Lady Dawg Volleyball promotes from within for new coach and athletic coordinator

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

The Lady Dawg Volleyball team has a new head coach, and the Copperas Cove Independent School District has a new Girls Athletics Coordinator, with the promotion of Coach Christy Thompson. 
Thompson has served as the Varsity Assistant Coach for the Lady Dawg Volleyball team for the past eight plus years. With the hiring of Coach Cari Lowery to serve as the CCISD Athletics Director, her position as Head Coach for Lady Dawg Volleyball and as Girls’ Athletics Coordinator was up for grabs. 
Thompson grew up in Van, Texas and played volleyball, basketball, track, cheerleading and dance throughout high school. She attended Texas Woman’s University and earned her degree in Kinesiology, with a minor in Math. 
Her first coaching job was under Lowery at Spring Town, where she stayed for two years. She ended up getting married and starting a family and took two years off before deciding to return to coaching, which she called her “calling.”
She spent four years as the Head Volleyball Coach at Lake Worth and then spent five years at Bastrop High School, before moving to Copperas Cove, where she has remained for going on 10 years, first as the J.V. Assistant Coach for the first school year and then as the Varsity Assistant Coach. 
“I am a Lady Dawg Volleyball fanatic,” Thompson said. “You know, it’s not like a new coach is coming in, and everything is all brand new. We are carrying on the Lady Dawg Volleyball tradition, and we are trying to push past the level of excellence that has already been set for us.”
Thompson said that her favorite thing about being a coach is seeing the athletes grow over the years. 
“We just had volleyball camp for first graders through sixth graders, and just watching those little bitty girls get just as excited about the skills as those older girls, and then by the time they get to junior high and high school, just watching how they transition from that little bitty girl loving the game to still loving it as a high school athlete, I think that’s my favorite part,” she said. 
Thompson said that she was excited to be taking over the reins as Head Coach. 
“Everybody knows this program is Coach Lowery’s program, and I’m excited to have been a part of it with Coach Lowery, but I think what I’m excited about is to let people see my personality in coaching and start connecting Lady Dawg Volleyball with Coach Thompson as well,” Thompson said. 
Thompson said that she felt Lowery is a great leader for coaches. As the new Athletic Director, Lowery’s job is to “coach coaches”, Thompson said. 
“As volleyball coaches, we’ve seen that, and we’ve been a part of that, and I’m excited that all of our coaching staff is going to be able to see that,” Thompson said. “I’m also excited for the team to see me in a different role, not just being the assistant. A lot of times when you’re the assistant, you’re kind of the mediator between everything, and you’re the one that helps make everything run smooth, but [for them] to see me as their leader and work hard for me.”