For the past four years, Coach Joseph Tran has been coaching high school boys and girls volleyball, working as a club coach and training the girls 15U and 17U teams at Elevation Elite Volleyball Club in Anaheim. Joining the Oxford Academy Patriots, he will coach both the boys and girls varsity teams starting with the 2025-2026 boys volleyball season.
Coach Tran started playing the sport 13 years ago, where he was introduced to volleyball through a friend. As an outside hitter for El Modena High School, he became immersed in the team chemistry of volleyball, enjoying the interactions with other players outside of his own school team.
“I started to build relationships amongst other people that play. We’ve been friends since volleyball and that’s why I enjoy it,” Coach Tran said. “I’m trying to build that culture for other kids to enjoy as well.”
Coach Tran builds his team environment during practice, where he will have his players first hit the weight room, stretch, and warm up. Then, practice consists of drills and mobility training, concluding with a cool down. These consistent reps aim to initiate the most rewarding part of coaching: watching the players’ work pay off.
As for the Oxford teams, he wants to create a more tight-knit environment between the boys and girls volleyball teams. He would also like to expand the volleyball program’s outreach towards other sports, focusing on building a supportive community for every athlete.
“One change is trying to get both programs to try and be involved more with each other and also have the volleyball programs participate in supporting other sport events as well as other sport teams,” Coach Tran said.
Coach Tran hopes that by focusing on developing personal character both on and off the court, his players will take away valuable lessons and develop a strong mentality from the game that they can apply to other aspects of their life.
“If you make a mistake in volleyball, you can’t dwell on it because once you [do], the mistakes keep building over,” the coach said. “The same thing is with life. Yes, you make a small mistake, but you can always learn from it and improve.”
As Coach Tran adjusts to the Oxford environment, he continues to work towards his goals of supporting the teams’ journey to success in the 605 League, finding victory in CIF, and winning in other tournaments for the volleyball teams.
“It shows that the kids are really happy and enjoying the moment,” Coach Tran said. “That’s probably the biggest part of it.”
