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As a volleyball coach, there’s not much Becky Justis hasn’t accomplished.
“I was blessed to do five years in a row at the final four, but actually the Ozark Volleyball program went nine years in a row [in total],” Justis said.
Those final fours included the Justis-led team that won state in 2009.
She won nearly 350 games with the Tigers before spending a few years at Galena.
“That first year at our first final four, when we won state, when you think back on it, it’s still kind of surreal,” Justis said.
Perhaps even more surreal is her return from coaching retirement as a basketball coach.
“Sometimes when you’re in a small school, you have to wear a lot of hats,” she said.
So Justis, who is now assistant principal at Spokane put on her basketball hat.
This veteran coach says the gym isn’t the only similarity between the sports.
“The expectations and the things it takes to build those foundations and become successful, they’re the same regardless of your sport,” Justis said. “It’s just different X’s and O’s.”
The X’s and O’s aren’t brand new as Justis spent years as an assistant on different basketball teams during her career.
But with just one upperclassmen on her new team, this new venture has been quite the challenge.
“We really just had to go to basics, go to fundamentals,” Justis said.
Doing that means leaning on that lone upperclassman, junior Raylen Wallace.
“I love the game,” Raylen said. “I love teaching people and getting to see people grow is really inspiring to me.”
That means Raylen loves being a team leader, especially with the energy boost she gets from her new coach.
And she says don’t let Justis’ five-foot stature fool year.
“She’s a lot more exciting, she’s a lot more demanding, and she’s a little shorter than I remember so getting to look down is pretty intimidating sometimes,” Raylen said.
In the end, Justis just wants the Lady Owls to find the same success her volleyball teams did, but with so many young players, she’s not sure if she’ll still be coaching when they’re ready to graduate.
“If I could be around somehow for that ride, I would love to ride out with them,” Justis said.
As for coaching volleyball, she says her storied career in that sport has already written it’s last chapter.
Coach Justis and the Lady Owls are 10-8 so far this year. Not bad for a volleyball coach and a group of mostly underclassmen.
