Connor Van Ligten is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain View for AZPreps365.

 

One might be surprised by the way Mountain View coach Clark Fleming bonds with his players.

It’s through memes.

“I mean, memes are really popular,” said Fleming, 24. “Someone will share a funny meme that day. Sometimes we share an inspirational video.”

Junior Angie Wagner is with her coach.

“If we find something funny, it just bonds us,” said Wagner.

Junior Ashley Reed shares that sentiment.

“Sometimes we think that we’re gonna be called over to watch film with coach, but he just wants to show us memes,” said Reed. “It’s fun. He’s just a really fun guy.”

Jokes aside, Fleming said he emphasizes enjoying the sport and looking to the bigger picture in life for his players.

“At the end of the day it’s not the most important thing in our lives,” said Fleming. “While we want to be competitive and we want it to be important enough that we put enough focus into it, we don’t want it to be the end-all be-all of our days.”

But don’t let this fool you into thinking Fleming doesn’t take volleyball seriously. After all, his Toros are 6-3 in the midst of a grueling schedule.

Fleming’s volleyball expertise runs in the family.

“They all played volleyball in high school,” said Fleming of his six older siblings. “It was the expectation growing up. They were playing volleyball, so I was playing volleyball.”

Fleming played volleyball throughout high school.

After graduating Mesa High School in 2014, Fleming was an assistant for boys volleyball at both Mesa and Mountain View for two years, and a girls assistant at Mountain View for four years.

Eventually, he took the head coaching job for the girls team and is in his second season.

Some may be skeptical of Fleming’s coaching ability because of his age. However, Fleming believes it helps him relate to his players more.

“As a young coach, you’re able to offer so much more insight into who they are as people and what they’re going through,” said Fleming. “I’m 24 … so I can still relate to them on what’s going on, and it allows me to establish a really healthy relationship with the players.”

Despite his age, Fleming knows his stuff.

“On the court, he knows exactly what he’s talking about,” said Reed. “He has so much experience.”

His expertise isn’t limited to volleyball, however.

“He’s really helped us get ready to be adults,” said Wagner. “He teaches a lot of life lessons we can use to be more mature.”

Fleming finds value in coaching youth sports.

“Coaching, you see a lot of time with youth,” said Fleming. “It’s fun to make an impact, it’s fun to be involved.”

His previous experience as a player helps his coaching.

“I hope that as someone who’s played the game themselves, I can relate to what they’re trying to do and the experiences they’re going through,” said Fleming. “And offer much more insight as a player, rather than just someone who’s trying to tell them what to do.”

Sometimes that mindset can work against Fleming. He cites his pride and stubbornness from his playing days as early challenges in his coaching career.

“As a coach, you go through this conundrum of needing to be confident enough to teach people, but needing to be humble enough to continue to learn and grow,” said Fleming.

Yet, Fleming’s still confident in his team. His players believe in him and he wants to reciprocate that feeling. There’s also a small part of him that wants to prove himself to the doubters.

“I’m going to continue to learn better and take any advice that I get,” said Fleming.

“But I also want people to know. Yes, I may be young, but I’ve been doing this volleyball thing all day and I’ve been doing this coaching thing for seven years. It’s something I have experience in.”

And he’s just getting started.