Palisades High girls volleyball coach Chris Forrest was named City Section Division II Coach of the Year for the second straight year after the Dolphins won their fourth city title in five years in November. Forrest was also named L.A. girls Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and boys’ Coach of the Year in 2008. That same year, the California Coaches Association named him Rookie Coach of the Year. Additionally this year, PaliHi junior Molly Kornfeind was named L.A. City Player of the Year. Joining Kornfeind on the first team were senior Meghan Middleton and junior Shanna Scott. Senior Maddie Hausberg made second team. Each year, Forrest also has numerous boys who also make all-team honors and go on to play college ball. ’Two months ago I saw three of my former players’Scott Vegas (’08), Matt Hanley (’09) and Kene Izuchuku (’10)’who all play for UCLA, all on the court at the same time,’ Forrest said. ‘It was great.’ Forrest grew up in Santa Barbara and played volleyball as a setter and defensive specialist for Dos Pueblos High School, a Southern Section powerhouse. After graduating in 1991, he attended San Diego State and tried out for the volleyball team. ’There were no specialized positions for short people,’ said Forrest, who is 5’8′. The tryout was based solely on how high a player could jump. ’I don’t think it was a particularly a fair tryout,’ said Forrest, who jumped and reached 10’2′, but missed making the team by a few inches. Undeterred, he played volleyball in the fraternity league, competing against those who were on the college team. He graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. ‘I often thought that having a degree in engineering might have made it easier to get a job,’ said Forrest, who added that he has come to appreciate the advantages of this degree, which helps in life situations’and coaching. Forrest, who teaches special education at PaliHi, started his coaching career as a freshman/sophomore volleyball coach at Santa Monica in 2001. After two years, he moved to Venice High where he worked as the assistant varsity and junior varsity coach. In 2006, Matt Shubin, who was the head girls coach at Pali, asked Forrest to become the boys varsity coach and assist him with the girls. When Shubin was let go in 2007, Forrest was interviewed for the position along with four other candidates and won the job, taking over both programs. ’I work with my athletes to build self-discipline and correct technique, and I teach them it’s about hard work and giving 100 percent effort,’ said Forrest, who studies college-coaching techniques and works them into his program. Forrest also coaches the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club 18 boys team, ‘a gold medal contender’ in last year’s Junior Olympics. Recently, and his wife wife Jean and their two-year-old son Travis moved from Venice to Thousand Oaks, where the housing market is more affordable. Does Forrest have any prediction for the boys’ team, which lost to Granada Hills in last year’s City final? ’I almost guarantee we’ll be in the championship game again,’ he said. ‘You can go to Vegas and put money on it.’
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