, so it's just pretty awesome that our environments like that.

Honestly means a lot, a lot to me to be a Chester flier.

I love the team.

Everyone's so supportive and, like, they're loving my family, so it means a lot to me.

It means everything.

I mean, ever since.

Ever since we're a little, we always, like, look forward to volleyball.

We have such a good tradition here in South, so I think it just means everything to be here now and be a senior.

It's everything that everyone hopes for when they come to Chester Elementary.

They're just looking forward to being a part of volleyball so you can be your best friend.

But she's also going to be the one that puts you on days where you feel like you can't get any everything.

And so, like, you have that mix with her and you know, you're able to go in her office, you know, like bring for that whenever you need to.

But you're also when you put your shoes on here, she's going to make sure you work hard and she just make sure everyone like you take the time value for yourself.

And so I feel we kind of do a good job at that.

She doesn't have to do that as much as she used to, because we're all so good with a lot of those things like that.

It's an honor to be here.

You know, I think upon graduating, I'm not sure anyone ever makes it a plan that they think they're going to be back in the school.

You know, that they maybe attended.

And it just it makes me proud to be able to represent this building.

Now, as an employee, as a coach, as a mentor to, you know, young people in this building, to share my love of, you know, the music and musical arts and volleyball with young people.

There are always challenges that coaches have to deal with.

Some of those challenges can be minor, but others can be much bigger.

The toughest challenges are those that are unexpected.

For Sarah Tucker of Douglas, an incident occurred during the early portion of this season that put volleyball on the backburner.

Volleyball has been my passion since I was young.

I started playing in middle school, and then I went on to play collegiate ball at National American University and then also here on university.

And then after that I started coaching in 2005, and I had some really great mentors throughout my coaching years, and this is my 20th year coaching now.

My name is Sarah Tucker and I'm the head volleyball coach at Douglas High School.

It's crazy to look back at all the girls that I've coached there.

They're having kids of their own right now, and I've coached some of their little ones and little skills clinics and things, so it's really neat.

It's a good, full circle moment.

And my club team, I've been able to coach one of my previous coaches daughters and things.

So it's it's really neat.

So on September 10th, actually, it was a normal day.

I went and got my hair done that day.

I went and picked up some shirts from one of our vendors and was just driving to school because we had team pictures that afternoon driving to school, and I just felt a really sharp pain in my chest as I was driving.

And so I ended up pulling over in the admin building.

So I thought maybe it was just indigestion or something, and I wanted to lay down in the vehicle but not be surrounded by kids because that's kind of embarrassing.

So lay down and try to go on my sides.

And it wasn't getting any better.

So I, made it to the school, got into the nurse's office, which she was already gone for the day.

And then my assistant Mike, was there, and I had him take my blood pressure, and it kept reading air and then finally, when I did go through, it was really high.

And then it started getting worse.

And so Mike was like, we're not waiting.

Let's go down to urgent care.

We just recently had a new urgent care that's just right down the road.

So I said, well, can we at least go through the back?

Because I didn't want to make a scene.

School was almost out and I knew I had some athletes in the hall and everything.

So we went through the theater through the back way there, and my sister ended up pulling in just as we got there and then went over to urgent care.

My husband met us there.

They hooked me up to an EKG machine and said, yeah, it's not normal.

Ended up taking an ambulance, got to the hospital, and it was funny because the looks on everybody's face was like, wait, what?

You have heart issues?

Because, you know, I'm active.

I don't look like your typical heart attack patient by any means.

And and then that's where they found that I had a tear in my artery.

So they ultimately diagnosed me with Scad, sudden coronary artery dissection, which is basically it's, a tear in your artery that creates a little bit of a flap that not clogs your artery, but makes it so it can't go through as easy.

And so and then also with Scad, I was also diagnosed with broken heart syndrome.

It was ultimately a heart attack.

It all happened so fast and I thought it was a heart attack.

Like I, I didn't want to reach out to anyone to ask any questions.

I didn't want to put any stress on her whatsoever, like I'm so.

I'm also the hedgerows basketball coach here, so I, I kind of know what to do.

You know, just coaching more through this long.

Also, I know how she likes stuff done.

So I just took over as she was still doing it, but it was me.

Like obviously the first day we didn't really know what was going on.

So it was a bunch of like overthinking.

You didn't really know exactly what was going on.

And then everyone was obviously just thinking every day like when she coming back, which you're going to be here.

Like it was pretty scary.

She did reach out.

She FaceTimed us day three in the hospital of hey, Friday.

