This year’s volleyball team is being coached by former PHS volleyball player Kinley Block, a Paoli graduate from the class of 2020. After high school, Block studied at Lincoln Trail for two years to get her Associate in Science, where she focused on Sport Management. She planned to use that as her “coaching degree” in addition to playing. Block then got offered to continue to play after her season was done. Block traveled to Texas for a first-year program at Texas A&M University Texarkana, and spent two years at TAMUT before graduating with her bachelor’s in general studies with a concentration in leadership and interdisciplinary studies.
During her second year, she had to make a big change in her education degree because the University did not accept some of the general course credits from PHS or her previous school.
“The leadership courses I took in my fourth and final year of college were the biggest shift in mindset that really helped me in my coaching endeavors. They focused heavily on optimistic and positive outlooks with a huge emphasis on team efforts,” said Block.
While Block was in her final couple weeks of college, she saw the head coaching position here at PHS and was immediately interested. Mr. Newkirk and Mr. Wagner interviewed her and offered her the job the day before she walked across the stage to receive her diploma.
“Coaching is something that has always appealed to me because it allows me to share the knowledge I have with the passion I have carried with me since I was just a little Ram. It feels so surreal to grow up here, leave for a few years, then come back to where my journey began.”
Block thought the best thing she could have done was to force herself into uncomfortable and new situations because coaching is sometimes a lot like that.
“It is uncomfortable, new, exciting, nerve-wracking, and so much fun once the ball gets rolling; you just have to plant the seed before you water it,” said Block.
“I have talked and boasted about coaching since I was probably in sixth grade. It has been a dream to be able to share the knowledge I have with a large number of people, so when the opportunity came up I just knew it was meant to be. I always knew that if I wanted to coach at the Varsity level, I had to have extra experience at a more competitive and higher level of play in college. Playing collegiately allowed me to narrow down my own expectations for a high school program, and it genuinely grew my love for the sport drastically more than it already was while learning even more about the sport that I could share with my future teams. Being able to coach is the best thing I have ever chosen to do aside from continuing my own athletic career,” said Block
The Lady Rams will be back in Action on Thursday, September 12, at home against the Salem Lions. JV will start at 6 p.m., and Varsity will follow.
