Coastal Team ‘spikes’ gold at Bay State Games

After three years of just barely missing the mark, Jimmy Oliveira, head coach of the Coastal Region volleyball team, and his assistant coach Ryan Grace oversaw the win of their first gold at the Bay State Games over the July 13 weekend.

The Bay State Games are organized by the Massachusetts Amateur Sports Foundation and are held every summer and winter, with thousands competing.

Oliveira and Grace, who also coach at Old Rochester Regional Vocational High School, and players on their Coastal team had two practices to themselves in working shape for this year’s games.

Oliveira highlighted the progress the team has made over the past few years, but said it was the team they won with that “just made it so enjoyable.”

Despite the limited practice time, he said the players were able to quickly find their rhythm and compete as a team.

“The win was awesome to represent our area, but it's also really cool just to see friendships and whatnot just kind of happen,” Oliveira added.

Among the players on the Coastal team is Chloe McKinnon, who also plays on the Dartmouth High School varsity volleyball team.

Oliveira said this was McKinnon’s second year playing the Bay State Games and though last year “she was kind of learning the speed of play,” this year, she was a starter outside hitter and her work on the court was “tremendous.”

He said, “In the front row, she has a really powerful attack. She was a go-to player for us, we wouldn’t have been able to get it done with her.”

Chloe’s father, Jay McKinnon, said he doesn’t like to boast all that much, but that he was happy she had an opportunity to be awarded and recognized for her hard work.

Jay said he and his wife always try to stay involved with the Chloe’s sports teams and they “love it,” adding how he’s appreciated the work of her coaches.

Oliveira said, “This team was just really, really fun to coach.”

He added in his 12 years of coaching, he’s had “extremely talented” teams and some who were less experienced, but what makes the Coastal team special is their team mindset and sportsmanship.

“Every kid on this team was just very unselfish — they had a team first mindset — and it makes our job as coaches just that much easier,” Oliveira said. “It makes it really enjoyable when you can get a team to all buy into that kind of philosophy. It's not an easy thing to ask of a high school student, but they showed maturity and I'm really proud of them for that.”