Club Shoreline Volleyball Club

Sissy Nilssen, Club Director and Youth Clinics Head Coach

Sissy was first introduced to volleyball in Jr. High where Beth Kinns taught her how to over hand serve. She was hooked on the sport every since and armed with a tough float serve.

Sissy continued playing volleyball at Mondovi High School, Mondovi, WI where she was awarded Honorable Mention her junior year, 1985 and All Conference her senior year, 1986. She led in her division with most ace serves. She also played two years at Chippewa Valley College, WI.

Sissy moved to Santa Cruz in 1988 and played recreational indoor and beach volleyball. In 1996 she entered her first California Beach Volleyball Association tournament. Sissy’s persistence and hard work earned her an AAA beach rating eight consecutive seasons and winning four AAA tournament events. She continues to play and learn the beach game.

Sissy’s coaching experience includes two seasons at both Aptos Jr. High and at the Aptos Junior Varsity level. While at Aptos Jr. High she lead her 8th grade team to an undefeated season in 2004 and her J.V. team to undefeated season in 2005.

Sissy founded Club Shoreline Volleyball in 2005 to bring an alternative club experience in the Santa Cruz Area. Her vision is to offer players an opportunity to play club volleyball while offering balance in all areas of their life. Sissy has coached six seasons with the club including a team finish of 14th out of 82 teams in 2008, a finish of 2nd out of 89 teams in 2009 and a finish of 4th out of 78 teams in 2010 and 1st place finish in 2011, in the 18’s NCVA Area League Division.

Sissy has a true passion for both coaching and playing volleyball. “I believe this game has an opportunity to teach many life lessons; confidence, how to be a team player, discipline…and much more" When she is away from the game, she enjoys her family, her home and getting the most out of life.

“People will forget what you say, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou

Dana Johnson, 16’s  Head Coach and Assistant Club Director

Dana grew up in Marin County where she first discovered her love for volleyball. At the of age 12, she found her start at the Marin Juniors Volleyball Club and continued to play for them for the next seven seasons. While in high school, Dana excelled as an outside hitter at Terra Linda. In college, Dana played four years of NCAA volleyball as a libero for the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). She has been playing beach for six years now, and has earned her AA rating.

Dana has coached four years of club volleyball, and five years of Nike Volleyball Camp. This will be Dana’s third season with Club Shoreline, and she looks forward to another incredible year coaching the 16’s team. Her experience as a coach has been indescribably rewarding and she plans on coaching for many more years to come. Dana looks forward to this upcoming season and hopes that her players will not only improve their skills and knowledge of the game, but also learn the essential lessons that being a part of a team provides.

Dana graduated UCSC in the spring of 2010 with an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Education. She completed a Masters Degree in Education at UCSC in the summer or 2011 along with an elementary school teaching credential. She now works as an after-school teacher at Gault Elementary School in Santa Cruz, teaching math, science and computers to 2nd through 5th graders.

"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy." —Arthur Ashe

Eric Pauly, 18’s Head Coach

Eric was born in Los Angeles, CA and introduced to volleyball at a young age by his parents. After moving to the bay area at age 10, Eric played club volleyball for 8 straight years. During that time, he set for several top teams in Northern California, including his last two years on Bay to Bay as the starting setter. In high school, Eric played for three years on Varsity as a setter and won three Central Coast Section Championships at Bellarmine College Preparatory.

In college, he attended the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). In the 2009-2010 season, Eric assisted the UCSC Men’s Volleyball Team to the Division III finals as the starting libero. He has also played competitive beach volleyball for the last six years, with much experience as a AAA player in California.

Eric is currently the lead Assistant Coach for the UCSC Women’s and Men’s Volleyball Teams (Division III).  His future plans consist of pursuing further growth as an indoor volleyball coach. He looks to use his educational and athletic experience as a way to help young athletes develop mentally and emotionally, as well as athletically, to achieve personal confidence in sports and life.

This is Eric’s second year coaching at Club Shoreline (formerly 16’s Assistant Coach) and his first season as the 18’s Head Coach.

Brandi Jones, 18’s Assistant Coach

Brandi has a passion to help others achieve their best destiny by pre-paving their road with knowledge and empowerment from her career, coaching, and community involvement. She graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a with a B.A. degree in Chinese/East Asian Studies. After graduating she headed to the Silicon Valley and China looking for a fulfilling career helping American/Chinese businesses work with each other to prosper. After her return from China she realized that her heart was in Santa Cruz County. Brandi is currently one of the top agents at David Lyng Real Estate and during the past 7 years she has been a member of the Board of Directors on the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce and a local volleyball club. She also taught Pilate’s at Joy of Movement in Aptos.

