*This article is an extended version of the article in the November issue of The Signal

In order to be a good coach, one must first understand what it means to be a good student athlete. Coach Mallori Gibson-Rossi is the perfect testament to this test.

Before she became a coach, Gibson was the daughter of two teacher-coaches. She was a student first and an athlete second. Growing up, she was a three-sport per year kid in addition to year-round club volleyball. As soon as one sport season ended, a new one would start.

Anyone who knows Gibson now, knows that she has a passion for volleyball. However, if you were to ask elementary school Gibson what her favorite sport was, volleyball would have been far from her answer. She grew up playing soccer and running track. She even thought that if she were to coach when she was older, soccer would have been her sport of choice.

Around fifth grade, Gibson decided to try volleyball for the first time. However, at this point, she was a member of both the soccer team and the track team. Her time was already thinly spread across many extracurricular activities, so she missed a lot of the volleyball practices and her playing time suffered. She was an All-American in track and competed in the Junior Olympics. Her love for track and soccer overpowered her interest in any new sport.

A few years would pass before Mallori’s older sister, Melanie Gibson would encourage her to give volleyball a second chance. Melanie was a few years older and already playing for a club team. She needed someone to practice with and pushed Mallori to be that person, and to later try volleyball again. Melanie saw great potential in her sister.
“Mallori was one athletic young lady. She was good at everything she did.”

Mallori’s competitive side came out and was displayed as frustration with the sport. However, her sister still believed in her. “When she stuck it out and worked on a few things, her athletic abilities just took over and she kept getting better as time went on. It wasn’t long before her love for soccer changed to volleyball.” Melanie suspects that if she hadn’t talked her baby sister into practicing volleyball with her at home, then Mallori may have ended up being a soccer coach.

While athletics are great and are a big part of her life, Gibson realized that sports are not forever. Her parents also often remind her, and her sisters, of this. They were teachers and they pushed the girls to keep up with school as it was the priority. Mike Gibson, Mallori’s dad, said this of Mallori, “She would get home from late club practice, or whatever, about nine or ten at night. She would stay up until 2-3AM in the morning doing her homework and be back up at 6AM and get ready to go.”

Weekends for the Gibson family were often used for travel due to weekend long volleyball tournaments. However, just because they were on the road, did not mean that the work stopped. For many, this constant travel would be a hardship on the family, but not for the Gibson family. They looked at these weekends as an opportunity to spend quality time together, enjoy the sport they all loved, explore the new areas where the tournaments were set to take place, fellowship, and study the Bible.

Another integral part to the dynamic of who Gibson is stems from the way that she was raised. Her father, Mike always believed in God, but it was not until he met his wife Tami and they had the kids that he really decided to live out his faith. It was important to him and Tami to raise their girls with good character and the core values of compassion, support, sincerity, honesty, humbleness, love, and dedication.

After hard work throughout elementary school and high school, Mallori was able to take her work ethic with her on to college. She attended both the University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of the Pacific (UOP). During her time at these universities, she played volleyball and maintained a high GPA. She was extremely driven. She knew that her dad would say, “Athletics aren’t going to be around forever, but your brain is going to be around forever.” She chooses to honor him and live by this standard.

Once she completed her bachelor’s degree in physiology, Mallori decided to continue her education to get a master’s degree in health, exercise, and sport sciences. She believed that this would better her chances at achieving her ultimate dream and career goal of becoming a coach. A master’s degree is not required for this, but it would set her apart from the others.

While she was working to get her master’s, Mallori became the student assistant for the volleyball team at UOP. This was her first taste of coaching, and would be her only taste of it for a while.

Upon earning her master’s, she got invited to move to Greece to play professional volleyball. When she received the call from her agent, she was told that she would have 24 hours to make the decision and if she chose to go, she would be gone in a week. “It was an awesome experience that I was very fortunate to have had.” 

Back at home, Mallori got the position of second assistant coach for Fresno State. This program would not only help shape her into the coach she is to become, but it would also be the start of her having an impact on those whom she would coach.

Lauren Albertson-Winslow was one of the women who played under Coach Mallori’s team during her early coaching. “She was a woman I sought to be like. She was calm and confident in her playing and coaching ability, but knew that volleyball was not her identity as much as it was part of her life.”

Mallori continued her hard work and received a promotion to first assistant coach and team recruiter. In this position she was able to have more influence on the team that she was working with. She took the recruiting process very seriously because she too had once gone through it. “You have to look at so much more than just ‘are they a good volleyball player?’ We are looking at their academics and making sure they are strong students because that shows their work ethic. We don’t want anyone who is just going to do the bare minimum.” 

