Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Grace Burgess, right, spent the last five years as an assistant coach at Thompson High School. She was recently named the new head coach at Oak Mountain.
Grace Burgess has been hired as the new Oak Mountain High School volleyball coach, but she’s no stranger to the local volleyball scene.
Burgess played at Homewood High and has spent time as an assistant coach at Spain Park and Thompson, following a playing career at LaGrange College. She also coached with the Alabama Juniors Volleyball Club for several years.
Now, she takes over an Eagles program that was in the semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament just three years ago.
“I’m honored that they reached out to me without me putting my resume out there and reaching out to them,” Burgess said. “I didn’t expect my first head coaching job to be in 7A, so that was a big shock.”
Burgess has spent the past five years as an assistant at Thompson under legendary coach Judy Green, who coached at the University of Alabama among other stops. Burgess laughed when asked to summarize what all Green has taught her.
“The biggest thing that Judy has taught me is that there is so much more that goes into coaching than skill. The amount of time that she puts into building a culture is something I didn’t realize was so important,” Burgess said.
As a result of what she’s learned, Burgess will certainly put a big emphasis on the culture of the Oak Mountain program. She is emphasizing the term “competitive edge” (stylized #competitiveEDGG), in which the Eagles will aim to embody the traits of effort, discipline, gratitude and growth.
“We’re going to work hard every day, and that’s an expectation,” Burgess said. “We’re going to see how good we can be together.”
Throughout the month of June, strength and conditioning was the primary focus for the team. In July, Burgess planned to implement position-specific training before full-fledged team practice in August.
“I’m proud to be part of such a prestigious school,” she said. “Oak Mountain is a top-five school academically every year. To be part of a program and a school culture that is already so developed is amazing.”