When Brandi returned from China she decided to pursue beach volleyball. Her first introduction was a class that was taught by the legendary Phil Kaplan through Cabrillo College. Officially getting the “volleyball bug” she then started taking classes from Kjell Nilssen. She continues to be a student of the game. “Kjell offers lessons that apply to volleyball and to every aspect of my life.” Brandi currently holds an AA rating in CBVA.

Prior to volleyball, Brandi was ranked 7th in California as a water polo player and received scholarship opportunities at Division 1 colleges. She lead teams as Captain, holds records for the leading scorer/ most assists and was considered one of the best defensive specialists in the game. She was offered and challenged herself by playing on men’s water polo teams. Brandi coached Club water polo for 2 years.

Brandi looks forward to her first season with Club Shoreline as the 18’s Assistant Coach.

“Every Passion has its Destiny”—Billy Mills (Gold Medalist)

Dana Johnson, 16’s  Head Coach and Assistant Club Director

See bio above.

Katherine Grow, 16’s Assistant Coach

Katherine (Kat) grew up in Madera and discovered her love for volleyball in 6th grade. From then on, volleyball became her life. She played on Madera Volleyball Club for six years. Kat attended Madera High School where she played on varsity for three years. Throughout her high school career, she received recognition as a player including making multiple All-Tournament teams, Second Team All-Valley, Captain Letters and MVP.

Kat, currently in her third year at UC Santa Cruz, is working towards a degree in History while continuing to compete on the volleyball team as a starting Outside Hitter. She finished last season by making the First Team D-III Independent Selection while ranked 25th in the country for points per set. In addition, Kat was voted MVP for the UCSC Volleyball Team. This season, Kat returns as a co-captain for the Slugs and is very proud of how much her team has grown.

This will be Kat’s first season at Club Shoreline. She has previously coached at Stingray Volleyball Club and has two years experience coaching at the Nike Volleyball Camps. She looks forward to learning and growing with the girls throughout the season. Her goal is to create a positive environment for girls to grow as both volleyball players and young women.

Alyssa Trakes, 16’s Black Head Coach

Alyssa was born and raised in Castro Valley, CA. She was introduced to volleyball at the age of 11 while playing for East Bay Connection Volleyball Club, and has been in love ever since. She continued her club experience over the next several years playing for Club Yahoo!, Golden Bear Volleyball Club, and Pinnacle Volleyball Club. At the age of 14, Alyssa was the libero for the NCVA high-performance 14’s team. While attending Castro Valley High School, Alyssa was a 4-year varsity Setter. She continued her competitive volleyball career onto the collegiate level, where she is currently a fourth-year setter and team captain for the University of California, Santa Cruz.

This is Alyssa’s third year coaching club volleyball, and her first season with Club Shoreline. She has also coached at the UCSC Nike summer volleyball camps for two years. Alyssa is very excited to have the opportunity to work with the 16’s Black team this year. She strongly believes that in order to become a great volleyball player, you must not only be a great athlete, but a great teammate as well.

Alyssa is currently in her fourth year at UCSC majoring in Sociology and Legal Studies. In her free time Alyssa enjoys cooking, reading, and beach volleyball.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” —Michael Jordan

Lily Denevan, 16’s Black Assistant Coach

Lily Denevan was born and raised in Santa Cruz. She first began playing volleyball in the 7th grade and quickly fell in love with the game. Lily attended Soquel High School, where she played as an outside hitter (OH) for four years. She began playing club volleyball at age 14, first for Santa Cruz Volleyball Club, then for Main Beach Volleyball Club. Lily’s last three years of club were spent on Club Shoreline’s 18’s team as an OH and she loved every minute of it.

Lily began coaching in 2008 as the assistant coach for New Brighton Middle School’s boys’ volleyball team. In addition, she was a coach at Main Beach Volleyball Camp and Mid-County Volleyball Camp in both 2008 and 2009, as well as with Shoreline Beach Club in summer 2010 and 2011. This is Lily’s third year coaching for Club Shoreline. She is looking forward to working with the 16’s Black team this year, and she hopes to help her team be confident, motivated, fit, and have fun.

