Bedford grad Stephanie Champine a winner on all levels

Volleyball excellence has followed Stephanie Champine at every level of her playing and coaching career.

Or, is it rather, the drive to always improve that has paved the path to volleyball excellence for the 2006 Bedford High School graduate’s?

“I tell myself never to stop learning,” Champine said. “There’s so much that can change with the game and I want to continue to learn new things.

“Even if I’m out recruiting, I’m always just watching how coaches are interacting, even with high-level games or on TV, I want to watch how coaches react to and handle different situations,” she said.

Champine is the head women’s volleyball coach at Richard Bland State College, a two-year school in South Prince George, Virginia. This fall, Champine led the Statesmen to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II national title in just her first year.

Prior to that, she was the head volleyball coach at Terra State Community College in Fremont, Ohio, where she built the women’s volleyball program from scratch, starting in 2019. In her second year, Terra State finished ninth in the nation in NJCAA Division II and finished sixth for the 2021 season, including going 36-5 overall and 12-0 in conference play.

Champine’s championship ways started at Bedford.

In her junior year, under coach Jodi Manore, Champine was a member of the 2005 Michigan state championship team.

“Stephanie was a total team player,” Manore recalled. “She continued to improve each season as she came up through our system.

“She was an extremely explosive hitter but also a good defensive player,” Manore added. “She was a very hard worker, very quiet. Stephanie went about her business, and was all about doing her job and doing what was necessary in order to win.”

Manore said she’s not surprised by Champine’s success.

“Stephanie was constantly striving to do her best, and I’m sure has high expectations for her team,” Manore said.

After graduating from Bedford, Champine played for two years at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio.

There, she set numerous records and received several honors in helping lead the Express to two Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championships, going 69-23 during that time. In 2016, Champine was in the inaugural OCC Athletic Hall of Fame class and is still the only OCC female athlete to have her jersey retired.

Champine then played two years at NCAA Division I Austin Peay State University – recruited there by Lindi (Bankowski) Sallach, who also played for Manore and was an assistant at APSU.

There, Champine was instrumental in turning the volleyball program around. In her first season, Champine helped lead the Lady Governors to a third-place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference with 22 wins. Austin Peay only won eight matches the season before. Champine was named first-team All-OVC and was chosen for the OVC All-Newcomer team in 2008.

In her senior season, she helped lead the Lady Govs to a second-place OVC finish and was named OVC Player of the Year.

In 2016, Champine was inducted into the APSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Champine was still very much involved in volleyball. She played in numerous adult leagues and tournaments and coached for the Glass City Volleyball Club. She also served as junior varsity coach at Monroe and Sylvania Southview high schools, and then varsity head coach at Toledo’s Start High School.

“I’ve always been so passionate about the sport,” Champine said, when asked if she’s always thought of being a coach some day. “I remember getting to help at camps during my early years and really enjoyed coaching the youth. So, I’ve always said I wanted to give back and this is the way I want to do it."

Champine said she’s picked up a little something for her coaching repertoire from each of her coaches.

“I have been very fortunate with all the coaches I have had. They’ve all have made a huge impact on my coaching style,” she said.

“I’m big on making sure the players enjoy it and want to be there,” Champine said in talking about her coaching philosophy. “We push for 1% better every day, every time we touch the court.

“We do a lot of competitive drills in practice,” she added. “I like to make sure the girls love to compete. Hard work pays off.”

Along the way, Champine also met her future husband, Shaun Dryden, during a volleyball tournament. Dryden, who played volleyball in college, still plays in a professional league and has coached collegiate volleyball. He was on Champine’s staff at Start, Terra and now at Richard Bland, as associate head coach.

Dryden and Champine married in December 2021.

“It’s been amazing because I get to do what I love with the person I love,” she said. “It never feels like a job. We just love what we do.”

While the Richard Bland championship season is over, the accolades for Champine have not ended. Among the coaching honors she’s earned are NJCAA Division II National Coach of the Tournament, NJCAA Region 10 Coach of the year and American Volleyball Coaches Association 2022 Coach of the Year for the Northeast/Southeast Region.

“We broke a lot of records for the school. Richard Bland had never even won one match in the nationals before,” Champine said. “We had three All-Americans on the team. It’s been an exciting year.”

And, if Champine’s volleyball career to-date has been any indication, there’s a lot more excitement to come.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Bedford grad Stephanie Champine a proven winner on all levels