Michael retires after 47 years, reflects on volleyball coaching career
Larry Michael, (back row, far right) is pictured with the LSHS Girls Volleyball team. Having retired last month, its the last volleyball team he’ll coach. {Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart/Davidson Local}
Since 1976, Larry Michael hasn’t known a life without volleyball.
What began as a yes from him to his daughter’s volleyball coach who needed an assistant turned into a decades-long passion of teaching, training, instructing and rearing. When asked to sum up nearly a half a century of coaching into five words, the septuagenarian paused before providing a summation: challenging, difficult, rewarding, fun and a blessing.
On Saturday, October 21 Michael’s 47-year coaching career commenced in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s State 2-A playoffs. Although his last game as a coach ended in defeat, he noted his pride in what he’d been able to accomplish at his alma mater, Lexington Senior High School.
“I’m proud of the volleyball program. It’s come a long way. It was at the bottom of the conference and now they’re competing for conference championships.”
After taking over the helm at LSHS, the team achieved success they hadn’t reached previously, including qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time in program history (in 2021) and playing in the final of the conference tournament championship this past season. Michael was named the Central Carolina Conference Coach of the Year in 2021.
While humility is always at the forefront of his mind, when Michael began to hear through the grapevine that LSHS and Lexington Middle School needed a coach, he was confident in his abilities to lift the program out of the pits it had been in for years. “I know how to coach volleyball. I know the game inside out and backwards. I’ve trained coaches around the area. I was convinced we were going to pick the program up.”
Challenging
His journey to learning the game began inside his home. When his oldest daughter, Beth, didn’t make the volleyball (the same year he started coaching), she initially wanted to quit the sport after being asked to serve as the team manager. Her perceived defeat quickly turned into determination and she asked her father to buy her a volleyball. With Michael at the time serving as head coach at the former Grace Christian School in Tyro, Beth exceled under his tutelage and was recruited by Pennsylvania State, Wake Forest and Liberty universities.
“In the early days, it was challenging to me to learn all I could about volleyball, to develop a philosophy of how I thought I could best reach kids. It’s still a challenge in many ways. Dealing with females is a real challenge to a male sometimes. Learning how to be able to pull the best out of them, keep them up and wanting to play and wanting to do their best is a real challenge.”
Michael huddles with his JV during a timeout at LSHS’ Pink Out Game. {Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart/Davidson Local}
Michael shared many of the struggles he experienced centered around the gender dynamic. He’s encountered many complexities over the years that have taught him various lessons about coaching girls. However, there is one specific day he consistently references about overcoming differences.
Difficult
In his first year as head coach at Grace, the team advanced to the state championship game. During the match, Michael got upset with the girls and “chewed ‘em out.” Failing to understand why they ultimately ended up losing, he expressed his feelings to a referee who immediately declared she knew exactly what happened. When Michael inquired, she informed him the girls shut down after he fussed at them. Then she handed him a book called Sports Psyching (the copy he has is out of print).
“It was really eye opening to me as a young coach. Girls take it [fussing] personally. Now, most of the time during games, I sit and don’t say anything. If there’s a timeout, I encourage them. I tell them how great they are, how well they’re doing in a certain area or I might even tell a joke to calm them down to get them over their nervousness. I have a different way of coaching. They responded well to that. Don’t we all respond better if somebody gives you a compliment or brags on you? That makes you feel good. That’s human nature. That’s all of us.”
During his time at Sheets, Michael’s volleyball teams won the NCCAA conference championships in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1990. They won state championships in 1986, 1987 and 1990. In 1985, his team won the National Association of Christian Athletes National Volleyball Championship. The team never lost a match during its championship run.
Rewarding
In 1985, Michael founded the All-American Volleyball Camps. Utilizing Sheets as home base, he began traveling a steadier path of developing players over a longer length of time. When the camps concluded in 1991, Michael had coached three players who were designated All-American.
After a brief stint launching the Central Carolina Volleyball Junior Olympic Club from 1991-1992, Michael served as an assistant coach at West Davidson High School for five years with Kelan Rogers. He also trained individual players. Established in 2000, his High Rock Volleyball Junior Olympic Club is still operational with players ranging from ages 12-18. Michael’s daughter, Suzanne, and Rogers handle many of the daily operations.
Still rooted in his philosophy of leading with love, this characteristic trait showed up in his role as a pastor. Yes, Michael was a volleyball aficionado and senior pastor for many years – 44 to be exact. From 1973 until his retirement in 2017, he was the pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Lexington.
The father of three noted the similarities between his two positions and the gratification he often experiences. “It’s really rewarding to me to see a girl in the seventh grade come up through the program and she ends up being able to go off to college and play volleyball. It’s rewarding to see her develop not only her volleyball skills but her personality, her ability to work with other people and be a leader. Being a pastor, that’s one of the things I want to see. I want to see them develop as a person. Loving the people, girls, congregation is all the same type thing.”
One would assume that at points throughout the years, conflicts would arise between his two schedules. However, Michael maintains the two never collided. “God just worked all that out. Something happened there. How can I go 44 years coaching volleyball and pastoring a church and never having any kind of conflict with a schedule or anything? I don’t think that’s an accident.”
Fun
For Michael, God’s orchestration of the whole journey led him to a place where he was able to enjoy himself. “Just being with the kids was fun. One of the things I’ve learned is each kid has a different personality and they’re unique. It’s a challenge to me to learn how to develop a relationship with that personality. My approach to them is patience. I just continue to observe them and to do what I can to get closer to them. I’m going to do my best to try to break that barrier, to gain their confidence, to make them trust me as their coach because I want the best for them. That’s not always easy between different cultures.”
Over the years, he’s learned slang words from players, can be seen smiling on the sidelines and was recently spotted during the Pink Out game at LSHS sporting rolled up khaki pants revealing bright pink socks and snazzy, blue and pink sneakers.
Michael rolled up his pants legs, literally, at LSHS’ Pink Out Game. {Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart/Davidson Local}
A blessing
As he settles into retirement, Michael, 79, is looking forward to enjoying more time with his blended family consisting of his wife, Judy, his daughters – Beth, Suzanne and Jackie, his grandchildren – Josh, Savannah and Regina and Judy’s four adult sons and grandchildren.
He’s also reflecting on his most recent success at LSHS.
“I went to Lexington High School and I wanted to see the program be something better than being on the bottom all the time. I really feel good about it. The kids know volleyball. Every one of them up there knows volleyball. They know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. I have no doubt Alexis [Beverly – the new head coach] will take it on to the next level. I’m pulling for her to do just that. I’m glad I finished at LSHS. I’m glad I could help.”
Now the immediate question becomes what’s next? And Michael has a prompt answer for the question.
“Many years ago, I promised God that whatever doors he opened on a ministry basis, I’d walk through them. He guides me. I don’t know at this point but he has told me he has something for me to do. I’m open. Let his will be done.”
His willingness to let God lead led us back to his opening statement where he summed up his 47-year career in five words – challenging, difficult, rewarding, fun and a blessing.
“To be with these kids and to see them grow and to see them mature and to see them learn, that’s a blessing to me. It thrills my heart to see these kids develop, grow and become somebody. I think Charles England said it well – Be Somebody. I like to see them become somebody. That’s a real blessing to me. It’s the same way with my church. It’s a blessing to see people grow and mature in the Lord. I guess that’s a pastor’s heart. It’s my heart. Not that there hasn’t been ups and down in my life. There has been but overall, I’ve been wonderfully blessed. And that’s the truth.”
