Our KNX Hero of the Week Isebiu Reyes, or “Coach Boo,” is stepping up for young athletes and guiding them to greatness!
Coach Boo is the head coach at Reseda Charter High School for boys' volleyball, girls' volleyball, and beach volleyball. He began his career a few years back when his daughter was in 7th grade and took an interest in the sport.
“I also run a nonprofit youth sports organization,” he told Heroes host Heather Jordan. “It’s called Outrigger Youth Athletics. We also go by OYA, and I'm the head volleyball coach for that as well.”
Coach Boo was raised in Guam, where volleyball is a way of life, and when he saw an opportunity at Reseda Charter High School, he took the leap. The nonprofit helps make the sport of volleyball an option for any family, no matter their income or the distance to a gym.
“Pretty much started my own volleyball club, but with the intention of not letting anybody say ‘no,’” he said. “So when we send out our like, ‘Congratulations, you made a team,’ we get a lot of people that say, ‘Sorry, coach, we can't afford it.’ ‘Sorry, coach, [it] doesn't work out schedule.’ ‘Sorry, coach, we don't have rides.’ ‘I just kind of refuse to let anybody say ‘no.’ I was like, ‘Well, what's it gonna take to allow your daughter to have the opportunity to play?’ And we usually end up working it out because I don't want anybody to be able to say no or to just give up without giving us the opportunity to help them out.”
When he saw an opportunity at Reseda Charter, he took the leap. After taking over the program, he not only rebuilt it from the ground up, but he also changed the negative sports culture at the school, turning every game into a positive event.
Winning came with it, and in just a few short years, the volleyball program at Reseda Charter went from not winning a single match to beating top teams from long-established programs and making history by winning a league championship. Last year, they won the first-ever city championship, which led them to the state.
“If you talk to any of my girls, there's always the life lessons as well,” he said. “I often mention them as life lessons. I don't just teach them volleyball and teach them volleyball lessons and hope that they understand that it relates to life.”
Coach Boo is loved by players and parents alike, and he inspires others like him who have that same ambition to help the community to proudly step into the role of being a hero.
“You are permitted as a person to wake up and say, ‘I'm gonna be a hero today. I'm gonna do something heroic on purpose,” he said. “It doesn't need to be an accident.”
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