Maybe I'm getting out.

Nope.

Okay, I'm going to get out Saturday at noon.

No.

So I think just kind of stuff was settling in with her and she just needed to hear from some of us and it was good.

The girls were all happy to hear from her.

They're taking over part.

Like I said, I just want to do what I thought Sara would want us to do.

You know, I went from taking a daily multivitamin to having a pill case that has Am and PM and stuff.

So that was a little bizarre, but, down, down on meds.

My blood pressure is low right now, but they need that to be low in order for the heart to completely heal.

I think cardiac rehab has helped a lot.

It's really interesting though, because obviously I'm one of the younger ones there.

And so the shows on TV are like Gunsmoke and Mash and well beyond my time.

So it's, but the people are so kind.

It's very.

We're all in the same boat.

They're very caring.

They, you know, they worry if you're not there.

And now it's just about managing stress and and doing what I can.

So I can continue to coach this year.

And then, our club volleyball doesn't start till January.

So then I'll have a couple months off and then and then we'll be back at it September 27th.

That was the first time she came back to practice game anything.

And she sat behind the bench, sat by the scorers table and it was a little different.

And she didn't say much.

And then now starting this week on Monday, she was fully back, not fully back, but back to running practices and then back to being on the bench.

So it's been nice.

It's she I you can tell she's feeling like herself again because she's back to being Coach Tucker now.

It's definitely weird seeing her like not as in the motions like of the game.

It's definitely weird seeing her sitting down during a game.

She's usually up like yelling at us.

But I think as a team, we all just want to like, try to impress her in some type of way just to show her.

It's like we are here.

We are here to like, play for you.

And that, like, we'll always be here for her, even if she's just sitting on, like, the bench.

We have each other going on with it all.

We've all had to rely on each other and obviously our assistant coaches to.

So we've just mainly been trying to work together to get through it.

That's incredible that she's able to just come back that fast, and she's here and she's a strong person.

I can just see she's already back sitting on the bench with us, and it's pretty cool that she just got back out there and was able to do it.

The broken heart syndrome is almost completely resolved.

I had another echo just a couple of weeks ago, and my ejection fraction is back up to 55, so that's almost completely resolved.

The shot itself will take a little bit longer to heal, just managed by modes and actually see my cardiologist again in a week.

So we're just hoping for the best coaching young athletes at any level, especially females, can be hard.

I think that we make such an impact on these kids lives while outside of volleyball, and they're not going to remember the wins and losses when they're older.

They're going to remember the bus trips and the fun times and you being there for them.

And I just think that recognizing that they're individuals and they're not just volleyball players and they're there for a reason and they need you more than you need them.

Sometimes, in a sense, that's our job as a coach and just to to really care for these kids and, and teach them about the sport along the way.

I think it's great, I love it, I love it so much.

It's great to see Sarah Tucker back doing what she enjoys again, and we certainly wish her nothing but the best as she gets back to the normalcy that she loves in life.

Our final story comes from the southern part of the Sioux Empire with Sioux Falls Christian.

Since Darcy Wassanaar has been their coach, the Chargers have won 13 state volleyball championships.

It's an incredible run for one of the best programs in the state.

But there's much more to coach Wassanaar than being a great volleyball coach.

We're going to take you behind the curtain and show you a special bond that Darci has with one of her assistant coaches.

Despite there being a cloud of tragedy that hangs over this bond, it's surrounded with love and support.

Number one, Brittany Vollmer.

For Brittany, volleyball was always a family connection, a bond she especially shared with their younger sister.

One I just love playing volleyball.

Volleyball was also like a connection with like my little sister Alyssa played volleyball, so that was I just have memories of like passing the volleyball back and forth in our backyard.

And it was just a fun, like connecting point with us.

A couple of years ago, Brittany had the chance to return to Sioux Falls Christian, the place where her love for the sport was fostered.

But this time to coach.

Great know we can get her in our program and and, ever work with our girls?

I remember her being, like, excited.

Like, you can coach, like, middle school now.

Like there's an opening that would be fun to have you in the program.

The girls are drawn to her and, you know, when you get to know her and spend time with her, you know why?

Coaching at her alma mater was meaningful, but what made it truly special was who she was coaching with head coach Darci Wassanaar one of the most respected and successful coaches in South Dakota volleyball history.

Darcy is kind of like the full package.

She like understands, like the strategy behind volleyball, and just knows how to, like, push a team and try to, meet a goal as best as we can.

Also, when I played for her, like, I felt like very like loved and cared for.

