New Lions volleyball coach witnesses rapid ascension

Three years ago, Hannah Josey had never coached a volleyball match in her life.

Now, she’s the new head coach of the Briarwood Christian School program.

Basketball was always her sport. Growing up in Prattville, she played basketball. After graduating from Troy University, she coached basketball at Trinity Presbyterian and East Memorial Christian Academy.

But three years ago, Eastwood Christian School needed a volleyball coach. Josey took the challenge head on and learned all she could about the sport.

“The first year was just kind of a trial by fire,” she said.

By her second season at Eastwood, she was leading the program to a state championship at the Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) level. Josey said she was fortunate to have a talented team, but she started to figure out the ins and outs of the game along the way as well.

After winning the title at Eastwood, Edgewood Academy called and offered her the job to lead a program with a long-standing tradition of success. Last fall, in her lone season there, Edgewood went undefeated and won the AISA-AA state title.

“Those girls were phenomenal,”Josey said.

As a result, Josey was named the Elmore County Coach of the Year and was named the Montgomery Advertiser’s Coach of the Year as well.

When Josey and her husband Michael decided to move to the Birmingham area, she threw her name in the hat for the Briarwood job. The opportunity to return to the Christian school environment appealed to her in a big way.

“I’ve had really great experiences in all the schools I’ve been to with great Christian leadership,” she said. “When I was looking for a place to land, that was very high on my priority list. This job answered a prayer for sure.”

From not knowing much in her first set of volleyball tryouts at Eastwood, Josey has continued to gain knowledge and experience over the last few years. She has evolved and developed a preferred style of play along the way.

“I like a faster pace, I don’t like to slow it down,” she said. “I like to attack the whole time and speed it up as much as I can. That’s what we’re going to work on here.”

Josey plans to make her volleyball program at Briarwood extend beyond the match results.

“I treat volleyball or any sport that I’m coaching as a ministry,” she said. “I love setting an example and being able to talk to a player who may be struggling with something or wants to tell a funny joke. I love having those relationships with them.”

There’s also the matter of an increased level of competition. Josey will no longer be coaching at the AISA level, but will be thrown into the fire of Class 6A in the AHSAA. This fall will feature a new area for Briarwood. The Lions, who were elevated from 5A to 6A, will be grouped with reigning 7A champ Mountain Brook and 6A postseason teams from last year in Homewood and Chelsea.

“I want that competition. My philosophy is if you play people who are better than you, it makes you better. I’m ready for it. I cannot wait until the first time we play one of those higher-level teams,” Josey said.

Along with her volleyball duties, Josey will also have the opportunity to return to her roots and assist the school’s girls basketball program.