At this year’s Volleyball Manitoba awards banquet, Niverville resident Kyla Zacharias received the award for Elite Coach of the Year. The award is presented in recognition of outstanding coaching and dedication in the sport of volleyball.
Zacharias, along with her husband Dylan and her parents, Carl and Heather Fast, are the coaches of the 16U Providence Junior Pilots Navy team. Zacharias has been head coach for five years, the last three of which she has moved up with the same team.
This year was particularly successful for the Navy team. They won the provincial championship and placed in the top 16 at nationals.
Zacharias is quick to give credit to others.
“I owe it all to the amazing parents, players, and assistant coaches I had that brought me to getting this award,” she says. “I truly believe this award was a full team effort.”
Zacharias has a long history with the sport of volleyball. She started playing at a young age before joining the Providence Junior Pilots in their inaugural year. After four years with the Junior Pilots, Zacharias went on to play for Providence during her college years as well.
The love of volleyball runs deep in Zacharias’s family. The influence of her father, Carl Fast, was a big part of why she got into coaching. Her father coached her for many years, and after she graduated she began working as his assistant coach.
It’s easy to see why Zacharias won this prestigious award when she speaks about the sport she loves.
“I love the strategy of the game and wanted to give back to the program I played in,” says Zacharias. “I have such fond memories from playing, but coaching has become a bigger passion of mine in the last few years. I do it because I love watching my athletes grow, not only in their volleyball skills but also in their leadership skills, dealing with adversity, and seeing them grow into confident athletes. I have always emphasized the importance of being a team and supporting each other no matter the amount of wins or losses we have.”
It is also exciting to Zacharias that coaching a team from Providence University College means she has an opportunity to incorporate her Christian faith into her passion for coaching.
“[I]it is very cool to see the girls I coached this season be such a bright light to the other athletes around them not only on the court, but off the court as well. And I love what I do because I get to coach with my family. They are all a huge support system for me and they played a crucial role in our success this season.”
