Nothing makes girls’ volleyball coach Charles “Chip” Tarleton happier than leading his team to victory.
Tarleton played football, basketball, and beach volleyball for four years at Oxnard High School which was his only experience before becoming a coach.
He had little experience in playing volleyball when he started coaching as an assistant coach. He was hired by one of his friends, who owned a local club.
Athletics Director Emily Stevens was looking for a coach who had previous experience with establishing a new program.
“He has the experience and expertise in starting a new team, ”Stevens said.
When interviewing Tarleton for the coaching position, Stevens found out that he had previously coached volleyball at Newbury High School and club, giving him “almost 20 years” of experience in coaching.
Tarleton believes his strengths as a coach are that he is competitive and loves to win, and he feels his weakness is that he is “old school” in the way he coaches.
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”My challenge is to develop the ability to coach and mentor these student athletes in a [manner] they are more receptive to,” said Tarleton.
Tarleton says that his biggest challenge as a coach is that the Foothill team is, and he believes laying the foundation for a good sports program is difficult.
Senior and varsity player Avalon Elliot feels that as a coach he has a “good vision” and goals.
”I was expecting to be treated as a freshman,” Avalon quotes.
Compared to her other coaches,“He definitely is more goal-oriented than any coach I’ve ever had,”Elliot said,”Coming in I expected him to treat us all like freshmen because we have a lot, but he treated us all like seniors.”
With Tarleton, Avalon believes that the team could make it to at least first or second place in league this year. According to Elliot, he is very intent on making everyone on the team feel as though they’re in a family. He strongly believes in no drama and making sure everyone is included.
Tarleton believes that the team’s greatest strength and weakness is that they are a new team refers to this as being a ”double-edged sword”.
Nothing makes girls’ volleyball coach Charles “Chip” Tarleton happier than leading his team to victory.
To Tarleton,”Winning comes second, the process is first.”