Haley Spracale is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Dobson High School for AZPreps365.com

When Mark Phipps started playing volleyball in high school at his local YMCA in Michigan, he never would have predicted the sport would become a family affair.

Phipps is now the junior varsity coach at Dobson High. Daughter Lizzy Phipps is the freshman coach and younger daughter Bella Phipps is a freshman outside hitter on the junior varsity squad.

Volleyball has formed deep roots with this bunch, roots that were established in Michigan and later in the Marines, where Mark continued to play volleyball, including sand volleyball.

“Then I played a lot of recreational sand,” Mark said. “I kind of got hooked on that when I went to California with that team. I said, ‘Wow, this is really fun.’ And that was the end of it for like 25 years.”

Volleyball didn’t make a reappearance until Mark signed up Lizzy to take part in the Dobson volleyball summer camp. Lizzy said her parents would only buy her volleyball shoes if she tried out for the team. She wanted the shoes to match with the other players.

On the flip side, Mark said they threatened to take away Lizzy’s phone if she didn’t go through with tryouts. At least one of the demands was enough to get Lizzy to go to camp and tryout.

Before the camp, Lizzy had been focusing on gymnastics but decided to give volleyball a try due to encouragement from her parents. She said she “decided to love it after trying it.”

Right around the same time, Bella began playing club volleyball at the age of nine. With two of his kids now playing the same sport, volleyball seeped its way back into the Phipps family. 

“She (Lizzy) came home after the last day of the tryouts,” Mark said. “She goes, ‘I didn't make the freshman team.’ She paused and paused, and we're just like, ‘OK, how do we deal with this because we made her do it.’ Then she went and said, ‘I made the JV team’. ‘Oh you sneak.’ ”

With Lizzy playing for Dobson and Bella playing club ball, Mark became involved with the local volleyball community. At games, he and a group of other parents make up a loud Dobson cheering squad.

The Phipps live and breathe Dobson volleyball. Most days you can find the three all wearing different team gear. After games, they all return home to go over film. Lizzy compared it to “killing three birds with one stone.”

Bella is now on the receiving end of coaching from both her dad and older sister. At times she finds it a little weird since she might “give them attitude,” which other teammates can’t do. Overall being together has helped bring them closer as a family.

During club season, Bella and her dad get to go from tournament to tournament together; even though last season she played for Club One and her dad coached for Rizzo.

“We went to Tucson twice to start the season (with Rizzo) and she’d go with me,” Mark said. “It was great because she knew all the kids, she just wasn't on the team that year. She would help with the balls and all this other stuff. And having her on the bench to talk to, it’s almost like having an assistant coach. She's just so good with what to say, and how to interact with the girls and how to get them to cheer.”

Bella also gets to help her sister Lizzy better understand the freshman team.

“I know that she can give me that 100% honest feedback about how she's feeling, and how the other girls are feeling,” Lizzy said.

Being coached by both her dad and sister has made Bella appreciative of their praise. She felt it was one of her more favorite small memories from the season.

“It just feels really good when it's your dad or your sister saying like, ‘That was so good,’ ” Bella said. “It means a little bit more than if it were just another coach because you actually know them. It's a little bit more heartfelt because they wouldn't say it if they didn't mean it, especially because I'm related to them.”

The deep bonds among the Phipps have helped them shape their experience with the Dobson volleyball program into something special. Mark said he could have never imagined that he’d be able to “coach both of his girls at the same time.”

Over the next few years, the Phipps will be a part of the force that hopes to build a more competitive Dobson volleyball program. Just like how this sport brought them closer together, they hope volleyball can also do the same with the community.