Kezios takes over at Elk Grove
Back when she hit her first softball at Chicago's Bell Park in the second grade, Stephanie Kezios became hooked on sports.
"I think subconsciously that's when I wanted to be a coach," Kezios said. "From that moment on, it was like I was addicted to sports and I have not stopped participating in them, either by playing or coaching, ever since."
Her newest coaching assignment will put her in charge of the varsity girls volleyball team at Elk Grove.
Kezios, a former Resurrection standout volleyball player, is taking over for Joe DiSilvio, who resigned after holding the post the past eight seasons. DiSilvio led the Grenadiers to 20 or more wins six times and compiled a record 156-134. He stepped down to spend more time with his family.
Kezios was hired to work in the social science department three years ago at Elk Grove and has served as an assistant in DiSilvio's program each year.
"As for the opportunity I have been given, I could not be more excited," said Kezios, who graduated in 2003 from Resurrection and 2007 from Illinois State. "I entered Elk Grove the same year that our incoming seniors did. They are a great group of girls with a lot of potential."
Kezios grew up in a sports family.
"When I used to watch my mother (Susan) coach volleyball (at Lane Tech and Resurrection) and my dad coach football (Jim) at Lane Tech, I realized that even after I stopped playing, I could still be involved in sports by coaching," Stephanie said. "In fact, just last Monday evening, our boys track team had our divisional conference meet at Buffalo Grove High School.
"I was so proud of our boys who competed. I never knew that you could get just as much joy out of a sport from coaching it as you can from playing it."
Kezios played volleyball quite well at Resurrection.
She was MVP on the freshman team, then played three years on the varsity where she was a setter in a 6-2 offense. She was all-conference and the team MVP as a senior.
Kezios was a team captain and all conference track and field performer all four years at the private Chicago school and MVP three times.
She went on to play coed intramural volleyball at Illinois State and her team was beach volleyball champions in the spring of 2006.
Kezios received her degree in history education and is working on her master's degree in interdisciplinary studies from National Louis University.
She is also assistant boys track and field coach at Elk Grove and serves as a volleyball camp instructor each summer at the school.
She is looking forward to her first season as the varsity coach this fall.
"We should have a lot of depth this season, as we have a few underclassmen returning to varsity," Kezios said. "My general coaching philosophy is to emphasize fundamentals. There are certain volleyball skills that simply cannot be sacrificed. I hope to introduce that philosophy at the underlevels and reinforce it, every day, on our varsity team."