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 | Corey Arbogast | |
Corey has been associated with the CSRA Heat since 2012, coaching both clinics and heat teams. He has been the head coach of Augusta Christian for the past two years. Corey has been involved with USAV – High Performance (HP) since 2015 achieving USAV CAP I certification while also helping with numerous HP tryouts. Corey is an active member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). His love for volleyball revolves around Commitment, Passion, and Respect (C.P.R.) for the game. |
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Manny Bersach
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Manny began coaching with the Heat in the Winter of 2014 after moving to Augusta, GA from Miami, FL. He graduated from the University of Florida in 2012 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is currently an applications engineer at GIW Industries in Grovetown, GA. He played varsity volleyball at Florida Christian School for 3 years (2005 – 2007) and received all county honors in 2007. Additionally he played co-ed intramural volleyball at UF for 5 years. Manny has assisted with National level Heat teams the past few years and is also a coach for the only sand volleyball club in Augusta.
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Rich Bland
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Coach Bland was a full scholarship UCLA volleyball player, and member of the 1993 Division I National Championship team. As the varsity volleyball coach at Augusta Prep he has a record of 369 -127 (.743) in eighteen seasons; including 15 GISA Region Championships, 12 GISA Final Four appearances and GISA State Champions in 2006 & 2007. Coach Bland has been named region Coach of the Year fifteen times and 2006 & 2007 GISA State Coach of the Year. He has also been inducted into the Augusta Preparatory Day School Steven Brooks Boyd Hall of Fame as both an individual and as coach of the 2007 state championship team. Coach Bland is also a member of the Orchard Park, (New York), High School Hall of Fame (class of 2001) and the Western New York Men's Volleyball Hall of Fame (class of 2015). |
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Lindsey Burke
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Lindsey began coaching with the Heat in 2017. She has three years of coaching experience with 13-14 years olds. She previously coached one year with TEVA and one year with NETVC when she lived in Tennessee.
Lindsey played for the Gate City High School volleyball team as a right-front hitter. There she received the Clinch Mountain District 1st Team award three years in a row from 2007-2009, Region D 1st team for 2007 & 2009, Region D 2nd team for the year 2008, 2007 Group A 2nd team All-State, in 2009 she received the Times News Elite Volleyball Team Award, Clinch Mountain Player of the year, Region D Player of the Year, Group A 1st Team All-State, and 2009 Group A State Volleyball Player of the Year. Lindsey went on to play at the NCAA Division II level with King University as a DS, then finished out her volleyball career at the UVA-Wise at the NCAA Division II level as the Libero.
Lindsey currently serves in the United States Air Force at Fort Gordon. Outside of volleyball Lindsey has been competing in CrossFit for five years and competed at the professional level in the Granite Games in 2017. She is currently finishing up her Master’s Degree in Human Resources with Liberty University. Lindsey hopes to serve as a great mentor and role model to these girls and pass on her love of the game. |
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Candice Carlson
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Candice has been coaching with the CSRA Heat since 2014. She has coached a variety of ages from 13 to 17 year olds as well as different levels.
She started playing volleyball in 6th grade in both the school and club settings, playing for The Laguna Beach Volleyball Club in Southern California. In high school, she played as an OH/Setter at varsity level. During high school she also played for Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club (also located in Southern California). In her senior year, she was recruited to play NCAA D2 volleyball at The University of Mount Olive in North Carolina.
Since then, Candice has played in various adult leagues, both indoors and outdoors, in GA and NC. More recently, Candice was the Head Coach for the Home School Eagles' JV team for two seasons and is now the head coach for the JV program at Augusta Preparatory Day School as well as the assistant coach to the varsity team. Candice has also participated as a Court Coach with USAV High Performance, the Team USA "pathway to the podium," for the Atlanta tryout. After getting married in May of 2017, Candice and her husband Eric enjoy playing volleyball and traveling with their 12 year old daughter, Audrey. |
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Samantha Clayborn
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Samantha has been coaching with the Heat since 2017. She is a former player with the CSRA Heat, and she has been actively involved with Summer Clinics and the Middle School League. |
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Katlyn Ellis
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Katlyn is originally from Atlanta and moved to Augusta in fall of 2014. She brings a love for volleyball after learning to play at the early age of 11. She played in middle school and high school and realized very early she loved coaching and decided to assist her senior year. After graduating, Katlyn coached at Chamblee middle school and Tsunami and then moved to Augusta and coached at Episcopal day school and at Columbia County parks and recreation volleyball program. This is her second year with Heat volleyball. |
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Haley Engel
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Haley began coaching with the Heat in 2017. She has 10 years of coaching experience with middle school aged athletes between volleyball and swimming. As a player, Haley played for four years in high school and on national/traveling teams as libero and defensive specialist. She graduated from Texas Tech University in May 2016, where she studied Mechanical Engineering. Haley loves the sport of volleyball and the ability to be a coach/mentor to girls who are growing in their love for the sport. |
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Heather Frazier
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Heather began coaching with the Heat in fall of 2016. She has 8 years playing experience and is also a certified referee for the Georgia High School Association. |
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Jessica Graves
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Jessica has been coaching with the CSRA Heat since the fall of 2017. Since 2014, she has been the head coach of middle school and varsity at Curtis Baptist School. Jessica has been recently voted coach of the year for their region. Jessica loves the game of volleyball, and she has a passion for teaching the sport to girls as well as investing in their lives. She has a strong desire to continue learning more and more about the game and to better herself as a coach. |
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| | Mike Guthrie | |
Mike Guthrie is a native of Los Angeles, California. In High School he played Varsity Football (All-Conference), Basketball (All-Conference), and Track (High Jump Conference Champion). In college he played Varsity Basketball (1976-1978) for the United States Military Academy at West Point, coached by the legendary Mike Krzyzewski. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army, playing and coaching basketball and volleyball teams throughout his 30 year career. Upon retirement from the Army in 2004, he joined Augusta Preparatory Day School, teaching Math and Science, along with coaching the JV Volleyball, Varsity Basketball, Varsity Track, and Varsity Tennis teams for the past 14 years. He is now retired from teaching and focusing on giving back to the community by coaching JV Volleyball at Evans HS this year and now joining the CSRA Heat Volleyball Club.
