A lot of coaches strive to create a friendly and comfortable environment for their players. However, this comes easier to the varsity volleyball team because of their coaches, head coach Clark Oberle and assistant head coach Eighmy Dobbins who have known each other for years. 

They first met when Dobbins was in 7th grade and Oberle was a coach at her future high school, Argyle High School.  

“When I got hired at Liberty, I found out that I would be hiring a new JV coach,” Oberle says. “I knew Coach Dobbins had just graduated college and I knew she would be a great addition to our volleyball staff, so I called her.”

For Dobbins, it was the perfect opportunity.

“I was super excited about the opportunity to work with Coach O at Liberty,” she said. “With this being my first job, it was nice to know I would be working with someone who I have known since I was in middle school.”

After experiencing what it was like to play for Oberle, she is now getting an up-close look at everything he does on a daily basis.  

“The thing I enjoy most about coaching with Coach O is getting to see all the behind the scenes work I didn’t get to see as a player in high school,” Dobbins says. “There’s so much more that goes on in the office beyond planning practice and preparing for games.”

Junior McKenna Gildon finds that her coaches’ relationship impacts the way that their team works together.

“I believe the coaches bring the team together by preaching accountability and teamwork,” Gildon said. “The coaches change the atmosphere of the team by being encouraging while giving us instruction so we can get better as a team and individuals.”

Although the coaches work to impact their players, they also end up impacting each other.  

“She makes me a little tougher and I make her a little more relaxed. That’s just our personalities. She is more direct and to the point and I am much more laid back and relaxed, so we rub off on each other in those ways.”

“Coach O and I balance each other out because I am really tough and he is more relaxed,” Dobbins said. “We benefit from each other’s personalities for sure.”

Even though the two coaches have different personalities, they know each other very well.

“She knows exactly what I expect and how I do things,” Oberle said. “We have very different personalities and I think we compliment each other very well.”

“I think Coach O and I balance each other out really well, he is an awesome big picture thinker and I am pretty concerned with details,” Dobbins said. “It makes us a good team because we know how the other works best, which probably comes from all of our years together previously.”