Lily is currently a senior Psychology major at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She hopes to become a teacher or to attend law school after she finishes her undergraduate work. In her spare time, Lily enjoys playing beach and intramural volleyball, reading, writing, drawing, cooking, and going on long bike rides. 

Jen Bryan, 15’s Head Coach

Jen earned her B.S. in Exercise Physiology at UC Davis in 1996. She played college volleyball at Davis for four years and coached for the Davis Volleyball Club for two years. She received her teaching credentials in Biology and Physical Education from San Diego State University in 2000. In May, 2011, she received her Masters in Education and got her administrative credential from San Jose State.

Jen taught and coached at Aptos High School for ten years and is now in her second year at Aptos Junior High, teaching Life Science and Physical Education. She finished her last year as varsity coach at Aptos High in 2010, winning six league titles from 2003-2010. She started coaching volleyball at Aptos Junior High in 2002 and is still coaching there.

Jen coached last year for Shoreline’s 15’s and is now in her 6th season with Shoreline. Last season, her 15’s team finished 28 out of 139 in the 16-and-under Area League division.

Jen’s hobbies include traveling, camping, snowboarding, tennis, and, of course, playing volleyball. She now plays at the beach and currently has a AA rating in the sand.

Sophie M., 15’s Assistant Coach and Advisor

Sophie started her indoor volleyball career at Santa Clara High School as an outside hitter and continued to play at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) for four years, primarily as a Defensive Specialist. Sophie is also a AA ranked beach volleyball player and earned her current rating with partner Dana Johnson. While at UCSC, Sophie earned degrees in both psychology and legal studies. Currently, she is studying International Policy as Monterey Institute of International Studies. 

This will be Sophie’sfifth year coaching club volleyball and her third year with Club Shoreline with a #1 finish in 2011, in the 18’s NCVA Area League Division. She has also coached at the UCSC Nike Volleyball camps for two years. Sophie is excited to dedicate her time and enthusiasm to coaching club volleyball. She strongly supports the philosophy of Club Shoreline to improve individual’s game skills while promoting health and fitness at the same time.

Sophie was originally born in the Republic of Georgia, moved to Moscow, Russia for three years, then came to the United States when she was 11 years old. Besides volleyball, Sophie enjoys running on West Cliff, drawing, reading and traveling. Last summer she spent two months traveling in Europe (England, France, Spain, Italy and Greece) and plans on continuing to travel and to explore new places.

Jill Baker, 14’s Head Coach

Jill was born and raised in Turlock, California. She played 4 years of varsity volleyball at Turlock Christian High. There Jill was named 2 time Mountain Valley League MVP as well as 2 time All District Team. She also played 4 years of club volleyball for Delta Valley out of Lodi, CA.

After high school Jill received a scholarship to play at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. While at APU she was named to the Golden State Athletic Conference All League team 4 times, a 3 time NAIA First Team All-American as well was named 2009 NAIA National Player of the Year. She also spent this last year playing professionally for Volley Franches Montagnes in Switzerland’s premier LNA league.

Jill graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science and enjoys traveling, snowboarding, and table tennis. She is currently the Varsity Head Coach at Kirby. Jill is looking forward to the start of her coaching career and being apart of the Club Shoreline coaching staff.

Ali Pattison, 14’s Assistant Coach

Ali was born and raised in Lake Arrowhead, California. She was introduced to volleyball as an 11 year old and played club through her senior year of high school. She finished out her club career at Laguna Beach Volleyball Club as an outside hitter where they finished 1st overall in SCVA (Southern California Volleyball Association). During this time, Ali spent four years playing on the Varsity volleyball team at Rim of the World High School. As a senior she earned 1st team All-C.I.F. and All-County honors.

She then continued her volleyball career on a scholarship at Azusa Pacific University as a libero. In her four years, she came 8 digs shy of the career digging record and as a senior she set the single season digging record. It was at this time that Ali also started to gain coaching experience, assistant coaching at Tiger Volleyball club in Southern California as well as leading her own 14’s team at Reno for Laguna Beach Volleyball club.

Since graduating from college, Ali has served as an assistant coach to the Rim of the World high school for a season, and she has coached her own 15’s team at Locals Volleyball club in Orange County under the A.V.P player and club director, Raquel Ferreira.

Currently Ali works as a dining room supervisor at Mount Hermon Christian camp and conference center. She enjoys running, laughing and spending time with people.