SET FOR SUCCESS

WASILLA — Tennis may not be the only game where zero translates to love.

Wasilla High varsity volleyball team’s 6-0 start to the season is all about love — the love of the team’s coach for the game.

Claudia Farias-Pinard is happy with the 2010 season so far, not just because of the Warriors’ undefeated record going into tonight’s Northern Lights Conference clash with Palmer (5-0), but because her team is showing the love for the game that all but oozes out of her 6-foot-2-inch frame anytime someone mentions volleyball.

“I love volleyball,” Farias-Pinard said. “I love the game. I try to pass that love to the players.

“They’ve come to me with a foundation based on physical skills and a desire to play to the best of their ability,” Farias-Pinard said. “My job is simply to help them put this foundation to use and show them the right direction to achieve success on the court.”

Farias-Pinard is no stranger to success. In her 25 years of playing volleyball, she’s played as a middle and outside hitter on professional teams in France and her native Brazil. She’s won two national championships as a player and one as an assistant coach at the College of Southern Idaho.

It was in Idaho where she met her husband, P.J., who urged her to move back to Alaska with him. When Farias-Pinard found a job here, she moved north. She has her archtect’s license in Brazil but is an intern architect in Alaska pending her licensing here; she’ll tackle that project after the volleyball season. She also found an outlet for her volleyball skills, first as the C team coach and then four years as the JV volleyball coach at PHS.

She took 2008 off from coaching to take a course required for her architecture certification, which is only offered in the fall. Then in 2009, she took over the WHS program.

It was rocky at first, she said. There was neither a JV nor C coach; instead, she’d call in volunteers each day.

“The JV team almost every day had a new coach,” she recalled.

This year, Andy Couch is her C team coach and Gary Walker, who coaches the Wasilla Middle School varsity team, coaches the JV.

The school has been nothing but supportive, she said, making the transition to Wasilla easy.

“I really feel at home here, and feel respected by the school and parents,” Farias-Pinard said. “It makes it easy to work in such a good environment.”

Farias-Pinard said another key to her success is facing each game on its own merits.

“We take each match one at a time and understand that every opponent has the ability to beat us if we don’t play at our highest level,” Farias-Pinard said. “The next game is the important game.”

Farias-Pinard said her team has the focus to win big this year.

“The chemistry on the court is amazing,” she said, “and we are excited at the opportunity to share it with the community.”

Aryn Crane, a senior outside hitter for the Warriors, said her coach’s experience playing volleyball around the world has brought to the gym a new style of volleyball Farias-Pinard has modified for her WHS team.

“She had a style in mind and then she adapted it to us,” Crane said. “We’re all, like, 5-6.”

The fact that Farias-Pinard towers over her team (the tallest Warrior varsity player is about 5-foot-9) hasn’t hampered coach or team. They work hard to make the system work, Crane said.

“It’s not all fun and games,” Crane said. “She knows the work that goes into it. It’s as fun as it can be.”

Farias-Pinard said when she was the age of her team members, she was mentored by a former national team coach. They practiced tough.

“I learned from the best,” she said. “When you need to be (tough), you got to be. You can have fun and play hard, too.”

Farias-Pinard’s been known to have a more energized, in-your-face style than some coaches, including her long-time colleague at PHS, Steve Reynolds.

Farias-Pinard just shrugs.

“That’s the way I am,” she said.

Crane smiles. “There’s no real way to describe her,” she said. “She’s just herself.”

Farias-Pinard credits Reynolds with supporting her efforts to coach.

“We are friends outside the court,” she said. “On the court …” Farias-Pinard makes a sputtering noise and a gesture with her hand to indicate their friendship will be suspended as they both seek a conference win tonight.

For Farias-Pinard, life is a sum of three elements.

“I tell everyone I am really blessed because I am able to do the two things I love the most — volleyball and architecture,” Farias-Pinard said. “The only one to complain is my husband.

“Anything you do with love, you do well,” she added.

As for tonight’s game, Farias-Pinard said it will be a big one.

“That’s going to be awesome,” she said. “I think both teams are really excited.”

After five years in Palmer blue, she’ll welcome the Moose to her red-motif school as the team to beat.

“I am Brazilian, and we are a very colorful people, so I would hope I could look good in all colors,” Farias-Pinard says, smiling broadly. “I love the red.”

The game starts about 6:30 p.m. at WHS.