Coach Suzie Hellard

Coach Hellard played through high school. However, Coach Hellard feels she gained her most valuable experience for her role on this coaching staff when she worked as an assistant coach for coach Ann Luetkemeyer Gulshen at Camdenton High School in Camdenton Missouri where she helped coach the Lady Lakers to two district championships, a conference championship, and a sectional quarterfinalist finish.

In 2018 Coach Gulshen was inducted into the Missouri Coaches Hall of Fame for winning 704 matches, climbing to among the top five in state history. “I never saw the game of volleyball the way she saw it. She opened up a whole new sport, no, a whole new world for me once I began working under her. She taught volleyball as a way of life, and that way of life was through hard work, dedication, and repetition. These lessons she taught the girls on the court, about perseverance and never giving up, were lessons I soon realized would also be valuable to them later in life as well.

Coach Gulshen taught me how to develop competitive volleyball players, but she also taught me how to develop strong women.” Coach Hellard noted. “These girls are competitive, they come in everyday ready to go. They want to win and they know that sacrifices have to be made to win.” Coach Hellard plans to focus on the fundamentals, speed up the offense, work on blocking and teach the players how to be more effective at reading the floor and anticipating what is coming back across the net.

The girls preseason conditioning begins when we return from spring break, but Coach Hellard knows some of the players are already playing club ball and working out.

“I’m looking forward to the schedule that Coach Adkins has put together for us,” Coach Hellard said. “We’ll face some strong opponents, but I know we have the coaching staff to take the talent to the next level, and our players will be ready for them.”

Coach Hellard will be entering her 4th season as the FCHS Volleyball JV coach.