Lady Dutch alumna step up for the Manchester volleyball program

New Manchester Junior-Senior High School Volleyball coaching staff: from left, Jill Corwin, junior varsity; Jayden Humphrey, eighth grade; Riley (Collins) Ballard, seventh grade.

submitted by Wendy Gebhardt, MHS Varsity Volleyball head coach

It’s no secret that finding referees and coaches for public school sports across the nation has become more and more difficult. Manchester experienced the same difficulties inside the Volleyball program this summer until Lady Dutch alumna stepped up for student-athletes.

For several months, the Junior Varsity and 7th grade volleyball coaching position(s) sat open with no applicants. The Athletic Director and legacy coaching staff worked tirelessly to recruit potential coaches with full knowledge that the high school season would start August 8. The Junior Varsity and Varsity programs are strong with twenty four (24) athletes between JV and Varsity on the roster. With less than a week to spare, long-time 8th grade volleyball coach and Manchester alumna, Jill Corwin stepped up to take on the Junior Varsity program.

With coach Corwin agreeing to round out the high school volleyball staff, that left both the 7th and 8th grade volleyball coaching positions vacant. Middle school volleyball starts the first day of the 2022/23 school year and twenty eight (28) aspiring Middle School volleyball athletes needed coaches. Fortunately, lady luck, the hard work of the AD office and extended Manchester coaching staff again paid off as two very impressive Manchester Lady Dutch alumna rose to the occasion.

Manchester 2019 graduate Jayden Humphrey and 2017 graduate Riley (Collins) Ballard stepped up to the task. The commitment of Coach Corwin to meet the needs of the high school and the addition of these two coaches is a huge gain for the volleyball program as we teach the combined 52 female volleyball student athletes, within grades 7 -12, the sport of volleyball.

New Junior Varsity volleyball Coach Jill Corwin has successfully coached multiple 8th grade teams at the middle school for several seasons and is an asset to Manchester Community Schools. She generously volunteers time and is always finding new and unique ways to organize events and fundraise for multiple Manchester sports programs.

New 8th grade volleyball coach Jayden Humphrey was a scholar athlete and was named the Jackson Citizen Patriot volleyball player of the year for two consecutive seasons (2018/2019). She finished her final senior season with 604 kills, 316 digs and 74 aces earning her first team All-Conference, All Region and First team All-State recognition. Humphrey was a four-sport athlete, playing basketball in the winter and softball in the spring but made a change her senior year to Track and Field for spring. Humphrey earned three All-State honors for Track and field placing Runner up in both the 100 Meter and 200 Meter Dash and 5th in Shot Put at the 2019 D3 Michigan High School state tournament.

New 7 th grade volleyball coach Riley Collins Ballard was also a scholar athlete that played two years of soccer, two years of track and field, four years of volleyball, and four years of basketball at Manchester. She holds the school record in the high jump (5’4″) and the 400m dash (58.9) and qualified for the MHSAA State tournament in the 400m dash and the 1 mile relay her senior season. Coach Ballard went on to compete at the D2 Collegiate level for Lake Superior State University (GLIAC) in Basketball and Track and Field where she continued to excel as a student athlete. Coach Ballard placed in several collegiate track and field events over her impressive career and was named to the 2020 and 2021 GLIAC Spring All-Academic Excellence Team as a Laker.

Manchester is lucky to have these coaches within the volleyball program. As a community, please help welcome Coach Corwin to the high school and Coach Humphrey and Coach Ballard to the Middle School staff.

The Manchester volleyball program is holding a fundraiser and we ask the community to buy a raffle ticket from a Middle School or High School Volleyball player. The program will be raffling a beautiful hand crafted quilt, created with love, and donated by Coach Corwin’s family. The drawing will be held on Senior night which is also the final home high school volleyball game on 10/18 against Napoleon. Tickets are available now.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.