Dear Coach Tate,
I am writing this letter because I don’t think I’ve ever fully expressed how grateful I am for you, and it feels important to do that now.
After 7th grade, I convinced myself that I hated volleyball. I had such a negative experience with club culture that I promised myself I was done and would never play again. When I decided to give volleyball another chance in high school for social reasons, I was honestly scared I was making the wrong decision. The support and stability you gave me did more than reassure me—it helped me feel I could actually excel at this sport.
Beyond that, you are an incredibly skillful coach. You understood the game, knew how to teach it, and pushed people without tearing them down. What mattered most to me was that you always put team culture before results. That mindset is rare, and it completely changed how I experienced the sport. You cared about how we treated each other, how we showed up, and how we handled tough situations. You never let success come at the cost of respect or trust for one another, and you never let our mistakes define us. Knowing that effort, growth, and being a good teammate mattered more than stats or scores made volleyball feel like a safe space.
There were plenty of times when practices were hard, or I was frustrated with myself, but I never felt overlooked. You created an environment where it was okay to struggle because I knew you believed in me regardless. Because of that, I actually started to love volleyball again.
Your impact went far beyond the court. High school is stressful, and volleyball became something that grounded me instead of something that drained me, and that is directly because of the culture you built and the kind of coach you chose to be. I am really sad about how things ended, and I know a lot of the team feels the same way. I hope you know how truly rare you are, and how deeply you’ve impacted me and so many others.
Thank you for everything,
Nat