New Calipatria volleyball coach Amezcua ready for a ‘whole other thing’
CALIPATRIA — Although her days as a player have long passed, Kirsten Amezcua continues to rotate positions on Calipatria High volleyball program — with her latest being the most important of them all.
Following the retirement of long-time coach Hector “JR” Bañaga Jr. this past season, Amezcua was recently appointed by school district superintendent as the new head coach of the program.
Amezcua’s promotion represents a sort of full-court rotation through the program, She played all four seasons during her time as a CHS student, then served for years as an assistant and junior varsity coach before assuming the head coaching job.
“I do take a lot of pride in it,” the 1994 Hornet graduate said on Saturday. “Coming from being a player when the team was amazingly strong and in CIF every season to now come back and coach, it’s amazing actually.”
Amezcua spent her career at CHS playing under Jill Tucker and Bañaga and, in her final year, under longtime coach Sandy George.
“I’m so pleased to know the program I worked so hard to build over many years was helmed by JR and now by Kirsten — people who have a vested hometown interest in the community and each of the girls as well as the program,” George said.
While Calipatria isn’t Amezcua’s hometown, it is the city she has lived in for the longest period of time, as she was born in the East Coast and frequently relocated with her family growing up due to her father being in the U.S. Navy.
Coincidentally, Coach George was a neighbor to Amezcua’s family and convinced Kirsten, who was 13 years old at the time, to try out for volleyball, as she had no prior experience on the court.
After graduating from CHS, Kirsten attended Cottey College in Missouri, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in management and continued playing volleyball in a recreational league.
She would eventually meet and marry Javier Amezcua, lifelong resident of Calipatria and former CHS volleyball coach himself.
The couple spent a brief period living in Los Angeles, although didn’t feel it was an appropriate place to raise their two children.
“It was hard for my kids to understand that they couldn’t walk down the street by themselves,” she said. “They were not going to walk to school by themselves — these things we take for granted living here in Calipat.”
In 2007, Amezcua returned to the Hornet program, with her husband as the head coach and herself as the junior varsity coach.
“I think we always knew that we wanted to come back here,” she said.
In 2013, Amezcua helped with the volleyball program during practices as the team prepared for state CIF playoffs.
At the time, she saw a keen interest for the game developing in her daughter Anelise, who is currently at senior at CHS.
To help her daughter grow in the game, in 2016, Amezcua began coaching the JV volleyball team with varsity coach JR Bañaga and with her husband serving as an assistant running the freshman team.
“Until last season, I would never really see myself as being the one in charge,” she said. “It’s taken me a lot to kind of put myself out there and be the one talking to the girls as a group.”
This season, Amezcua will be at helm while her husband runs the JV team.
While being able to continue to coach her daughter is a primary attraction, Amezcua is looking forward to working with a group of five seniors currently on the team who, since eighth grade, have had either her or her husband as a coach.
“We have a very strong program right now,” Amezcua said. “We pushed them. We definitely like to see them give everything they’ve got because that’s how he and I played at our sports when we were playing.”
Although her connections to many of the players, Amezcua is adamant that she will play only those who belong on the court.
“I’m not the type of coach that’s just going to be like yeah, you guys are seniors, you’re going take over the whole team and you’re going to play all the time,” she said. “If a junior is doing better at that position, they will definitely be put into play.”
At her new position, Amezcua hopes to create more of a connection between all three levels of program.
“We want to focus on having a program and not just three teams,” she explained. “We don’t have the feeder teams, and the club teams that other schools do, so they have to learn a lot, as far as the game and technique and the rules.”
While the program has more participation this year than it has in years past, Amezcua has made it a point to teach mental toughness, as, she believes, it will be necessary once they come up against schools such as Calexico and Central Union this season.
“I want them knowing that they can go out there and be competitive against these teams,” she said. “I don’t want them playing scared, I want them to have enough confidence in their technique and in their form that they can go out there and feel comfortable and confident playing their game against a bigger school.”
In preparation for their Aug. 13 debut against Holtville High, the new Hornet coach has busy implementing preseason strength and conditioning programs throughout these past two months.
Highlighted and bolded on their schedule is their game against league rival West Shores High, which has defeated Calipatria the past two seasons.
“That’s kind of our eyes on the prize,” she said. “It keep us motivated and working as hard as we can.”
Off the court, Amezcua has been taking classes to become a Certified Interscholastic Coach to help her better understand how to communicate to her players on how they could improve their techniques.
“Those classes help you be able to break it down better to help them,” the coach said. “And how to also deal with teenage girls — because that’s a whole other thing. That is when my management degree comes in handy. I’m not even kidding.”