Chris Mahi: The balancing act of a club director and mom
Becoming a successful club director in part is a large task, but also balancing being a mother in the gym can be difficult. For Chris Mahi, she has made this look very easy. Chris has 3 daughters that are all…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingBecoming a successful club director in part is a large task, but also balancing being a mother in the gym can be difficult. For Chris Mahi, she has made this look very easy. Chris has 3 daughters that are all part of the club, Tayah, Halia, and Nohea. All 3 are elite setters with their oldest starting her freshman year at Northern Iowa this fall.
Learn more about Chris Mahi and how she developed the elite club, Club Iowa Juniors, all while being a wonderful mother to her 3 daughters.
1.) How did you get started in the club volleyball world?
Mahi: “Having been a college coach, I was involved in the club world as a primary recruiter. I love the recruiting part of being a college coach. Building relationships with athletes and their families before they arrived on campus was so much fun. So even though I wasn’t directly involved in club volleyball for many years, I was around it as a college coach.”
2.) Have you always wanted to be a club director?
Mahi: “When we moved to Iowa, I got out of college coaching. The plan was to stay at UNI for a couple years and then move on so I could coach again. Well, we ended up falling in love with everything Cedar Falls (except the weather) and stayed. I went though the next couple of years trying to find a new passion and nothing quite lived up to my love of volleyball. Our oldest daughter was close to starting her club career and with some gentle prodding from friends we decided to start, CIA. To be honest, I NEVER thought I would coach club or become a club director. Never say never. Kalani and I did know that we wanted to train our daughters. As college coaches, one of our strengths is the technical training of skills. But, I don’t think we ever saw what CIA has become when we first started it all.
3.) What is the secret to being a parent coach?
Mahi: “ Being a parent coach is tricky. We didn’t coach any of their early sports – softball, soccer, etc. We wanted them to be coached by other people. I will admit we secretly critiqued some of those practices (laughing as I thought about this). Of course we never shared that with anyone. We let the coach be the coach even though coaching was our profession. As we began to coach our daughters within CIA, it was a process of trial and error to find the best balance between mom/dad/coach. Everyone is different. We have several college coaching friends that coached their daughters in club and in college. We asked for suggestions and applied what seemed to work for us. There certainly isn’t a perfect way to handle that set of circumstances. For many, volleyball is an extracurricular activity. For us, volleyball is our life. Kalani is an assistant coach at UNI and has coached Division 1 for over 30 years, it is who he is. A former college coach, I now direct and coach CIA athletes/teams, it is who I am. There really isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t talk about volleyball in our home whether it is UNI, CIA indoor or CIA beach. Volleyball is our day job and volleyball is our passion. Thankfully, all three daughters feel exactly the same way about the sport. Coaching your child works for some and it doesn’t work for others. It has worked for us and we are very thankful for that.
4.) What are your favorite coaching memories with your daughters thus far?
Mahi: “ There are many favorite memories with our daughters and this incredible game of volleyball. Again, we are so blessed that they share our passion for volleyball. I honestly recognize how fun it is to do this together a couple times every week. Some of the most basic things are the most fun. Walking out of the CIA center together after a practice is amazing! Simple, but great. If I were to choose one memory for each daughter, these would rank up there with the best moments. Nohea, 13, trying to decide if she was going to tryouts for 11U when she was 9 and arriving at the decision all on her own. She had her backpack by the door and I asked what she was doing and she said she was getting ready for tryouts. Halia, 14, I value her love of the game and her ability to laugh at herself. She is very competitive, but she also has the ability to not take herself too seriously, which is a great strength. Tayah, 18, one of my favorites for her has always been watching her set her club team, a group of undersized gamers that play the game so fiercely. Watching her play with her teammates has been like listening to beautiful music. I’ll miss not having her compete at the club level this next year.