ALA QC volleyball thriving under new and familiar coaches

Sep. 12—Coaching volleyball at this point runs in Alan Ramage's blood.

He did it for 17 seasons at Snowflake High School in Eastern Arizona, where he led the Lobos to the semifinals in his last six seasons. He spent the last four years as a referee before making the move to the Valley.

That's when he got in touch with an old friend, Brad Hekekia.

"I was going to come on and help Brad out for a year because he thought he would give it up after maybe a year or so," Ramage said. "But some things changed, and I got hired. They knew I wanted to get involved."

Ramage's friendship with Hekekia dates back to when his father, Gerald Hekekia, was a mentor to him. Gerald is a Hall of Fame volleyball coach from his time at Eastern Arizona College.

Ramage adored learning under Gerald, and thought he would have the same mentorship under Hekekia at ALA. But that changed shortly after he was brought on as an assistant coach.

"It's been challenging, just sort of getting thrown in it," Ramage said. "But I'm excited for it. I don't know what to expect yet, but we'll see."

Hekekia was coming off his third season as the head volleyball coach at American Leadership Academy — Queen Creek. His daughter, Kami, who he has coached since the eighth grade, is now a senior for the Patriots and one of the team's leaders alongside Izzy Wagner.

Hekekia thought he would get one more year out of coaching. He wanted to see his daughter's high school career through. But he went from self-employed to working for an employer, "the man," he said. It no longer gave him the freedom to run the program. So, he recommended Ramage.

On July 21, it became official. Ramage, who works as an academic advisor at ALA, was now back to being a head coach with just over a month before the start of the season. But he was quick to ask Hekekia to stay on as an assistant alongside Jodi Proctor, essentially swapping roles.

"They can't get rid of me," Hekekia said with a laugh. "I thought I was going to totally walk away from it, and I was prepared for that. I'm really fortunate because of Alan that I was able to make it work. I'm thankful to be here, it's Kami's last year.

"I have total confidence in Alan. It's kinda relieving for me, just being an assistant and helping out. I'm thankful to be here on this bench.

Hekekia struggled at the thought of having to sit in the stands instead of next to his daughter on the bench. That had become second nature to him for four years.

It had also become second nature for Kami, who said while her dad was undoubtedly harder on her than any other girl on the team, the conversations they had on the car rides home and while together in their home were something she adored. That's why Hekekia accepted the role as an assistant this season. It brought familiarity back to a program that had one of its best seasons in history last year with an 18-6 record.

It also gives Hekekia the chance to remain close to Kami through her senior volleyball season. Not only does that mean a lot to him, it means a lot to her, too.

"Some people sound like they don't like having their dad as a head coach, but I loved it," Kami said. "It was weird adjusting to it not being my dad anymore. We would go home talk about volleyball, we lived volleyball.

"I knew Alan before this, and the girls really like him. All of our coaches clicked and work really well together."

Ramage admitted he still doesn't quite know what to expect from his team this season. But he entered their first match of the season against Mesquite the same way he did for years at Snowflake: wearing a blue dress shirt with a matching tie, dress pants and low-top converse.

In his mind, he would be doing his team and himself a disservice dressing up for only what he considered to be "big games."

Every game is big in his mind. That's why he still admits to having butterflies before every match.

ALA went on to beat Mesquite last Monday night in three sets to start the season. Ramage's first win as a Patriot. But no matter how the rest of the season plays out, he's thankful for the opportunity that was given to him.

"If you don't get butterflies, you don't care," Ramage said. "I've got a good group of girls. We don't know exactly where it's at yet, it's a little different than the small-town feel where you see these girls all throughout the summer. Here, they play in different clubs. But we'll see soon."

Have an interesting story? Contact Zach Alvira at (480)898-5630 or zalvira@timespublications.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZachAlvira.