On February 9th the South El Monte High school boy’s volleyball team was holding its first set of tryouts in the history of the school. Tryouts were going to be one week long. Coaches Mr. Mario Lopez and assistant coach Mr. Pedro Lopez were very excited to be the first coaches in the school’s history to helm boys volleyball. After this week a final list of players was selected, when asked about what skills he was looking for during tryouts he said, “I was looking mainly for quick reflexes, hand eye coordination, and commitment that’s a big one as well, and how well you have been improving many of the guy’s were improving since day one.”

When asked about taking the challenge of becoming the volleyball coach he said, “I like volleyball and its a sport that was never in high school, so when I heard the opportunity of the guys being able to play here, and I was able to coach, yeah I jumped on it because I loved the sport and I loved teaching and mentoring so why not be a coach.” Coach Lopez went on to express how much he loved the sport of volleyball, and how he really enjoys coaching and teaching students new skills to play.

Coach Lopez aims to strive for a CIF run making a difference proving to other schools this team is competitive. He wants to go to CIF making an impact and making a new difference with this new sport. What motivated Coach. Lopez to coach for volleyball is that he loves coaching and he loves the sport he said, “Not a lot of boys know how to play volleyball and its a sport with skills he wanted to teach.” If the school manages to qualify for CIF this would look very good due to the fact that this is the first year this new sport is introduced to South El Monte High school. Later on in the interview I asked Mr. Lopez some fun questions. When I asked him his thoughts on whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza these were his words, “ I think it does (laughing) I think it gives it a nice flavor.” After we asked him what was his favorite movie of all time was, he said, “My favorite movie of all time would probably be Star Wars: The Last Jedi because I’ve loved Star Wars since I was little.”