At the first practice after the first loss of the season for the Charlotte Latin Varsity Volleyball team — giving them one defeat to go alongside 22 victories — Head Coach Caitlin Peters is unfazed. “I’m happy to be back in the gym,” she tells her players. “Let’s make sure we have some fun today and touch a lot of volleyballs.” The legacy of Charlotte Latin’s volleyball program is a lot to live up to: between 2001 and 2012, Suzie Pignetti (a member of the Charlotte Latin Athletics Hall of Fame), coached the varsity squad to 11 straight conference championships and nine consecutive state titles. Peters, the head of the Latin volleyball program, is also on the faculty of the school’s Physical Education Department and a Strength & Conditioning Coach. She’s made her mark at Latin with focus, fortitude, and fingernails painted all this season with Latin’s light blue. As the varsity players enthusiastically run through speedball drills with practiced ease, she smiles. “Perfect passes only!” she calls out. 

When did things click for you with the Latin volleyball program?

The first couple of years I was here, I was just trying to create a culture in the program, because there were so many different coaches between Suzie [Pignetti] and me. You’ve got to love the game. If you can get these kids to fall in love with the game and fall in love with the people next to them, then they fall in love with working hard. That probably happened three or four years in. 

This season is the ultimate result of what’s happening behind the scenes. I knew we would be successful because of these kids: the juniors and seniors are the same kids who used to show up for training in the spring when they were in seventh and eighth grade. I run morning workouts at 6:00 a.m. before school starts, and our gyms are full. This past summer, we had over forty kids in the gym. When I started seven years ago, there was, like, one.

Why does volleyball speak to you?

I come from a sports family. My grandma coached basketball in West Virginia back in the day — she gave lessons to Jason Williams [point guard for the 2006 NBA champion Miami Heat]. My mom was also a PE teacher and coach, while my dad played basketball in college. I fell in love with volleyball: how fast-paced it is and the closeness of a team on the court. 

You played professional volleyball for 12 years. Do you have a favorite memory from the pro tour?

Traveling around the world was fun, but you don’t get to see as much of it as you might think: you’re stuck at the court the whole time. One of my favorite memories was a championship beach volleyball game in a torrential downpour — basically, a thunderstorm without the thunder. It was a long drawn-out game: there weren’t even that many fans there, because of the weather. It was a big win, but it was a cool moment just because it was so unorthodox.

Why did you stop playing?

Injuries. I had multiple surgeries on my right shoulder. My last season before I fully retired, I played left-handed. It was cool to accomplish that, just so I could prove that I could do it, but after that, I was done.

If we visited one of your practices, what phrase would we be most likely to hear?

We talk a lot about giving a hundred. Our hundreds might look different day to day, but whatever your hundred looks like that day, you’ve got to be all in. We’re not worried about you hitting a ball out or making a mistake on the court. But you’ve got to be committed to your teammates and committed to working hard. We talk about commitment to excellence: on our shirts, “EXCELLENCE” is on the back, right down our spine. We say it’s our backbone.

How do you prepare for specific opponents?

I watch film of other teams every day, prepping for what they have on the other side and what our game plan is to defend that. Sometimes there’s one particular player you have to make an adjustment for, and sometimes we play teams where you don’t need a game plan and you say, “We’re just going to do what we do.” But we can’t control what’s happening on the other side of the net. What we’re doing on our side of the net is what matters.

What aspects of the Portrait of the Latin Leader particularly resonate with you?

Humble Collaborator, because I believe in not being prideful about the things you do and working together to make other teams and other programs better. I love having heart-to-heart conversations with other coaches: we learn from one another and lean on each other. And Courageous Advocate, because I believe in having tough conversations: if you have a pure motive of helping one another out and seeking the greater good, it makes everyone better.

What have you been curious about lately?

I always want to know more about what we can do to make an impact in these kids’ lives. Do we want to win a state championship? Of course, why wouldn’t we? But that’s a small thing in the big picture of their lives. The bigger picture is what we’re teaching them day-to-day so when they face adversity, they can continue to strive to be the best versions of themselves.

Tell us something about you that might surprise people.

I’m a big snowboarder and a big hockey fan, so I plan my snowboarding trips based on the Florida Panthers schedule. Last year I watched them play in Vancouver and went snowboarding at Whistler for a few days; then I went to Montreal, where they were playing the Canadiens, and went snowboarding at Mont-Tremblant.

What else should people know about you?

I can sit here and talk volleyball all day, but it’s not about me. These kids are the ones working hard daily: they have school all day and still have to get the job done. I appreciate everyone who comes up to me and congratulates me, but they’re the ones doing it.