There is a new player on the court for DGS girls’ varsity volleyball: the new head coach, Kristina Conrad. Conrad has coached the sophomore volleyball team at DGS for five out of her seven years with the program and has a total of 12 years of coaching experience under her belt.

Conrad has high hopes for all of the girls in the program and said that what she is most excited about for the 2018 season is “to see these girls continue to grow,” a hope that pertains to more than just the game. As a coach, Conrad works hard to create relationships with her players that go beyond volleyball.

“She checks in on us daily, making sure that we are doing well in classes, in school, on and off the court,” senior captain and defensive specialist Sarah Reilly said.

Coach Conrad places a high emphasis on being both good people and good players, and she hopes the program is “just known for being outstanding kids. The leadership on our team is absolutely mindblowing, the things these girls have done to create this culture where we care about each other and work hard,” Conrad said.

Being motivated and playing at the highest level for success are two key pillars of Conrad’s coaching philosophy. “Conrad brings so much more intensity to the court,” Reilly said.

“Conrad really enforces hard work, and that’s her biggest … thing: she likes to drive into her players,” senior captain and outside hitter Lucy Dumford said.

One change Conrad has made since being at the helm is holding consistent program practices involving all levels. “Everyone knows each others’ names and we’re able to cheer each other on more at games than ever before,” Dumford said.

On the varsity level, Conrad focuses on the comradery between teammates. “We focus a lot on each other and being really selfless, … we learned how each person … want[s] to be … loved on the court, so if they want to be … talked to or cheered on, or given high fives,” junior captain and 3-year varsity setter Addy Karmik said.

Conrad says this is especially important due to the diverse volleyball backgrounds of the varsity team members. “The girls have come in this year and created a competitive culture, with girls merging from multiple different teams …,” Conrad said.

Conrad tries to ensure that the team is successful, and a large part of that is helping the girls gel together regardless of their previous experiences. “We really had to work hard to merge them and understand what hard work looked like and felt like, so we’ve had a lot of discussions to figure out how we can find that balance.”

Part of this success can be attributed to the communication between the captains and the coaching staff. “We’re in charge of holding people accountable at practice or at games… [and] bigger things, like if there’s drama between the team,” Dumford said.

In addition to Conrad, assistant varsity coach Ryan Altenburg and sophomore coach Pat Fardy have also been added to the DGS roster. Both of these coaches have experience coaching boys’ and the former girls’ volleyball as well. This fresh coaching staff of Conrad, Altenburg and Fardy leave DGS hopeful that the girls’ volleyball program will return to its status as a crown jewel of DGS sports.

Conrad has one big goal for this year’s season.

“Downers Grove South used to be the scariest team in the state, they were consistently the team that you didn’t want to play… Some teams have removed us from their schedules, such as MacAuley and other squads, and we want to be back on that, where people want to compete with us,” Conrad said.