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| | Vivianne Hobbs | |
Vivianne played on A.R. Johnson’s varsity volleyball team for four years and the varsity soccer team for two years. After graduating, she returned as a volunteer coach for their volleyball team. In addition to coaching, she regularly plays volleyball with Augusta University’s club volleyball program where she is currently enrolled, working to obtain a B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Medicinal Chemistry. Vivianne enjoys having volleyball as a part of her life because it’s a great way to stay active and an opportunity to meet new people and develop new skills in working with and helping others. |
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| | Charles Huggins | |
Charles has coached the past three club seasons with Volley One Academy in Athens, Georgia. Several of his former players have gone on to play in college and subsequently become coaches. His love for volleyball began in 2008 when his daughter, Callie, began the first of six consecutive club seasons with the CSRA Heat. Being one of “those” dads, he attended and recorded nearly every one of her club and high school games. From immersive film study, he learned the game and developed several drills that helped Callie earn honors in her club and high school teams. As a practicing attorney in Augusta for over two decades, he has represented numerous clients in the sports and entertainment industries. |
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Michael Johnson
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Michael has been a coach with the CSRA Heat since it's founding in 1999. Before that, he was a head coach with the Augusta Juniors - the program that developed into the CSRA Heat. Michael has been a staple of the volleyball community in our area for decades, running multiple recreational volleyball leagues in addition to his travel ball coaching and area refereeing. In addition to being a NCAA trained and certified line judge, Michael has been a high school official for 15 years, and he has been in charge of high school officials for the entire CSRA for the last eight years. In 2015, Michael was honored with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Official of the Year Award and is a member of the GAOA Hall of Fame. |
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Kanesha Jones
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Kanesha has been coaching with the Heat since the Fall of 2017. She attended and played for AR Johnson and returned to help coach for a year. She continued to play in her college's club volleyball program. Kanesha loves volleyball and is looking forward to coaching and developing positive, young athletes. |
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Summer Meredith | | | Summer is originally from North Carolina, where she attended Johnson and Wales University Charlotte to earn her B.S in Sport and Event Management with a concentration in Leadership in Sports and played as the Libero on the Women's Volleyball team. While at JWU Summer was named AVCA All American and USCAA 2nd Team All American in 2015. In the same year she also set two school records with highest serving percentage and most digs in a season. She was then honored with the "Wildcat Gold Award - Team's Most Outstanding Player". Summer served as a Head Coach since 2013 in North Carolina at Sports Academy Junior Olympic Volleyball Club. She was also the Assistant Middle School Coach at Southlake Christian Academy in Huntersville, North Carolina. She currently plays in an Adult Co Ed Volleyball League and is involved with Game Day Operations at Augusta University during their Volleyball season. |
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Ellie McKinney | | | Ellie started playing with The Heat at the 12s level and played all the way through 17s. Ellie has also played with Greenbrier High School for 4 years and has transitioned to coaching now. During this past school season her team made it to the Elite 8 of state playoffs. Ellie is currently a senior at Greenbrier High School. |
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Noah Nakagawa
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Noah has been coaching since he began with a club in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He has also been to many camps including the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and also the University of New Mexico volleyball camp. Noah has also been the manager for the Midland Valley Mustangs Volleyball team for the past two years. |
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Rafael Salazar
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In 1979, Rafael was a member of the National High School Champion Costa Rican Team. He continued his volleyball career at the University of Arkansas where he helped to develop Division 1 NCAA boys' volleyball. From 2003-2005 he coached at Aiken Preparatory School and the Alleluia Community School. After following his daughter's volleyball career, he began coaching with the Heat in 2012.
