Jason Souza, Mill Valley Middle School teacher and last year’s JV girls volleyball coach, is the new boys’ varsity volleyball coach.

Souza has coached for four years in Newton, Massachusetts. “The Newton North Tigers have a very strong division one volleyball program, and actually last year, my first year back in California, they won the state championships,” he said.

Surprisingly, Souza didn’t start playing volleyball until after high school. “I played everything but volleyball in high school. I played tennis and baseball and soccer. They didn’t have volleyball where I went to high school,” he said. Souza was able to get into volleyball when he attended Long Beach State, known for it’s strong volleyball program.

“I started playing volleyball a little bit, and I just fell in love with it, and now I play it as an adult,” he said. “I think it’s the only sport on Planet Earth that defies gravity so the ball cannot touch the ground or you lose a point….It’s a true team sport, you cannot win it alone. You need people to pass and set and hit and block. So, it’s kind of nice for building that whole team sport dynamic.”