Coaching Team Bio - Alameda

Eddie loves the game of volleyball and has a passion for coaching and developing players, teams, and coaches.  He believes that along with effort and commitment that players bring to the sport, they should always remember to play with joy, as volleyball is the best sport on the planet.

Originally from Southern California and has been playing volleyball for most of his life and coaching for over twenty years. He is currently the Red Rock East Bay Director and Coach of the girls and boys indoor programs. He is also the Varsity Women's and Men's Volleyball Coach at Encinal High School where he currently teaches. Prior to Encinal he was previously at St Joseph Notre Dame High School for 8 years as a teacher and a coach. His team took 2nd place in NCS and CIF Nor-Cal Finals in 2013, just one win short of the CIF State Championship.

Eddie is also an incredibly experienced beach volleyball coach. He is BCAP certified and was the former NCVA High Performance Beach Coach and director of SandLegs Volleyball Club. Many of his former players are now competing at the Division I colleges including Stanford, LMU, USF, Cal Berkeley, USC, Oregon, Long Beach and Cal Poly.  He is also particularly proud of not only those players that have moved onto the DI level, but who are continuing to play college club, adult leagues, or any level of volleyball.

He is currently a Physics and Math teacher at Encinal High School in Alameda. Prior to becoming a teacher, he graduated from UC Berkeley and worked as an Engineer and Program Manager in Silicon Valley.   In 2006, he changed careers to become a full time teacher and coach in order to have a more meaningful impact on today's youth, through education and volleyball.

Eddie is married with two children, believes in positive coaching, and is excited about growing the sport of volleyball.

Elizabeth Waters-Leiga is from San Leandro where she grew up and attended high school.  An accomplished indoor and beach volleyball player, she played collegiate beach volleyball at Florida State and CAL where she finished as their top pairs team leading CAL to the PAC12 Championships with a 2nd place finish to UCLA!

 She played indoor for Red Rock for several years and also at Vision Volleyball Club and San Leandro High as a 4 year varsity player. As a leftie she played mainly opposite hitter but played outside hitter as well (although defense is her favorite).

She wants to stress to the athletes as a coach, the importance of positive self-talk.  She wants to emphasize in her coaching a good mindset about mistakes or bad games/ practices. It’s really important to be able to forgive yourself and accept good and bad performances as a growth opportunity. It's a skill that will help you in life whether or not you pursue volleyball at the next level.  She's excited to help cultivate a competitive as well as positive environment for all our players.

CAL Beach Volleyball  Biography

https://calbears.com/sports/womens-beach-volleyball/roster/liz-waters-leiga/21444

JP is from Alameda and began his volleyball journey in 6th grade.  He played 4 years of club volleyball and was a four-year varsity player at St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND), where he served as team captain during his junior and senior seasons leading his team to their first NCS playoff appearance in over a decade.

JP has been coach volleyball since 2020.  His coaching philosophy emphasizes skill development and teamwork.  Currently a fourth-year Statistics major at UC Berkeley, JP also works with Cal’s Division I Beach Volleyball team as their statistician, blending his passion for numbers and volleyball to help teams perform at their best.  He uses a data-driven approach, using analytics to guide both in-game decisions and practice planning.

In his free time, JP enjoys playing volleyball, watching all kinds of sports and and eating food. 

Adi grew up in Alameda and attended Encinal High School where he started playing volleyball as a freshman leading the team to an undefeated JV league season, and continued on with 3 years of varsity experience.  He is a setter and in his senior year, he was a team captain and the Most Valuable Player on the team.  He also played club volleyball for 3 seasons at Red Rock taking his 17's team to the USA Volleyball Nationals in Dallas Texas.

Adi has been assisting Jr Jets Volleyball and Red Rock clinics since 2024.  His coaching philosophy is to build fearlessness and the next ball mentality. He wants players to play with confidence and not be afraid to go for it.  Mistakes will happen but what matters is how we respond to them. Be bold, trust your teammates, and push to improve every ball.

Adi is active in the volleyball community and currently attends the College of Alameda where studying Engineering.

Nickolas is from the Bay Area and attended Encinal High school graduating in the class 2024.  He has been playing for over 5 years, and at Encinal, in his senior year was captain of the Varsity team and was voted First Team All League. He is currently attending College of Alameda and continues to play in effort to play at a high level at UC Irvine. 

