By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor It would be difficult to find a harder working coach in the Pasadena area than Tiare Tuitama. Our reigning girls and boys volleyball coach of the year led the La Salle girls program to an undefeated Del Rey League championship, a trip to the CIF-SS Division 3 finals and a […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
It would be difficult to find a harder working coach in the Pasadena area than Tiare Tuitama.
Our reigning girls and boys volleyball coach of the year led the La Salle girls program to an undefeated Del Rey League championship, a trip to the CIF-SS Division 3 finals and a school-record CIF-State Division 3 semifinal appearance.
She led the boys to a Camino Real League championship and a CIF-SS Division 4 semifinal berth.
Coach Tui stepped down from the girls program to escape unnecessary drama in her already busy life.
Tuitama is the owner and Director of Youth Development of the Forza 1 West volleyball club, she has returned to school to further her education and got engaged over the summer to Pasadena High School baseball coach Mike Parisi.
But wait, there’s more.
Tuitama just joined the Occidental College women’s volleyball coaching staff as an assistant.
The 34-year old will concentrate her focus on setters.
She will also remain a teacher at La Salle and continue to lead the boys program, which really brought her a lot of joy to end the 2017-18 school year.
For now, though, Tuitama is thrilled to join eighth-year head coach Heather Collins’ staff.
The Tigers begin play this Friday when they compete in the two-day Pacific Coast Classic.
Oxy will face Union of New York and Southwestern of Texas on Friday and then the Tigers will battle Johnson and Wales (Rhode Island) and Franklin and Marshall (Pennsylvania) on Saturday.
“I’m really excited to join this great program and evolve as a coach,” Tuitama said. “I want to take in some knowledge and I would love to one day be a head coach at the college level. But this is a time to grow and I am very excited about the opportunity.”
