Tag Archives: High School Coach

Jeff Dyreson

Posted on

Jeff was introduced to the game formally as a freshman in high school, where the basketball coach said to prepare for the upcoming basketball season, you should do volleyball in the Fall to get “in shape”. Turns out Jeff was a better volleyball player than basketball player and pursued a collegiate volleyball career instead of basketball.  He was an all-conference player his senior year of high school as an outside hitter and setter.

He joined the University of Wisconsin men’s volleyball club his freshman year and officially moved into the setter position. He was an All-Big Ten selection his senior year while the team was very competitive nationally.

During his senior year of college Jeff got his first taste of coaching. He returned to his alma mater (Madison West High School, Madison WI) and coached the boys freshman team. His competitive spirit started to shift away from a competitive playing career to coaching. He continued to play competitively over the next 2 decades playing in adult leagues and tournaments while also dabbling in coaching boys at the club level in Wisconsin.

After graduate school, Jeff moved to Connecticut in the fall of 1998. He again, started to play in adult leagues and tournaments and in 2001 he was offered the assistant girls varsity coach at The Loomis Chaffee School.  9/11/01 was his first day of coaching girls and the rest is history. He became the head varsity coach in 2004 and has remained in that role for the past 20 years. Jeff has transformed the program to become amongst the elite in New England Prep School volleyball. The team earned its first Founder’s League title in 2006 and its first New England title in 2018. During the 20 years, Loomis has won 9 Founders League titles, 4 New England Tournament Finalists, and 2 New England Championships which included an undefeated season in 2023.

Jeff has had dozens of players move on and play collegiately and he is most proud of the relationship he has with his players. Jeff is married and has 2 sons but the volleyball girls are the daughters he never had and considers them all family forever.

Laura Arena

Posted on

Volleyball has been a part of Laura’s life since her high school days in Bedford,

New York. She went on to play collegiately at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Knowing when she started her career in education, that a career in coaching volleyball would be a big part of it. For the past 32 years our volleyball community has been fortunate to participate in Laura’s amazing journey here in Connecticut with 28 of those years at Farmington High School.

Laura’s career record is 519-172 (469-153 at Farmington High School). Highlights at Farmington High School include 2 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Championships (2014 & 2023) and runner up 3 times (2009, 2013 & 2016), 11 Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) titles, 2 International Volleyball Hall of Fame, Annual Girls VolleyHall Elite High School Tournament Championships held in Springfield, Massachusetts and a John Jay Invitational Championship in Cross River, New York.

Accolades recently awarded to Coach Arena include being chosen as the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2020 and a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) Coach of the Year in 2020 earning a fabulous experience in Nebraska. As a valued member of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference committee since 2013, Laura also has been the Chairperson for the CCC since 2012. Running a youth summer volleyball camp for the past 15 years, as well as coaching in the Husky Volleyball Club program are additional contributions made by Coach Arena.

Laura is most proud of the role she has played in growing stronger, healthier female student-athletes for the past 32 years, focusing on the larger picture beyond high school athletics. Each season she looks forward to building a rapport with her team and challenging them to achieve their goals. Laura has continued to inspire her student athletes over an impressive 3 decades.

High school coaches Mike Galu, Stu Wahl and Steve Powis are credited for profoundly impacting Laura’s career. The thought of playing soccer in college was removed through the wisdom and excitement that they shared with her about the “greatest team sport there is – I fell in love with volleyball” Laura shares.

Laura and her daughter Abby will be running the Tokyo Marathon in March which will complete the sixth star for the six World Major Marathons. They have already completed New York, Boston, Chicago, London, and Berlin. Laura remarks that, “It has been the most treasured, challenging, and wonderful experience and to share it with my daughter is the best!”.