Arlington’s Melissa Thompson part of new generation of Wesco coaches

Published 8:56 am Friday, September 10, 2010

While most Americans were relaxing at home, wrapping up their long Labor Day weekend Monday evening, Marysville-Pilchuck volleyball coach Shelly Johnson was working.

Johnson, donning a University of Washington shirt that is no doubt a tribute to one of her coaching heroes (UW football legend Don James), spent a little extra time with her setters this holiday after the majority of the Tomahawks had gone home after practice. She knows those extra moments are that much more precious with the season opener just days away.

It’s no surprise that the 26th-year head coach, who expects more out of her players than many other coaches do, also puts a little bit more into her girls.

Her extra effort and attention has led to success on the court where the Tommies have had a perennially strong program, whose most far-reaching accomplishment to date was finishing second in the 2003 Class 4A state tournament.

But that effort has also led to a proliferation of imitators throughout the league.

Johnson and her program have generated three former players who have gone on to become Wesco head coaches, as well as one who is an assistant, Stephanie Parker at Cascade.

Natalie Bowie took Kamiak to state in 2009 — racking up a win over M-P in the process. This year Shannon Nyblod takes over at Shorewood and one of Johnson’s most decorated former players and a major contributor on the 2003 team — Melissa Thompson — takes over at Arlington.

When you hear Thompson, the 2009 Northwest 1B League Coach of the Year at Grace Academy, talk about how she developed her coaching philosophy, it’s clear that the protege hasn’t strayed far from the teachings of the mentor.

“Sticking to fundamentals is great,” Thompson said a day after taking her Eagles on a team building exercise. “The game teaches the game. That is my philosophy. Simple is always better.”

Much of Johnson’s success has come from stressing fundamentals, but what truly makes her a special coach often seems to be generated by off the court activities. In 2003 she took Thompson and her teammates to the same type of ropes course to which Thompson brought her Eagles this year. Every year Johnson and the Tommies travel to Wenatchee for a tournament that is more about the night in Leavenworth and the team bonding than the actual competition that M-P faces.

“It’s not all about Xs and Os,” Johnson said.

Johnson hasn’t captured a state crown but she has built something that many state champions haven’t: a legacy of players and coaches that will continue her coaching philosophy for many years to come.

“It’s so cool,” Johnson said. “It’s so much fun to see kids evolve.”

Thompson has been possibly her most interesting legacy. The coach, who is working on her doctorate in nutrition at Bastyr University and the University of Washington, admits that she never thought she would be a coach. That is until she broke her hand during her sophomore year at Robert Morris University, where she played four years on a volleyball scholarship.

One of her coaches there said she should try coaching and Thompson never looked back.

“I wish I would have coached more during my career because it was very beneficial,” she said.

Thompson had a decorated playing career and is one of the best beach players to ever come out of the Northwest. In 2007 she was a member of the Collegiate Beach Volleyball World Team. She has played for Dane Selznick — the coach of Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh — as well as former USA Women’s Nation team coach Toshi Yoshida.

She could have continued her career anywhere but home called to her.

“I love this area,” she said. “I always knew that I would come back,” Thompson said.

Now she’ll be competing head-to-head with her first mentor, who couldn’t be happier to see her on the other side of the court.

“When the Arlington job opened up, I thought that (hiring Thompson) would be so great for that program,” Johnson said.

While she wishes Thompson well, Johnson’s not ready to help her too much.

“I’ve never lost to Arlington so I don’t plan on doing it now,” Johnson said. “But I expect them to be much better than they’ve been.”

Johnson has a little extra motivation this year, one she reluctantly admits is probably one of her last few at M-P. She said the opening of a new high school in the Marysville School District (Marysville-Getchell begins fielding athletic teams in fall, 2011) will likely mean that the M-P program will have to be rebuilt. That’s a job she thinks is best suited for someone who will be there for the long haul.

In the meantime, “I have to beat them (my former players),” she said. “You can’t let them beat you.”

“I’m a big Shelly Johnson fan,” Bowie said. “It’s intimidating, sobering, fun (coaching against her).

“I don’t like to lose but if I was to get beat by anybody, I could stomach getting beat by her.”