Nick has been coaching since 2024.  He is the head coach of the Jr Jets Middle School team, assistant to boys JV at Encinal High School and assistant to Red Rock Volleyball.  He loves to learn from his peers,  build his individual skills as a coach, and to share his knowledge through positive feedback.

Nickolas spends his free time mostly playing and coaching volleyball, studying, exercising, and hanging out with friends. 

Derrek grew up in Oakland, and played 4 years of high school varsity volleyball at Skyline High School and 2 years of club volleyball with Red Rock. These two teams have helped shaped him into who he is today, both on and off the court. Throughout his playing career,  he's taken a lot of time to learn what it means to work hard, have discipline, and be accountable.  He looks forward to passing these values onto younger players to help them grow and to apply them on their own.

His coaching style focuses on effort, accountability, and growth. He believes in pushing athletes to give 100% every day, focus on fundamentals, and never stop competing. Whether it’s learning the basics or learning how to bring it back after a rough set, Derrek aims to create an environment where players feel supported, challenged, and develop into both stronger athletes and teammates.

Derrek is currently attending Merritt Community College preparing  for a career in nursing.

Sam has been coaching at Red Rock Alameda since 2020 and is the current head coach at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High school.

In the past he has assisted in coaching the boys’ program at his alma mater Gilroy High School and a brief stint with Absolute’s 13s before the pandemic. He is still an avid player and competes in grass and indoor adult tournaments around the Bay Area. His coaching style is direct, holistic, and seeks to impart in his players the confidence and skill to play anywhere on the court. 

Sam graduated from CSU Chico in 2013 and works as a paralegal in Oakland. When he’s not working or coaching, he loves to play indoor or grass, play Dungeons & Dragons, and is constantly reading two or three books at once

Alex O'Sullivan 

Alex was born and raised in the bay area and played 4 years of indoor and beach volleyball at Saint Mary’s College of California where she earned her BA in exercise science and MS in sports management. 

Alex has been coaching volleyball since 2016. She believes in developing the player as a whole, physically and mentally. While at SMC she learned a lot about what skills athletes can learn from playing volleyball and/or sports Such has accountability, growth mindset, time management, and how to work well with others. Alex likes to teach these same lessons to her players while also encouraging them to have fun while improving their skills. 

When she is not coaching, Alex enjoys eating out with friends and attending concerts. 

Alvin was born and raised in the Bay Area, watching his dad play street volleyball at the local parks. He attended Oakland High school, were he led them to the first OAL championship in 2016 and won the league MVP. 



He’s been playing volleyball for over 10 years and just finished his first season as an assistant coach for Redrock. He is very passionate about the game and looks forward to sharing his knowledge of the game with the players. 

Alvin spends his free time going on hiking trips, bike rides, photoshoots, and playing volleyball.

David is a native of southern California and attended University high school in Irvine, where he was Eight-time letterman in soccer and volleyball. In volleyball, he was a two-time First-Team All Pacific Coast League player and as a senior he was MVP and captain of the volleyball team. He started playing club volleyball as a junior with Balboa Bay Volleyball Club and as a senior continued playing with Surf City Volleyball Club, helping the team advance to the open junior national tournament in 1997. He received his BS in Biology from UCLA, where walked on to the varsity volleyball team as a DS/Libero and won a NCAA Division I National Championship in 2000.

He recently returned to California after finishing graduate school in Texas, where he completed his Ph.D and Postdoctoral training in Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Texas at El Paso(UTEP). During graduate school, he remained involved in the volleyball community as volunteer assistant coach and as graduate assistant coach for the UTEP women’s volleyball team. On the junior’s scene, he coached for several years in Texas as head coach for the Extreme Force volleyball club 18-1, 16-1, and El Paso Wildfire 16-1. Since arriving in the Bay area, he has coached in San Francisco at Slainte Volleyball club (boys 17-1 and girls 18-1) and was the head coach for the Sacred Heart Convent girls JV team.

David is currently the Chief Science Officer at Global Footprint Network, a non-profit thinktank in the field of sustainability. During his free time, he enjoys the outdoors and is an avid rock climber.