Coach Bios
D'Arbra
Head Coach, Girls 16-D'Arbra
DArbra@epicvb.com
D'Arbra grew up in Alta Loma, California. She was introduced to volleyball at a young age when she tagged along with her dad to his indoor church league game. They played on carpet inside of the church's multi-purpose room and wore knee pads the size of pillows! She made fun of them at first but once she stepped on the court/carpet to play she was hooked. She graduated from Alta Loma High School in 1996 and went on to play at Division II, Cal State San Bernardino where she earned conference honors both her Junior and Senior season as a middle blocker. She graduated CSUSB with a Bachelor Degree in Art. She has also completed some Graduate work with emphasis in education.
This will be D'Arbra's 22nd season as a club volleyball coach, starting her coaching career at Rancho Valley Volleyball Club with 14's and 15's teams before moving to San Diego in 2001. Once in San Diego, D'Arbra became a part of the Sunwest Volleyball organization. She coached J.V. and assisted with the Varsity team at University City High School for 2 years and in 2003, had the opportunity to coach with Bert Novicio at Grossmont College. "I have learned a lot by watching and taking advice from various coaches in our gym and others. It is a fun dynamic as a teacher to trade ideas, strategies and outcomes with people you respect, it has made me a better coach and I consider it an honor to have worked with some of the best coaches in California".
She continued coaching at Sunwest while shadowing the club director Aaron Smith who was an amazing mentor and friend and in 2002-03 D'Arbra was given the privilege of being the director for the clubs final season before becoming part of the Epic family.
Aside from being a Special Ed substitute teacher in the Poway District, D'Arbra is happily married and has THREE small children occupying her time outside of the gym. She says being a mom is the best job she has ever had, and there is nothing better than hearing her little ones laughing.
Being a coach at Epic for 14 seasons, D'Arbra has coached her teams to high finishes at Festival in the past, including an 8th place finish and a few 11th place finishes. She LOVES to win but places more value in learning life lessons during the journey. She pushes her athletes to learn the value of communication and effort on and off the court, knowing first hand, the lessons they learn in the gym will help them succeed in the future.
In D'Arbra, Epic is pleased to have a coach who is extremely competitive and a great role model for all of her players.
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