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The UCLA women's indoor and sand volleyball programs have announced that head sand coach Stein Metzger will leave his duties as assistant indoor coach to focus solely on sand. In addition, head indoor coach Michael Sealy has promoted to the position of full-time indoor assistant Tony Ker, who was a volunteer with the Bruins for the 2014 season.
“With the competitiveness of women's indoor volleyball right now, it takes three coaches working full time to manage all the components,” Sealy said. “Recruiting is a giant piece of the puzzle and it needs to be a focal point for the entire staff from winter quarter through the summer. Stein did an amazing job juggling both programs while he needed to, but it was obvious that no one person could be asked to sustain that level for an extended amount of time.”
”It's a dream come true to be the first full-time head coach in the sport, and at the institution for which I have so much history and fondness,” Metzger said. “I'm grateful for UCLA's decades-long commitment to the sport of volleyball and its student-athletes. Creating a dedicated sand volleyball staff shows UCLA's commitment once again and I feel honored to be entrusted with its leadership. I consider it a privilege to join this hard-working group of young women year-round as they work to fulfill their aspirations in the sand discipline.”
Ker will begin his second season with the indoor team after spending 2014 as a volunteer coach.
“Tony brings a very high level of commitment to the program,” Sealy said. “He is someone who appreciated every moment as a UCLA athlete. He has a very high volleyball IQ, is personable, likes interacting with the players, and is selflessly dedicated to bettering the program. Tony is always thinking volleyball and is completely dedicated to this program.”
“I was honored to have been asked to be the volunteer coach last season and I am extremely excited to be a part of such an historic program now as a full-time assistant,” Ker said. “UCLA has always been the place for me. It is my home and it is where I want to be. When I was a student-athlete, I used to talk with members of the women's team and tell them that I will be back here coaching the team, and I am thrilled to have fulfilled my dream of being a part of such an amazing program.”
Over the first three seasons of Bruin sand volleyball, Metzger, who is one of UCLA's NCAA-record 13 Beach Volleyball Olympians, has led the program to 20 dual wins (10 in 2015) and has coached three sets of pairs' teams to the AVCA National Championships, including Zoë Nightingale and Kamila Tan this past season. The fast-growing discipline will become an NCAA-sponsored sport starting with the 2016 season, the first year an NCAA Championship will be awarded in sand volleyball.
In the first two years, members of the Bruin indoor team have populated the sand roster, but the recently-completed 2015 campaign brought the first-ever sand-only players.
“Coach Sealy and I have known each other since we were teammates here at UCLA, and we will still work closely together to support and give the opportunity to those select players who wish to compete in both disciplines,” Metzger said.
“There will still be players crossing over between indoor and sand, and it will be a case-by-case basis that Stein and I will work together on to find a solution that can benefit both programs,” Sealy said.
“Our initial thought in adding sand in 2013 was that sand training could compliment the indoor athletes,” said Associate Athletic Director Ashley Armstrong. “However, with the crossover of training periods, the sand season has impacted an important segment of spring season training and strength building for the indoor team. The sport of sand volleyball has grown significantly over the past few years, and UCLA is committed to building a championship program. We felt it was important to have a fully dedicated staff to the sand program in terms of helping recruiting, training and coaching our sand student-athletes.”