At the end of a long school day and practice, most players get to go home and leave their teammates and coaches behind. Instead, senior Jake Oppenborn goes home to his family and his coach. Jake’s mom started coaching this year as the boys’ varsity volleyball assistant coach.

“It’s different,” Jake said. “It has its pros and cons. At home, she can tell me what I am doing wrong and help me fix it, but also, I feel like sometimes she is harder on me than anyone else. It’s hard to see her as my coach and not my mom. A lot of times I get caught talking back.”

Since she started coaching in 1993, Michelle Oppenborn has coached some of her other kids, as well as Jake. Unlike his sister, who was coached by their mom all four years of high school, this is Jake’s first and last year.

“His skills have grown a lot, I have been very impressed,” Michelle said. “I think he is probably the best out of all my kids, in terms of the way he plays the game.”