From Player to Mentor
12/10/2025
“My goal as a coach isn’t about the record. I don’t care about the wins; I don’t care about the losses,” Williams explained. “I’d rather teach life skills, like being able to communicate, time management, those kinds of things.”
Williams’ Journey into Coaching Excellence
Gabby Williams ‘26, an exercise science and strength and conditioning double major from Urbana, Ohio, has used her deep knowledge of volleyball to coach Ohio-based club volleyball teams.
Williams started coaching volleyball as a junior in high school, where she helped coach a 10u Peewee volleyball team. She then coached her first official club team the next year. Williams has experience coaching a u15 national club team that traveled to Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and other states for tournaments.
In Williams’ first two years of college she took a hiatus from coaching but missed the joy it brought her. Last year she took her coaching talents to a new team, the “Four 1 Nine Xtreme” club volleyball team, where she is coaching again this year.
Williams learned about the Four 1 Nine club team through Steve Yarnell, Bluffton University women’s volleyball coach. “Steve is the assistant at this club and said they need coaches. I wanted to get back into coaching a club team, so I joined,” she said.
All of Williams’ coaching experiences have fueled her love for coaching. “I really enjoy coaching, and I feel like it’s something I want to do after I graduate. It's the reason I switched majors from dietetics to exercise science and strength and conditioning,” she said.
Williams has seen her major enhance her coaching skills. “At my past club, we had a woman named Tina, and the team would go to her for ‘Tina Time.’ Tina Time was a strength-based program where they learned about nutrition, strength and conditioning, and exercise science,” she said. “The stuff I’m learning I can take to my team. When we have practice, if I want to do a ten-minute conditioning circuit, I know how to do that.”
Her favorite part of coaching is the growth she sees in her players. “I liked, especially last year, watching my team from the beginning of the year to the last tournament, where we were winning every single game,” said Williams. “It’s been great watching my players gain confidence and watching their skill develop. They’re like my kids.”
The holistic improvement of her players is more important to Williams than the volleyball itself. “My goal as a coach isn’t about the record. I don’t care about the wins; I don’t care about the losses,” Williams explained. “I’d rather teach life skills, like being able to communicate, time management, those kinds of things.”
Bluffton has set Williams up for success in more ways than just academics. Her experience as a student has also taught her to maintain her relationships, because she has gotten many of these coaching jobs through connections she’s made.
Bluffton has also taught her the value of patience as a coach. “When I first coached in high school if a kid wasn’t getting a skill, I would get frustrated and be like ‘I don’t know how else to teach it’,” she said. But after her experience playing volleyball in college for Bluffton, her perspective has changed through observing her coaches and the volleyball graduate assistants.
Williams attributes a lot of her coaching style to Coach Yarnell. “I like the things he does; I like the way he coaches, how he’s more laid back. [...] I’ve been able to use different things like pool noodles, cones, tennis balls; weird things that Coach has done that I’ve been able to use to teach a skill.”
Williams plans to continue coaching after college; she feels that it’s her calling. “I already have some job offers for when I graduate to help coach,” she said. “I like the idea of working as a high school strength and conditioning coach, because then I can still work with athletes, or be a club coach or high school volleyball coach.”
-Coen North '26