Another one of Mallori’s past athletes was Christina Lee. She said, “Mallori had so much knowledge of the game and always shared it with us. She knew how to simplify skills in the slightest way that made a big difference in technique. There was always something to learn from Mallori.”

Being that she played the game too, and for so long, she experienced different coaching styles. Through this, her understanding of the game grew to new extents. It allowed her to take what she learned and teach it to her athletes in a way that suited each individual person.

Megan Callahan appreciated that Mallori was fresh out of the game. “Mal had played at a really high level so she was really able to relate to us as players,” Callahan said.

Knowing that Mallori had played not only a sport, but the same sport as she was coaching, made her team more comfortable with her. It meant that she knew the demands of the sport itself and of the student-athlete lifestyle.

One of the many things that makes Mallori stick out from other coaches is that she doesn’t yell or scream, well not very often. Lee recalls, “Mallori had a tone of voice that exuded confidence. She always knew what she was talking about and we had so much respect for her. If and when she did yell, it was scary because it was a rare thing. We knew we were in trouble when she yelled!” 

During her first year at Stan State she would go on to lead the team to the program’s first appearance in the CCAA tournament. This was the first record that she broke at Stan State, and has since broken more. This year she led the team to the strongest season start in the program’s history.

Another reason that Mallori is so unique is because she doesn’t just build athletes, she builds people. While fundamentals are important for success and victories, she remembers her dad saying that athletics don’t last forever. It is for this reason that Mallori pushes the academic success of her athletes so hard, along with their sense of character. She wants them to have the best future possible.

Eyriana Eatmon (freshman, Pre-nursing) mentioned that every week she, and her teammates, are required to meet with either Coach Mallori or Assistant Coach Megan Powell to go over their weekly assignments, tests, and quizzes.

Ramey Gardner (senior, Business ) appreciates the toughness that Mallori displays on grades. “Me and Mallori see eye to eye when it comes to academics. School has always been my number one priority and it’s great to have a coach that fully supports the fact that we are students first. If you are struggling with a class, Mallori is a good person to talk to and she will help you find ways to succeed.”

Despite her competitive nature and drive for academic success, Mallori is also lighthearted. One of her favorite things to do is to play pranks on her athletes. Some of these include tying shoelaces together while people are sleeping on the bus, ice bag fights, and joking to her team that they have practice on their day off. 

Mallori’s number one rule is fun. If she negates this aspect, then her athletes may forget why they love volleyball so much. She is constantly coming up with new things for the team to do. She has rewarded the team with desserts, she has had them paint pumpkins for Halloween, and she has even ran around practice waving around a set of pompoms in the faces of the athletes while they were running drills.

If these aren’t enough, Gardner mentioned that when the team is traveling, she will sometimes have the athletes put on talent shows or even do synchronized swimming.

Mallori has a big heart, and one of the driving forces behind that is her unwavering faith in God and genuine sense of being. If one really knows Mallori, then they know that her faith isn’t just something her parents pushed her into.

Mallori’s sister Melanie said, “Faith in God is something that never leaves you. Believing in his love and strength to get through the things we deal with in life is the only thing we have relied on.”

About four years ago, Mallori’s mom passed away after losing her battle to esophageal cancer. Any average person would only see the pain and sorrow in this situation, but not Mallori. She stuck to her faith, stayed strong, and was able to still find the light in this dark situation. 

 “She has not steered away from her faith, which unfortunately lots of people do. Mallori has held tight to the word of God that says he will carry us through the valley when it looks like there is no light, and get us to greener pastures. God goes before us and knows every emotion we have. We just have to call on him to get us through the trial. My mom always quoted Isaiah 41:10, which has been our family verse that’s kept us going, one that I know Mallori has memorized and kept close to her heart,” Melanie said.

What seems to be her most impressive quality her humbleness. While she did share valuable information, there were big details that she left out. One of which included an award she had won. Mike mentioned that in 2016 she won an award called “Thirty Under Thirty.” This award is presented by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) to young up and coming coaches who are under the age of thirty.

So while Mallori Gibson-Rossi is a great coach and fantastic athlete, those are not what come first. She puts her faith above everything because if she is taking care of herself, then she can better take care of others. Following this, she puts her husband, son, and family in a close second. By keeping God at number one, He provides her with the strength she needs to be able to give her time, energy, and love to her family.  In the third category is her career. This can experience shifts or changes, but family never leaves.

Her former teammate from CU, Kelsey Kennemer said,
“Mallori is definitely one of a kind. To have gone through the things she has and still have such a positive outlook on life and so much unwavering faith in our God, is truly something to be admired.”

Mallori is a coach, a mentor, a friend, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a motivator, and hero.