Daleville Valorie Wells Kati Weir as Wapahani volleyball head coach

MUNCIE, Ind. — Wapahani volleyball’s 2022-23 state championship officially marked the end of an era.

Not only did five key seniors graduate, head coach Kati Weir also stepped away from the program after leading the Raiders to the IHSAA Class 2A state finals in three of her four seasons at the helm.

Athletic director Matt Luce hired former Daleville head coach Valorie Wells to take over. Like Weir, she played high school volleyball in Delaware County and collegiately in Indiana.

Although filling the 2A Coach of the Year’s shoes is no easy task, Luce believes Wells is the perfect replacement.

“Valerie is just a very energetic leader and person that knows Delaware County,” Luce said. “We’re thrilled that she wants to be the leader of our volleyball program and continue our excellent tradition.”

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Wells: ‘I’m up for any challenge’

As a player, Wells helped Cowan in 2012 win its first volleyball state championship.

She then attended Saint Francis, where she was the starting libero for three seasons and became the fastest player in school history to record 1,000 digs (56 games), finishing with 1,951 overall.

And like it did in high school, Wells’ production also led to wins as the Red Flash went from an 8-26 to 30-9 between her freshman and junior seasons, marking the first team in the program’s 44-year history to notch 30 wins in a single season and the second to win a Crossroads League championship.

Wanting to stay around the game, Wells soon took over a fledgling Daleville program that went 23-38 in the two seasons before her arrival. After going 5-15 in her first campaign, the Broncos rebounded with back-to-back 1A sectional titles in 2021 and 2022.

It’s been the journey Wells envisioned for years, and Wapahani, a larger school with a successful pedigree, represents the ideal next step forward in her evolution.

“Growing up and playing in Delaware County, it was always a dream to go coach in Delaware County,” Wells said. “When I was a player, it was like Wapahani was the school, and so it’s pretty exciting I get to be a part of that.”

“I’m up for any challenge, and so I just (want to) challenge my coaching skill and ability and challenge the girls a little bit, too.”

Fundamental work is a major emphasis in Well’s coaching, so that’s been the main focus thus far as she continues to evaluate everyone’s skills and roles.

The roster’s hunger and determination coming off the state title has particularly impressed Wells. She prides herself as a competitor and is pleased to see her new team share a similar mindset.

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“If you’re passionate about something, you love something, you’re gonna want to put your full effort into it, and that’s why I coach, that’s why I’m around the sport all the time,” Wells said. “So really just seeing the girls buy into the passion and wanting to work hard and the conditioning, open gym — all those little things are important. It’s the little things that make the big things better.

“What I’m super impressed with this group is just how focused they are … I had a senior yesterday say, ‘We don’t walk, we run places. We run to get water,’ so good leadership is going to be key because some girls have to step up.”

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Wells begins every practice with an inspirational quote, and she’s worked to learn the different motivations for each player.

Connecting with the girls from the beginning was an emphasis for Wells. She said the importance of team chemistry was one of the biggest lessons she took from her time at Daleville, one that she didn’t previously put as much importance on as a player.

“It is different. I think with playing, I’m worried about me, the team, trying to win,” Wells said. “But as a coach, you’ve got to really put into perspective different personalities and the team chemistry, and I worry about that a lot.”

Wapahani also has decided on a over-arching quote to encapsulate its upcoming campaign. It’s the new-look roster’s way of putting their own stamp on the Raiders’ legacy.

“‘Tradition reignited,’ because Wapahani Delaware County volleyball has not changed. The mindset should be the same to what it always has been,” Wells said. “I’m just putting my little style into it. So we still have the mindset that the past coaches have installed into the girls and I respect everything that they’ve done.”

Weir also encouraged Wells to go into this new situation with a clear mind and unique perspective.

The two knew each other from high school and have shared ideas since taking over their respective programs. So when Weir stepped away from the Raiders, they again consulted as Wells applied for the position.

“Me and Kati are really close,” Wells said. “She’s been super respectful and supportive of the decision that I have made and I’ve respected and supported her with the decision she has made as well. We’re both super excited to see what’s gonna be in store.”

“(Wells getting hired) was a very positive thing for me to see,” Weir said. “She’s got a passion for the game and I think the girls will really feed off of that … It’s good that there is a understanding between the two of us that she could give me a call and we could talk about it a little bit. So we’ll be rooting for each other.”

Weir: ‘I knew it was time to move on’

Weir stepping down might’ve come as a surprise to some, but she’d considered moving on long before the final decision was announced.

While winning a state championship sounds like a storybook way to walk away, she said that didn’t play into her decision making. Weir declined to go into specifics about her reasoning, only that “It’s hard because there’s not really a place for me to say it was one thing.”

It was the relationships with her players and coaches that kept her coming back to the court, yet Weir is a self-proclaimed “analytical person.” So although her emotional ties remained, she eventually stepped back and looked at the bigger picture.

“It was an incredibly hard decision. I think, yeah, it could be surprising because it’s one that led all the way up to the start and into our spring workouts,” Weir said. “When I took the job at Wapahani, I planned on being there for a long time, and that’s what made it so difficult, but especially because of the relationships I made.

“Ultimately, I knew it was time to move on, but I just was hanging onto those relationships and just the special moments that we had … I met with all of them and let them know kind of the details of it, but basically at the end told them, ‘You’re going to have tough decisions that you have to make in your life and sometimes it’s going to be what is best for you,’ and that’s what it was for me.”

Weir led the Raiders to a 117-22 record during her four seasons. The teams won three out of four semistate titles — three straight in the years they were in 2A — for the first time in program history.

Luce commended her continuation of Wapahani’s winning history Jim Craig started and said that it’s a testament to her developmental skills that all five of this season’s seniors will play collegiately.

Weir achieved all this while managing an ever-fluctuating personal life as well. When she took the job, her husband, T.J., was still playing professional baseball in Texas. Then his career path changed, and later Weir had a new child, yet her focus on the court was never affected.

“There’s just so many changes that were happening … but Wapahani volleyball was that constant for us,” Weir said. “The championships and the accolades are fleeting, and I’m so proud of that, but the girls really bought in and many of them sent messages to me about how they’ve learned to bring out the best in others. It’s more than volleyball. How you carry yourself matters, and that’s what it’s all about. So that’s what I’ll miss the most.”

Weir, however, will still be on the sidelines come this fall, just in different colors.

After leaving Wapahani, Weir soon met up with her high school volleyball coach, Stephanie Bloom of Yorktown. As the pair caught up, Bloom told Weir that her team’s volunteer assistant coaching position was open if she was interested.

Weir said she didn’t plan to jump into another coaching opportunity so soon, but the nature of the role is the necessary combination of time commitment, flexibility and competitive involvement that she could currently handle.

So Weir, who helped the Tigers win the 2011 3A state title before her four-year career at Ball State, will rejoin her alma mater and stay around the game. She is open to becoming a head coach again one day, but for now, Yorktown is where she’ll be.

“Coach Bloom and I are very close. She’s been a mentor and she was my high school coach, and she’s just been somebody I can always call and bounce ideas off of. What’s really cool is that she’s always been in my corner and has always said there’s a spot for me at Yorktown if I want to be a part of it,” Weir said. “It just seemed like the right fit and a good way for me to stay in it because I love coaching. I think it’s in my DNA. There’s just no way out of it for me.”