COACH SPEAK

A handful of former and current Westlake volleyball players share their thoughts about longtime Chaparrals coach Al Bennett:

Claire Hahn, Class of 2016

As far as superstitions, he wore a plaid checkered shirt to every home game last year. This year, he wears a Hawaiian shirt on game days. At school, though, he’s usually just wearing a Westlake t-shirt and sweatpants.

Abby Howden, Class of 2009

Coach Bennett never passed up opportunities to help us bond as a team or to get to know us. He is still doing it today with his team. He takes them out to team dinners, rides roller coasters with them and gets to know each of his athletes during long bus rides. He has nicknames for everyone, and they are always so random but always seem to stick.

Lindsay Bixby Legate, Class of 2009

At every volleyball banquet, he would talk about the season and he’d end up talking for almost two hours. We’d always joke about how long he’d talk, but that was a testament to how much coach Bennett cares about his players.

Carly Turner, Class of 2016

He’s here every Saturday, uploading our stats, records and film for HUDL. He watches hours of film, giving us detailed scouting reports on every team we play. There is so much that he does that no one sees.

Grace Weghorst, Class of 2013

One thing I’ll remember about coach Bennett is that he was so articulate most of the time, but a few times each week, he would explain a drill that made absolutely no sense to us. We’d spend five minutes trying to figure out what he meant. Luckily after being in the program a few years, the upperclassmen learned how to speak “Bennett language” and clearly translated what he tried to say.