At the age of 12, Dan Reighter joined his middle school volleyball team and had many teachers pushing him to be better and stronger in the world of volleyball. Now, over 15 years later with six years of coaching on his back, Reighter has come to lead the CHS girls varsity volleyball team to the top. Coaching various levels, Reighter has found that teaching high school teams instead of college teams is much more rewarding as he is able to get the the varsity girls prepared for the college level. Playing at the college level requires a lot of hard work and Reighter is looking to prepare his athletes for that specific challenge. While getting them prepared for the collegiate level is the ultimate goal, winning and losing should not be blinding them from what will matter in a long term commitment to the team with making improvements to their own plays.  

“Ultimately the team’s goal is to win, to have them put themselves out there and leave it all out on the court, no holding back. But at the end, as long as they are having fun, that’s all I care about.” Reighter said. Reighter sees a lot of promise in his team and knows they are still learning from their failures and successes, but they also have high expectations for themselves and other players on the team. Paris Pearson, a CHS junior and varsity volleyball player, can vouch for Reighter’s coaching methods.

“It’s a lot more laid back; he listens to us a lot and takes our advice

for drills which is pretty good as a coach,” Pearson said.  

As a player, Pearson can agree that recording the games and practices not only helps the team, but the videos can be submitted to colleges to give them film for recruitment. When describing previous coaches compared to Reighter, there is a difference that really helps the girls get to where they need to be without expecting so much that the players are overly stressed. Reighter makes the drills fun when they need to be, but also helpful for the girls by taking suggestions for the team’s improvement.

As the season progresses, Reighter is working on implementing drills and plays in order for the girls to perform to the best of their ability. While the main goal is to make sure the team is having a good time, it is still a high school varsity team that needs to do its very best. This transition with the new head coach will be good for the varsity volleyball team and the girls are looking forward to the new season.