Pioneers: The women who coach boys

Janet Opels of Rolling Meadows and Jodi Blazek of Hersey probably would not mind if you referred to them as old-school.

At least not when it comes to boys volleyball, one of the high-profile high school boys sports where a female coach is accepted and respected.

As recently as five years ago, two-thirds of the coaches of the 15 boys volleyball teams - the Mid-Suburban League, St. Viator, Maine West and Leyden - were women.

But as trailblazing coaches such as Conant's Peggy Scholten and Maureen Moeller of Maine West have stepped down, Opels and Blazek remain as the only two female area boys volleyball head coaches.

"I think that the reason more men are now coaching boys volleyball in Illinois is that they have gone through the system," said Moeller, who spent 25 years coaching boys and girls at the prep level. "When boys volleyball first became an IHSA sanctioned sport, women were the coaches because they had the experience from coaching the girls.

"For me, it was a privilege coaching the boys. To think that I have experienced athletics on the coattails of Title IX - I was not even allowed to practice in a so-called 'boys gym' as a high-school athlete - and to come full circle and be a woman and a head coach of a boys high-school team - it's been an honor.

"When I first began coaching the boys, the practices were more coach-driven - then they became more athletic-driven as the boys began to hit harder."

Recently, extremely successful boys coaches such as Scholten, Buffalo Grove's Courtney DeBolt, Joyce Richardson of Palatine and Kathleen Russell-Rizzo from Barrington have stepped down and passed the reins on to male coaches.

The list of the success of female area coaches is an extensive one; Richardson led Palatine to a third-place state finish in 2004, Russell-Rizzo's Broncos were state runners-up in 2005 and DeBolt led the Bison to the final four in 2006.

Not to mention Illinois volleyball legend Nancy Lill, whose Hersey Huskies were second in state in 2003.

"I learned a lot from her," said Blazek of her mentor.

Blazek, one of the bright stars of Illinois volleyball coaching, also took the Huskies to the Elite Eight in her first year as boys varsity coach (2005). She served as an assistant and JV coach under Lill before taking over as head coach.

"I've been lucky," added Blazek, who graduated from Hersey in 1992, and went on to play college ball as a setter at Bowling Green State University before returning to coach at her alma mater. "Nancy laid the groundwork - she basically started and developed the Hersey program from the ground up. She was the only coach Hersey had ever known - she put the time in.

"It was a smooth transition for me from JV coach to head coach, but it helped that I put my time in at the JV level."

The dynamic Opels, one of a number of Illinois coaches who lead both the boys and girls varsity teams at their schools, has been coaching the girls at Meadows since 1989 and took over the boys head coaching duties nine years ago.

"It's a case of more male coaches coming up through the system," said Opels of the recent transitioning, "but the game itself is the same - volleyball is volleyball. I coach the boys and the girls the same way.

"There are differences of course, especially in the way boys and girls deal with the same types of issues, and the boys game is more of a power game."

Opels and Blazek have seen boys volleyball grow by leaps and bounds during their tenure in the MSL.

"There are definitely more opportunities now for boys than in the past," said Blazek, "especially when they move on to college, where there are more club teams and more levels of collegiate teams."

Two major issues that the two experienced coaches must deal with in the present are a lack of playing levels for boys, and dilution of talent because of other spring sports.

"Right now we have freshman, junior varsity and varsity," said Blazek. "I'd love it if they added another level to the boys program - the girls have five levels - but I'm not sure I see that happening right now."

"It's difficult with the boys," added Opels, "because volleyball competes with sports like baseball and track. Just this year, for example, I know some freshman boys who would be very good volleyball players, but they're playing baseball."

Now this season both women have their teams positioned near the top of their conference in the quest win an MSL championship and return a local squad to the state tournament.

And both coaches, of course, have the complete respect of their teams and their opponents.

"There have been cases," said Opels, "where for example if a boy has played club for a guy coach, there has been an issue of them having faith in a female coach.

"But once they realize that I know a lot more about volleyball than they think I do, it works out OK."