Nike Coaches

As Phoebe enters her 12th season with Golden Bear Volleyball Club she is excited to call GBVC her home.  Phoebe’s volleyball experience comes directly from being a GBVC alumna and play as a libero at the University of Arkansas.  Phoebe’s love for the game is truly brought out by her coaching style.  She is an advocate for life lessons, team work, commitment, self-confidence, respect and goal setting that she implements in her coaching.  Phoebe’s favorite part about coaching is seeing her former players becoming the best versions of themselves.  

Kevin is coming back for his second year coaching with Golden Bear. He is excited to share his extensive knowledge of the game and competing at a high level this year. As a player he experienced a lot of success in his home state of Delaware. His high school team repeatedly made playoffs. Kevin was honored as 3rd team All American his junior year and a 2nd team All American his senior year. 

email: coachwjc@gmail.com

Here is Kevin Lu, a long time experienced player and coach that has entered his 2nd season coaching at GBVC. Kevin has played on national level club teams as a setter and libero. His experience with joining the USA A2 High Performance Indoor and Beach Volleyball programs, representing Arizona Region at the All Star Championships, and mentorship under former D1 All-Americans has prepared him to step into the coaching role. Outside of playing and coaching experience, Kevin is proficient with the analytical part of volleyball, particularly with statistics and calculations that go into strategic game plans. Kevin hopes to teach his players not only how to be a skilled volleyball player, but also how to be a good person and teammate on and off the court.

Shaun is coming back for her second season at Golden Bear. She is excited to return this year as the 14 Blue coach and prepare her team to compete at a high level. She is a Golden Bear alumna, having played for the club from 2005-2006. During her time as a player, she played for several teams that competed in the top of the Gold Division and was the starting setter on her high school Varsity team. When not on the court she teaches high school English and brings many of her classroom skills and educational background into her coaching style and philosophy. She looks forward to helping her players grow as people on and off the court and develop a lifelong love for the game! 

Sarah wears many hats for Golden Bear. She is also the club director and co-coach of 18 Gold. She loves volleyball and honing in on the details to develop skill. Sarah also likes to teach and train high volleyball IQs by maximizing each contact to score and better their teammates. Her goal this year is to elevate the 13s level of play both as individual players and as a team. She is married to her wife Melanie and has two daughters Hazel (8) & Violet (6) and a golden retriever Summer (10). Sarah loves to play beach volleyball on vacation and swim in the ocean.

 Taylor is a junior at UC Berkeley majoring in psychology and possibly minoring in linguistics. She has been playing volleyball for 6 years and coaching with Golden Bear for two years. She is looking forward to a great season here at Golden Bear Volleyball Club!

Ryan is currently a sophomore at UC Berkeley and has loved volleyball since he was 12. He played Middle and Opposite during his high school and club season, and has received coaching for setting and all aspects of volleyball that he looks forward to passing onto the next generation. He is passionate to teach athletes to not only dedicate themselves to improving every day, but enjoy every aspect of this sport he loves. He aims to have athlete's experiences on the court teach them how to succeed in their personal lives and future passions, as it has for him. He is currently studying Bio-Engineering with a great interest in the human body and biomechanics. He avidly plays intramural leagues and open gyms in Berkeley, aiming to also constantly improve himself and have as much fun playing this great game.

Premier Coaches

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Club Director

Sarah has been involved with volleyball at a high level since she was 12. She is from Santa Cruz and beach volleyball was a way of life. She continued her passion for the sport playing in college at Santa Barbara City College and practicing with the UCSB team her senior year. She has coached with SB Volleyball Club, Gold Cal in Sacramento and Golden Bear for the past 15 years. Sarah has also coached high school varsity volleyball at Albany High and Piedmont High.

Sarah owns and runs ProAction Athletics giving our volleyball club a huge advantage with access to our private training studio. 

Her sole goal is to lead Golden Bear as a professional club and support the values of hard work, teamwork, and accountability for all of our players. She also keeps in mind that volleyball is a game and should be fun as well!

Volleyball Training Director

Justin Caraway has been a Golden Bear coach since 1998. From 1998-2004, every team he coached qualified for JOs, the highlight being a 5th place Club division finish in 2003 with 16 Blue, an extraordinary finish for a "second" team. From 1998-2003, Justin was the head girls and boys coach at Berkeley High School, leading the girls team to three undefeated ACCAL titles (2000-2002) and the NCS DI championship in 2001. He was also the head coach at St. Mary's HS, Piedmont HS, Cache Valley Juniors, and the Baylor University Men's club team.