Noah Lau
ASU Student Journalist

Apollo looking to form new culture under new coach

September 4, 2018 by Noah Lau, Arizona State University


Apollo volleyball looking to improve after rough season. (Photo by Noah Lau /AzPreps365)

Aggressive.

That is the style recently-hired Apollo girls volleyball coach Dan Walsh wants to see from his team in the upcoming season.

“We want to attack our passes, we want to attack our hits we want to attack on our serves,” Walsh said. “That’s the mantra we want to use because we always want be moving. We want to have six people moving at all cost.”

Walsh, the former coach at North Pointe Preparatory, is looking to shape a new culture around a team that finished last season with a meager 7-15 record.

Walsh knows that for the journey to be successful, it will take time and his team will have to trust the process.

“Just to start a program it’s all about the process,” Walsh said. “The things that I’m looking for right now is where are we in the process? Are we moving forward in certain things? Are we making the changes we need to make?” Walsh said.

Apollo returns only three players, with each an upperclassman - senior outside hitter Maritza Romero, senior outside hitter Viridiana Rodriguez and junior middle hitter Cierra DeRosier.

Walsh believes the trio will be key components in molding the new culture.

What he envisions out of his three upperclassmen is simple: “Help steer the course forward,” Walsh said. “Here’s our new direction this is where we want to go and I think I’m depending on them the most to do that.”

As a senior, Romero is embracing the opportunity to not only excel under Walsh, but to also help teach the next generation of Hawks.

“(I want) to teach them the right things so they can teach the people after them and those after them,” Romero said. “Making sure rotations and setting good examples of leadership and staying positive and all that stuff.”

For these seniors, though, their desire to win isn’t taking a back seat because of a new coaching staff and a younger squad. Rodriguez feels the team is much more capable than one may expect from such a young group.

“Our goal this season would have to be to try our best to put our hearts out on the court,” Rodriguez said. “To at least make it to playoffs and (get) as far as we can go and well go from there as of now were just trying to get our wins up from last season.”

Benjamin White, Apollo’s athletic director, hopes this new culture Walsh and the seniors bring will shape the players not just on the court but more importantly off the court.

“Just to understand the culture, change it, so it fits him,” White said. “Teach girls how to play volleyball, teach life lessons, how to be competitive, you know, things that sports teach us in high schools.”

The plan is simple.

Be aggressive, stay aggressive and shock the 5A.