Saturday, July 1, 2006

LLHS's new volleyball coach beckoned back to gym

Connie Campos makes return to prep sports

Jessica Dyer News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdyer@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas Not long ago, Connie Campos thought she was happily retired from coaching.

After working with prep athletes in New Mexico and Texas for nearly 30 years, she settled into a life away from high school gyms. She moved to Los Lunas in 2004 to be a Spanish teacher at Los Lunas High and chair the school's Spanish department.

That seemed like enough.

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But when LLHS advertised last spring for a new volleyball coach, Campos submitted her resume. A job offer followed. After careful consideration, Campos decided to surrender her (semi-) retired lifestyle.

She almost couldn't resist.

"I'm doing this because I still love the sport,"Campos, 51, said after a recent practice with her new volleyball team. "Being retired, it was really tough to come back out of retirement. I had retired from teaching in New Mexico. I went to Texas and coached there, but, when I came here, I didn't think I'd want to. It takes a lot of time, a lot of hours, a lot of dedication, a lot of commitment. I didn't know if I wanted to do that, but the itch is still there."

Campos just finished her first week of practice with the Lady Tigers. She conducted early-morning workouts on the sand courts at Heritage Park while the LLHS gym floor undergoes maintenance.

So far, so good, she said.

"The kids are excited, and that's the key there," Campos said. "If they weren't excited, I wouldn't be doing this. If they didn't want to do this or be out here, I wouldn't see any use in me spending my time."

Campos, who played college volleyball at Eastern New Mexico University, considers herself a bit of a taskmaster. She made the girls repeat their end-of-practice "Tigers" cheer three times at a recent practice until they got it exactly right.

"They have to run off the floor — they can't walk off the floor. After a break or after practice is over, they'll run off the court. If they don't run off the court, we'll come back and do it again," she said.

Bobby Campos — the Tigers' head football coach and Connie's younger brother — said his sister knows how to get the most from her players.

"You can tell the girls respect what she wants and really step up to what she wants to do to build the program," Bobby Campos said. "She expects a lot from the girls, and I think the girls, for the most part, will enjoy that. I've talked to a couple of the girls and they say, 'Yeah, it's hard,' but, at the same time, they enjoy it."

Connie Campos said the Tigers have adjusted well to her methods.

"As long as they know up front what you're expecting, they respond," she said.

If her resume is any indication, Campos got the right response from all of her former teams.

While coaching at Artesia High School from 1979-85, Campos' volleyball team made five state appearances and finished as Class 3A runner-up twice.

She spent 13 years at New Mexico Military Institute (1988-2001), where she started the volleyball program. She also coached the NMMI boys and girls tennis teams for three years. Under her guidance, the boys tennis team finished second at state two times and the girls were state runners-up once.

Her career also includes stints at Dexter High School, her alma mater, Roswell High, Melrose Public Schools and Canutillo High School, which is located in the El Paso area.

As far as Campos is concerned, her coaching resume is lacking just one thing.

"Like I told the kids and the (interview) committee, the only thing I have left to do is win a championship," she said. "I have two runners-up, I have a third place, I have a fourth place. I have several appearances in state, but the ultimate goal is to win the state tournament and that's what you strive for."

Campos inherits a program that was on the rise under former coach Allen Musgrove. In his two seasons at the helm, Los Lunas registered 29 wins and 15 losses and advanced to the state playoffs in 2005.

Although the team lost several key players to graduation and one to an out-of-state move, Campos sees potential. She said the Tigers have good leaping ability and serve well but will need to make fewer mistakes and improve on defense.

"These kids that are out are hard workers. That was my concern. I'm impressed with them," said Campos.

The coach has plans to work with the kids the rest of the summer, holding practices and taking the girls to various camps — basically leading the kind of lifestyle she thought she'd given up.

"I am officially out of retirement," she says with a laugh.

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