Setting a new Pace for Marble Falls volleyball

CAPTION: New Marble Falls volleyball head coach Christopher Pace (right) and strength and conditioning coordinator Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt observe junior outside hitter Mia Trejo perform a speed and agility drill during a recent session of Marble Falls Forge ’24. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

New Marble Falls High School volleyball head coach Christopher Pace spent his first week the artificial turf at Mustang Stadium during Marble Falls Forge ’24, the athletic department’s strength and conditioning program, and courtside at Max Copeland Gym with the Lady Mustangs as they participated in volleyball drills July 8-11.

What he saw from the Lady Mustangs impressed him.

“I see their hard work and dedication to getting better every day,” he said. “That speaks volumes about their community and parents. You work hard on everything you do. You don’t settle for good when you can be great and don’t settle for great when you can be the best. Coaches are pushing the girls. Right now we’re working hard as one unit. The kids are accepting and want the challenges. They’re blowing our minds.”

In many ways, he’s already discovered athletes who are like himself.

“Hard working and dedicated,” he said. “I believe I give 110 percent on everything I do. I believe I provide the best version of myself for the kids, and I believe they’ll provide the best versions of themselves.”

He noted those versions are required in the sport of volleyball where it was invented in his home state of Massachusetts by William G. Morgan.

“For me growing up in Massachusetts, volleyball was big,” he said. “For me as a high schooler and middle schooler growing up, it was just as important as football.”

While Friday nights were devoted to the gridiron, Pace said students played volleyball four nights a week. He credits his former high school coach, Kyle Magoffin, for the program’s achievements.

“In high school we had a program that was successful — it made me fall in love with it,” he said.

Beach volleyball also was big. Pace said 3-on-3 beach volleyball tournaments were the norm, and he and his teammates were usually the champions.

“Winners get $250,” he said. “For the arcade, you’re set for the day.”

When he wasn’t playing volleyball in the spring, he was on the baseball diamond and even played the sport at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

“It was something I played my whole life,” he said. “It was was more affordable for me to play.”

While there, Pace was a student assistant on volleyball head coach Jonathon Bowman’s staff. That helped him learn how to teach the sport to players and how to create relationships that keys to success.

“He’s a superb coach,” Pace said. “He took his time to teach me the ins and outs. He made sure to teach me what I needed to know.”

Pace spent summers in Texas with his best friend and “loved it just a little bit more.” Once he got his education three years ago, he returned to Texas and hasn’t left.

“I moved down here in February 2021,” he said. “Covid cut school a little early. I picked up with a baseball organization in San Antonio and stayed through July or August. I got a job coaching. My few years down here, I worked for a club team for a few months. It ramped up. We had a small group of individuals. Those numbers increased significantly.”

Pace found out Medina Independent School District had coaching positions available. He applied and became an assistant football and baseball coach then became the head cross country, softball and basketball coach. He credits the school’s administrators for giving him a chance. In all, he stayed three years and then applied for the Marble Falls volleyball head coaching job.

While at Medina, he grew close to the Bryce Storbel family.

“Bryce was a coach for years at Medina,” Pace said. “He brought me in to be an assistant baseball coach. I lived with them for three years.”

He laughed when asked how he managed to lead so many programs and then explained his why.

“I like to stay busy and be active,” he said. “It makes them understand I don’t do this stuff for money — I do it because I impact youth in a positive way. I played Little League. I was blessed with really good coaches. My mom was a great supporter. There’s got to be one or two kids who need that the same way. I want to be someone who they look up to. I can give back to the youth by being the best version of myself.”

Pace said he discovered that he and Marble Falls Independent School District athletic director Keri Timmerman share many of the same beliefs and philosophies on a coach’s role with their athletes, in a program, on a campus and in a community.

“He and I hit it off,” he said. “We have the same ideas of what we expect from student-athletes. We want to make them better in every realm. If they’re strictly into academics, I’m still going to help. We were big on pushing the ‘team first’ mentality. I’m excited to work with coach Timmerman. I enjoyed meeting with the interview committee.”

He sees volleyball is getting better throughout the state of Texas, and that’s because younger children are picking up the sport and staying with it for years. That explains why so many central Texas high school programs reach the state tournament.

“You’re starting to see 8U, 10U volleyball,” Pace said. “Teams are springing up with some very good coaches who are passionate. There are active people in volleyball. It’s really exciting. Texas doesn’t like to be second fiddle to anyone. Once you have the ins and outs of volleyball, it becomes one of those sports that’s easy to get hooked on.”

Teaching those ins and outs are the foundation of what Pace believes the great programs have in common. Committing to do that will be important as the Lady Mustangs continue to learn Pace’s playbook and other sport-specific work that’s ahead of them.

“In most sports, you can hide somebody,” he said. “Not in volleyball. Volleyball will find you, no matter where you’re at. Everyone has to be attacking and moving. It requires a competitive mentally and a physical trust. I have to trust the person next to me to make a play; they’re trusting me to make a play.”

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