Andy Stephens arrived at his California high school with the ambitious goal many freshmen in his day shared: to make the football team.
Yet in his words, his “small figure” (135 pounds) would not do him any favors in that goal, he was able to excel in a newer arrival in that state’s athletic offerings.
“They started in a couple areas, and the league that my school was in, my freshman year was the first year for boys (volleyball). I would end up playing all four years of high school,” he said.
Sometimes it’s the sport that finds you rather than you finding the sport, and that held true yet again for Stephens when the jobs for Kingston Middle and High Schools opened this past offseason. He had not been seeking a coaching job after resigning from Bainbridge High last season to focus on family medical concerns. It was his kids’ commitment to help with off-the-court matters that allowed him to pursue this newest job, one that carries its fair share of challenges.
“Being the smaller 2A school is kind of like David versus Goliath, and we’ve kind of taken on that mentality of us versus everybody in the league,” he said.
What’s nice is knowing his kids can certainly put up a fight, managing a reverse sweep of 2023 1B runner-up Neah Bay to start the season and also picking up league wins over Bremerton and North Mason. It will take some work to return to 2017 and 2018 levels of success, the Buccaneers suffering their latest loss to Olympic 3 sets to 1 Oct. 1.
Kingston may not be expected to move beyond the middle of the pack this season, but it’s a team that Stephens believes can at the very least make a team work for a win. The Bucs’ roster may feature a heavy upperclassmen presence, but the coach displayed particular enthusiasm for his pair of varsity freshmen Abi Waag Waag and Evie Dawson. The pair, he said, have made big impacts in his defensive scheme and have adjusted well to the leadership of the seniors on the team.
“The fact that they know they can compete with these strong teams, it’s encouraging for us,” he said.
