Back in the game: Longtime mentor returns to Valley volleyball

PALMER — Longtime Valley volleyball coach Steve Reynolds took a step away from the game he loves. Reynolds moved away from the state he loves. But after a few years away from both, Reynolds is back.

Wednesday night, Reynolds returns to a place he spent a large part of his life.

The Palmer High School gymnasium.

But the former Palmer volleyball head coach is now at the helm of the Colony High School program.

“I love coaching volleyball. I love being back in the gym,” Reynolds said recently.

Reynolds, who was named the Colony head coach late in the 2017-18 school year, is coaching high school volleyball for the first time since 2014. He resigned as Palmer’s head coach in early 2015, to devote more time to family and his then day job. During his 15 years with the Moose, Reynolds posted a 241-90 record, with 14 state tournament appearances, 11 trips to the Northern Lights Conference championship match and six NLC titles. Reynolds stayed close to the game shortly after leaving his job as head coach. He helped out his successor, Jayme DeHart, who was a star setter during her time in Reynolds’ program. Reynolds coached some club volleyball.

But after a move to Spokane, Washington, he was away from the game entirely.

Reynolds was working and living close to family, but not around the sport that had been such a big part of his life. But visits from a team, which includes players he coached at the club level and now coaches at Colony, were part of the journey that brought Reynolds back to Valley volleyball. A local volleyball club brought a team to Spokane both years Reynolds was living there. Reynolds had a chance to spend time with the team while Spokane, including the latest visit in March.

“There was a connection with some of the kids,” Reynolds said.

About that same time, Reynolds got a call from a friend a former assistant, Robert Black.

“Robert called and said the Colony job is open, ever think of taking it,” Reynolds said. “Another friend called, hey the Colony job is open. Somebody else called about that Wasilla job.”

Reynolds said the decision to return to Alaska and volleyball was, “kind of a simultaneous thing.”

“I went down there to work. I didn’t have any intention of coming back,” Reynolds said of the move to Spokane. “I got down there and went to work, making a living in this new place.”

Reynolds said he began to realize his true feelings away from home.

“I really missed Alaska, a lot of stuff about Alaska,” Reynolds said. “Volleyball wasn’t even on the radar yet.”

That’s until the phone calls came, and before he had the chance to spend time with the club volleyball players in March.

Reynolds loves volleyball. But it’s more than just the game, he said.

“My two favorite non-gym moments are being around the table at team dinners,” Reynolds said. “For me that’s the most enjoyable thing ever.”

And the coaching, he said.

“My passion has always been preparing teams,” Reynolds said. “I love being in the gym preparing teams, putting people in position to do well and perform.”

After wearing blue for so long, Reynolds has made the transition to green. And that’s what most people want to ask him about.

“People asked me if I was going to break out in boils or a rash,” Reynolds said with a laugh.

Reynolds joked, after he accepted the job, he looked in his closet to see if he had any green.

“The green was really lacking from my wardrobe,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t own a lot of green.”

Reynolds said it was certainly different preparing for this volleyball season.

“Part of it was little weird, being at a different school. But there’s good kids anywhere. Any school has good kids,” Reynolds said.

Overall, Reynolds transitioning to the new program went well.

“I felt fairly comfortable right (away),” Reynolds said.

Wednesday’s NLC match at Palmer is not Reynolds’ first visit to his old school as the Colony head coach. Reynolds brought his Knights to the annual Palmer Jamboree in August.

“The part I found most strange was going to Palmer for the jamboree,” Reynolds said. “To walk in there after spending 15 years walking into that gym and not hosting was odd.”

Reynolds joked that he would look at the schedule and find himself checking which court Palmer is playing on.

“The first match we had some parents yelling, let’s go Colony. There was a little odd moment where I was like, oh that’s me,” Reynolds said with a laugh.

Contact Mat-Su Valley editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.