Since 2014, Rafael has been involved with the USAV – High Performance. The High Performance Program bridges the gap between our USA National Teams and youth volleyball programs across the country: 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI – Junior National A2 Invitational Program, 2015-Grand Rapids, MI –Select National A3 Invitational Program, 2016 – Sonoma, CA – Junior National A2 Invitational, 2017 – Grand Rapids, MI – Select National A2 Invitational Program, 2018 – Colorado Springs, CO – Junior National A2 Invitational Program.
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| | Nina Salazar
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Katerina (Nina) Salazar is a Senior at Alleluia Community School in Augusta. As a student, she has played
on the Middle School volleyball team, the JV Volleyball team, and the Varsity Team. She also played 3
years with CSRA Heat. Nina has assisted with the CSRA Heat Middle School League for the last two years,
as well as with the Winter Clinics. This year, Nina expects to get involved with the USAV – High
Performance Program. |
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Connie Spearman
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Connie has filled many roles since she began with the Heat in 2004, currently holding the positions of Assistant Director and Head Coach, in addition to being the head coach for this season's 14 National team. As the Head Coach, Connie leads the Heat's curriculum development, summer and winter clinics, coach mentoring program, and oversees specialized coaches' training and development. Beyond travel ball, Connie has also coached at both the JV and Varsity levels at both private and public schools in the CSRA. As a retired educator, Connie understands the value of building fundamentals as well as promoting life-long learning. Leading by example, Connie is an active member with professional coaching communities, such as the AOCV and USAV. Connie's Heat teams have consistently finished in the Open Gold and Silver divisions at the Palmetto Region Championships and made strong showings both at AAU Nationals in Orlando, FL and the Big South National Qualifier in Atlanta, GA. Furthermore, she is a regional referee, has attended IMPACT training, and is IMPACT certified. |
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Lauren Stancil
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Lauren has been a player and coach with the CSRA Heat for many years. She began playing as a 12U and has transitioned to coaching, helping with our clinics and travel teams. Lauren is currently a Junior at Greenbrier High School. |
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Teiarea Taylor
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Teiarea was an all-region player at Laney High School. She was the captain of her volleyball team went to the play offs on two occasions during her high school volleyball career. She played at Brewton Parker college and is currently working on her business degree. Teiarea began coaching with the Heat in 2015. |
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Jillyan Thompson
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Jillyan has been playing volleyball since 2000 for multiple travel teams including Aiken Club, Atomic Volleyball Club and CSRA Heat, and out-door volleyball in triples and doubles tournaments. She has played every position on the court. She played for Evans High School and was on JV one year and three years on Varsity. She was in the Athlete spotlight for the Augusta Chronicle. She is a certified Collegiate Line Judge and Scorekeeper and High School Official. She was the JV coach at Evans High for 2 years, the Aquinas JV coach, and recently the Westside JV Coach. She started coaching with Heat in 2012. |
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Katie Truluck
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Katie has been playing volleyball for 13 years and coaching for 8 years. She played libero for the State & National Champion Bishop Moore Catholic High School women’s volleyball team and played club for the Orlando Volleyball Academy. Katie then played libero for the Berry College women’s volleyball team where she was named SAA Defensive Player of the Year, AVCA All-American, team captain, and more. She was chosen as libero for the 2016 USA DIII collegiate team to play in Brazil. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Volleyball is her biggest passion. Katie teaches that the discipline, perseverance, and leadership learned on the court are essential for building strong, intelligent young women. She believes that nothing compares to a constructive athletic foundation in developing exceptional leaders on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. |
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Kaitlyn Wall
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Kaitlyn has been playing volleyball for 8 years, beginning in middle school. She was named most defensive player all 4 years in high school and all region player in 2017 from Midland Valley's varsity team. Kaitlyn is also a Heat alumna, formerly a defensive specialist / libero on Power and National level teams. Most recently, Kaitlyn played at Columbia College and began coaching in 2016. She is also the Evans High School JV head coach.
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| Jinny Yan | | Jinny is originally from Fremont, CA, where she played as a Middle Hitter and Outside Hitter at Irvington High School. Over the course of her volleyball career, she received Mission Valley Athletic League MVP and 1st team awards, Mercury News East Bay Athlete of the Week, and North Coast Section all-section honors. Jinny also played for numerous clubs in the Northern California area and received a bid for Junior Nationals with Stingray Volleyball Club in 2012. Following high school, Jinny attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she walked on to their NCAA Division I volleyball team and played an off-season as a defensive specialist. After this stint, she pivoted into competitive cycling and raced at regional and national levels for track cycling, road cycling, and cyclocross. At West Point, she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Chinese. After college, Jinny headed to Northeastern University in Boston where she received a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. Jinny currently serves as an officer in the United States Army at Fort Gordon. Jinny started coaching with CSRA Heat summer of 2019. Her previous coaching experience including running middle school clinics for Stingray Volleyball Club. She is very excited to get involved in the volleyball community in Augusta and give back to the sport that she loves.
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