OTTUMWA —
For some people it takes multiple decades, several college majors and many different jobs to figure out what they want to do with their lives.
Jessica Carson is not one of these people. Every since she was a little girl she knew what she wanted to do with her life: Become a teacher and a coach.
And that’s exactly what she has become. Carson will start her fourth year as the Ottumwa High volleyball coach this fall — she also teaches physical education at Wilson Elementary School in Ottumwa.
In her first two years, the Bulldogs won their conference championship and last year, while they didn’t win the conference championship for the first time in six years; they did finish with a respectable 25-12 record.
Although Carson lost some great players to graduation, including Ashley Salgado and Peyton Crosser; who holds the school record for kills in a season, one of her team’s goals remains to make it to state — a feat the volleyball program has yet to accomplish.
“Ottumwa’s never made it to state and I want to be the coach to take them to state,” she said.
Still, Carson said this season will be a rebuilding process.
“We have four solid returners coming back,” she said.
Defense, Carson said, will be one of the major themes of this year’s practices. But no matter what they do, she said, it will be important to keep everyone involved and active at practice, Carson said.
“It’s important we’re focused on volleyball skills when we’re there,” she said.
One of the main reasons Carson said she’s so passionate about sports is because it can teach lessons that also are applicable in other areas of life.
“Sometimes in sports you have take a role on you don’t always like and that also goes on in your everyday life,” she said. “We [the volleyball coaching staff] try to represent that and work together in all situations.”
Other intangibles sports can instill in young athletes include discipline and helping others. Watching the Bulldog girls personalities evolve, Carson said, is her favorite aspect of coaching.
“Just being around the kids and seeing them grow as inviduals, not just seeing them grow as players, but seeing them grow as people; seeing them become better people,” she said.
Thought it’s important to treat all her players fairly, Carson said, this doesn’t mean she’s always going to coach them in the same manner.
“Some players don’t respond well to being yelled at and some respond well to being yelled at,” she said.
Carson said she tries to coach in a way that brings out the best in her players; which varies depending on the individual.
She said the hardest thing about being a coach is having to reconcile with the fact that no matter what you do, you can’t please everyone.
“There’s always going to be people who are disappointed,” she said. “There are always going to people who want more.”
Alhough Carson said she’s learned something from every coach she has played for, her biggest role model is her dad, Ron Carson; who coached her in several sports when she was young. She says she tries to pass on what she learned from her dad — who attends every volleyball game along with Jessica Carson’s mom Etha — to her players.
Carson said one important lesson her dad taught her that she tries to instill in her players is: “Always play as hard as you possibly can and to leave everything on the floor.”
Carson played volleyball in her hometown of Newton at Newton High School, but she went on to play two different sports — track and field and basketball — in college at William Penn University.
When she has some free time in her schedule, Carson opts to shop and spend time with her family.
“My family is the biggest support I have,” she said.
Sports
June 11, 2012
Volleyball coach Carson always knew what she wanted to do
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