SEDONA — There’s something to be said for any coach who spends their time teaching young people not only a sport of choice, but how to become responsible, society-contributing adults.

And for the coaches out there who do it year after year, decade after decade even, there’s surely a special place in heaven for those individuals.

THE BEGINNING

For longtime Sedona Red Rock coach John Parks, his allegiance to Scorpion volleyball spans across four different decades. Starting the program in 1994 when the high school opened in a town with a little over 9,000 population, there wasn’t much to build from at first except a few young, dedicated girls and a brand-new gymnasium.

“Back when the program first started, back in the 1990s, I think about all the kids and how dedicated, how hard working they all were,” Parks said. “They helped us get this program established and kind of on the map, even when we first started.”

Prior to 1994, kids who grew up in Sedona had two choices at the high school level. Or depending on what side of town they were on, were bused to Flagstaff High School (a 45-minute trip up Oak Creek Canyon), or to Cottonwood, home of Mingus Union High School.

In its first two seasons, Sedona managed only a junior varsity club, but by 1996, Parks had built the program to have not only a varsity team, but a jv and freshman team.

Sarah Busche, a four-year varsity letterwinner from 1997-2000, has plenty of great memories playing volleyball for Parks and the Scorpions, including the long bus rides.

“We had to travel really far for region matches. Even though there were plenty of high schools within an hour (Flagstaff, Camp Verde, Mingus), our closest in-region game was Williams and our farthest trip was to Red Mesa. This meant we sometimes boarded the bus as early as 5 a.m. and returned home as late as 3 a.m. the next day,” Busche recalls. “While these days were long, it was fun to travel with all three teams together.”

Busche remembers being pushed hard during practice.

“John pushed us hard and focused on technique, which is what made our team really strong,” Busche said.

By the mid-2000s, Parks had built a competitive offseason travel club volleyball program, a perfect feeder system where volleyball players could learn the high school ways before they ever stepped foot on campus.

It was then that Scorpion volleyball really took off.

The Sedona Red Rock volleyball team poses for a team picture in the early 2000s. John Parks, top row, far right, began the program in 1994 and led the Scorpions to a state title in 2012. (Photo courtesy of Kay Bushe)

UNPRECIDENTED RUN

From 2007 through 2021, Sedona missed the state playoffs (Played 3A, 2A, Division III, IV during this stretch) in only two seasons, losing the state play-in rounds in 2017 and 2018.

To be fair to Parks, however, the longtime coach had stepped away from the team in 2017 and 2018. He returned in 2019 to lead the team back to state, then took another year off in 2020 (state qualifier) before returning to the bench once again last year.

In 2009 and 2011, Parks led the Scorpions to the state final four, only to be turned away. But by 2012, Sedona finally made it over the hump and won a Division IV state championship, defeating one of the winningest programs in Arizona history, Northwest Christian, 3-1, finishing with a 36-3-2 record.

Parks said that winning a state title was one of the highlights of his coaching career.

“Every year I think I appreciate it more,” Parks said, adding that the 2012 club was an amazing group of girls.

“It was hard [to win that year]. We had a really great group of girls, just eight of them. There was real cohesion amongst the girls, it was incredible the more I think about it. It’s one of those things I’d like to live all over again,” Parks said.

Parks and the Scorpions returned to the finals in 2014, but lost 3-2 to Thatcher, finishing 32-10-3 overall.

Morgan Hawes, a four-year varsity letterwinner under Parks from 2010 to 2014, said she was fortunate to experience different team dynamics during her time in Sedona.

“My junior year, we were the underdog going into that state championship and that win will forever be an incredible memory,” Hawes said.

Sierra Hatler, a three-year varsity letterwinner from 2010-2012, said she appreciates the time she was able to learn and grow as a volleyball player under Parks.

“Coach Parks has great knowledge of the game and I was able to grow quickly as a player,” Hatler said. “In that state championship, the whole team worked so hard and was a well-deserved accomplishment for everyone.”

TODAY’S CHALLENGES

The longtime coach believes it’s “more challenging” to win a title now compared to 10 years ago when coming from a rural school in Arizona.

“Back then, there wasn’t as many small schools in the metro area like there is now. When you’re in that metro area, you have a little bit of an advantage in those programs, because there’s places to play everywhere,” Parks said. “For us, if I don’t get a club team together, then there’s no place for anyone to play.”

Sedona Red Rock head volleyball coach John Parks walks toward the bench before a match against Camp Verde on Aug. 29, 2022, in Sedona. Parks started the Scorpion volleyball program in 1994 and led them to a state title in 2012. (Brian M. Bergner Jr./AzPreps365)

In Sedona, a town ravaged by internet home rentals squeezing out regular working families, student-athletes have become scarce not only in classroom, but on its playing fields.

Gone is the youth football program. Gone is Little League. There is very little youth soccer to speak of, too. Parents are forced to take their kids to neighboring towns just to enroll their children in athletics.

And Friday Night Light’s? Forget it. Sedona shuttered its high school football program in 2020.

The state’s official count in October 2021 put Sedona at 323 students on campus. For a school that averaged anywhere from 450-500 students its first 20-plus years of existence, that’s a tough pill to swallow.

In 2018, Sedona Oak Creek School District closed Big Park Community School in the face of a $1.5 million budget deficit. The K-8 school was located in the Village of Oak Creek. Now students are bussed to West Sedona School, and the seventh and eighth grade classes are now on the high school campus.

Parks said things have certainly changed, with some kids in school now having to help parents make rent.

“I don’t think it’s just about Scorpion volleyball. And I don’t know how much this applies to all rural schools … when I was a kid, you had one parent that worked and most of the time, one part that stayed home. When I had my kids, you had both parents that were working and trying to make everything go. Now, what I see is, both parents are working, and the kid is working so they can make a living and make things go,” Parks said. “That’s been challenging. It’s one of the hardest things we’ve had to overcome and continue to overcome. Some of these kids must help support families now. You didn’t see that much in the past.”

REBUILDING AND FAMILY

After losing six of their first seven power-point matches this season, the Scorpions (4-12, 2-0 2A Metro) have won three straight, including a 3-0 sweep over North Pointe Prep. on Sept. 28.

Despite their recent success, Parks said it’s definitely a rebuilding year with so many underclassmen on the roster and only one senior.

“We have a lot of kids with no experience and they’re learning how to play. The main key will be to try and get a really good offseason program going. Whether its club, or intermural, we must get more offseason stuff going to compete with the schools we face,” Parks said.

Sedona Red Rock head volleyball coach John Parks sits the bench and cracks a smile with one of his players as the Scorpions take on Camp Verde on Aug. 29, 2022, in Sedona. (Brian M. Bergner Jr./AzPreps365)Kayla Parks, who played one season of varsity volleyball under her father more than a decade ago, said playing for her dad was “one of the best experiences” she could ask for.

“He was harder on me but that also pushed me to be better,” Kayla said. “Having your dad as the coach can be an interesting dynamic, but even when it would get frustrating, I always knew my coach/dad would do what was best for me and best for the team.”

Through the winning, the rebuilding and all the student-athletes he’s seen walk the halls of Sedona, one of the strangest feelings Parks admits he still gets during practice this season is watching his granddaughter (his oldest daughter Teresa’s child) practice for him every day.

“Nothing came across my mind when I started [coaching] that, ‘Hey, someday I’ll be coaching my granddaughter here.’ I never thought that for one brief second until it happens,” Parks said with a big smile.

If history repeats itself, it won’t be long before Sedona is back to its winning ways, despite all the challenges they face.

Afterall, volleyball is in the school’s DNA.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.