Oak Park High School’s new girls’ volleyball head coach, Georgia Mitchell, has taken on a talented group of players this year. Over the past four years, girls’ volleyball seniors have gone through multiple coaches. With Mitchell’s previous experience as a coach, the girls have said they are looking forward to a great season.

Mitchell’s volleyball journey began in the Valley, where she launched her volleyball career at Chaminade and Chatsworth High School. She began as a four-year starter at Southwest Minnesota State University. She furthered her volleyball career as she became a Club volleyball coach. Club volleyball trains athletes so that they can compete even after the regular school season is over.

Mitchell later took some time with her kids and coached soccer, basketball and volleyball. Now her daughter, junior Savannah Mitchell, plays on varsity at OPHS.

She got back into coaching for LAVA Volleyball Club 10 years ago. While coaching there, she also coached at Louisville High School and Viewpoint High school.  Mitchell has said that she is excited to help rejuvenate the Oak Park volleyball program. 

“Oak Park High School reached out and asked me to rebuild the program and change the culture,” Mitchell said. 

Over the past few years, coaches brought different levels of skill and experience with them. The girls have expressed excitement to have a new coach that is bringing new values to both the team and its individual players. 

“I played for varsity last year with a different coach, and with Georgia you can tell the energy is different already,” sophomore Taylor Mansmann said. “I really hope we connect with each other this year and have good energy so we all have a strong season.”

As senior season starts for many of the returning players, they are thrilled to have a different approach for this year. 

“Overall I’m really excited to have this new coach. I think she’s bringing a lot of positive energy to the team and has been doing a great job at reinstating some of the volleyball culture that I got to have my freshman year,” senior and varsity captain Dylan Miller said. “Communication overall has been amazing with her and I think her coaching style is going to make us really successful this year.”

At the season’s first game on Aug. 16, the girls proved they came to play. The game was taken to a fifth set, being described as “a nail biting game.” As they only lost by a couple points, the girls were happy to be back with a strong sense of stability coming from their coach. Finally gaining back a sense of consistency and normalcy heading into this year, Oak Park High’s volleyball team has a new and experienced mentor to help them take the season by storm.