Q & A with Stanford Women's Volleyball Coach Kevin Hambly

WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE ASPECTS OF COACHING?     

My favorite aspect of coaching is without a doubt being involved in the development of the players in all three parts of their experience (as a student, as a person and in volleyball). To get to know the players at a level that they allow us to – in a lot of cases from the age of fourteen through their graduation from college – is the reason why I love coaching college.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ROAD TRIP STORY?                

My favorite road trip story was from my second year of coaching. We took the UNLV team up to Fairbanks, Alaska. While we were there, we heard that there was a very good chance that the Northern Lights might come out.  It was Saturday night, we were already finished with the tournament and we were flying out the next morning – so we took the team up in the hills as far away from the lights as we could.  We were essentially in the mountains of Alaska. The only light was the stars, and all of us were laying on the top of 15 passenger vans hoping to see the Northern Lights. At around 2:30am they came out; it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  I am pretty sure no one who was there will ever forget that experience.  

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE HOBBY OR CAUSE YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT?     

I have both a hobby and a cause I am passionate about.

The hobby I would say I have recently been passionate about is reading history. I have been consuming everything from “Battle Cry of Freedom” about the Civil War through “1776” about the American revolution as well as many other books about the characters involved in the Civil war (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, etc.) and just recently got interested in the 1100-1300 reading books like “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” and “The Travels of Marco Polo”.  I think I will be diving into the history of Rome here next.

The cause that I have been passionate about for a while is anything and everything to do with empowering women.  Raising two young women and spending most of my days with very strong women inspires me to do whatever I can to help with empowering them more.                         

PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD NOT KNOW.   

I played in a very bad punk band in college during the summers.