Two years after Brittany graduated high school, tragedy struck.

You don't know what's going to come, right?

Like, I taught Brittany in high school and we had so much fun and I would have had no idea.

And she would have had no idea what was going to come in two years.

Her entire world changed in an instant.

It is the car crash that shocked our entire community.

Yeah, February 23rd, 2013.

The Vollmer family was driving back from a basketball tournament in Mitchell when their vehicle crashed off of Interstate 90, killing Jim, Julie, 16 year old Alyssa and 13 year old Caleb spared from the wreckage.

The farmer's oldest daughter, Brittany, who was away at college when this tragedy, claimed her family.

You know, I remember that night, very vividly and I think back to that is is tough.

But we were actually here at school, our school every year has something called the variety show.

And I remember sitting there and seeing our superintendent walk out and I thought, her head, that's interesting.

I wonder what's going on.

I just you could see the or I could see this and sense this feel of something was happening and didn't know why and went out there and found out from our spiritual life director or superintendent that the Vollmer family, had been in a car accident and that, all four of them, that were currently here in Sioux Falls.

So everyone other than Brittany had passed away.

And you're never ready for any kind of news like that.

With her extended family living more than eight hours away, Darcy stepped in.

I immediately said, Where's Brittany and how is she?

And that was I mean, God had put that on my heart right away.

Darcy just felt like there was a need for her to be with me.

She just felt like the tug on her heart to come and just be a physical, like adult, like, to just sit with me and cry with me and just make sure I'm taken care of.

Like in those, like, moments.

It was nice to have, but someone who I like, trusted and already had that deep relationship, there in, like the beginning nights when I went back to college, she made it a point to text me every day whether I reached out back to her or whether I was busy just with college stuff.

She just really want me to know that, like, she wasn't going anywhere and she, like, wasn't moving on.

She was just very like, present and like, deeply cared and want me to be reminded of that every single day.

And just the constant like verbal reassurance in eventually like help someone like realize, okay, like I can trust this person.

I can like, reach out whenever Darci and her husband open their home and their family that summer to Brittany, Darci and her husband just made it clear that, that not only like I was welcome, but like that they, like, wanted me to like, yeah, be a part of their family.

And she was also really good at like, she knew my family.

So reassuring me that, like, she was never going to be replacing my family, which is, which was super comforting to me.

And then going home to my husband Brian, and just asking him and saying, hey, what do you think about this?

And there was no hesitation immediately.

It was, well, yeah, yeah, definitely.

I mean, Brittany's our family and all of our boys.

She's their sister.

Reflecting back on the tragedy, Brittany realized that the loss didn't just break her heart.

It shook her faith.

My main struggle is I was like questioning if God was really who he says he is.

Darcy was like, very, like, impactful and influential.

When everything else is gone, like God is who is here, right?

And and so when your world comes crashing down and there's nothing else, God is there.

And he really it's like I still have, like, very tough times where, like, I still need Darcy to, like, still walk alongside me and, like, point me to Christ and remind me of, like, promises to cling to, to walk through again.

Those was tough moments, those tough questions and the wrestling with, you know, why and where is God in this?

And how do I walk through this?

And to see God's faithfulness in her life and to see her cling to his promises and to know that they really are true?

Yeah.

It was amazing to see it, just to see the depth of her faith in that.

The two now stand side by side, coach and assistant coach.

But really, their bond is something much deeper.

Before I was always a Christian coach, right?

I've always been a Christian, but I think I got I easily got caught up in success in the wins and losses.

I knew my coaching had to be different if I was going to continue to coach.

I made the faith part of coaching and our team the most important and and not the wins and losses and the wins and losses are great, right?

It's not that we don't try to try to win anymore.

I mean, that's still there, but I needed the faith to be the the center part of it.

Volleyball brought them together.

Tragedy bound them.

Faith and purpose now drive them forward.

They've won championships together, but their greatest victory is the one no scoreboard can capture.

The victory of choosing love in the midst of loss and family in the face of tragedy.

Coaching high school kids can certainly be difficult at times, but if you ask any coach why they do it, they'll tell you it's because they love it.

Well, tonight is just a small sample of some of the best leaders that we have.

It certainly doesn't end here in any gym, in any sport.

These coaches devote countless hours to do what they do because they truly can't imagine not doing it.

They love sports.

They enjoy working with kids and watching them grow.

And they believe in making a difference.

We'd like to thank you for joining us tonight for tales from the net.

I'm Nate Wek saying so long from Parker.

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