This year, the emergence of warmer weather, longer days and budding flowers marks not only the beginning of spring, but new beginnings for the volleyball program at the high school.

Ahead of the upcoming spring season the boys varsity team hired a new head coach: Lexi De la Cruz. Under De la Cruz’s passionate and positive coaching, the team hopes to not only match their success from the last few seasons, but to exceed it.

Growing up in Puerto Rico with a brother playing for their national volleyball team, De la Cruz became immersed in volleyball from a young age. He went on to have an impressive playing career himself, earning a full athletic scholarship to play for Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico.

De la Cruz then played professionally in Puerto Rico before moving to the United States, where he now plays outdoor volleyball in the Association of Volleyball Professionals league and is one of the top players in New England.

On top of coaching at the high school level, De la Cruz coaches club volleyball. As the head coach of the Smash Volleyball 18U team, he has led them to be ranked sixth in the country, with a record of 46-5 this year. He is also the assistant coach for the men’s volleyball team at Lasell College in Newton, MA.

Athletic Director Kyle Williams said the experience De la Cruz brings is only one of the many aspects that made him fit for the head coach position.

“He’s a very good volleyball player as well, although that’s secondary,” Williams said. “Our anticipation is that he will bring a level of joy, passion and excitement to coaching that we know our kids deserve.”

As an accomplished volleyball player, De la Cruz calls himself a “player’s coach.” While that can mean different things to different coaches, De la Cruz said that for him, it means making sure his players are competitive and confident, while still finding joy and a desire to play the sport.

“I have realized in my years of coaching that half of this battle is mental,” said De la Cruz. “When it’s 24-24, instead of telling my kid, ‘Don’t miss your serve,’ I will tell them, ‘You got the serve.’”

For some members of the team, this is not their first experience playing for De la Cruz. This includes senior and captain Kristaps Vaivars, who had De la Cruz as his coach in his sophomore year at Smash Volleyball.

Vaivars said he’s seen De la Cruz’s passion and is excited for him to bring it to the sidelines, as well as improve practice efficiency from previous years.

“He’s very passionate. If you see him on the sidelines, he’s jumping, he’s super excited,
super high for the team,” Vaivars said. “Practices involve more playing [and] less talking this year.”

During the hiring process, the athletic department took into account what the players desired in a coach and held a program meeting to give the student-athletes an opportunity to be heard. Vaivars said this was very important for him and his teammates.

“As a program, we were all pretty involved,” Vaivars said. “We knew what we wanted in a coach and we were able to communicate that and get it.”

Although he was only recently hired, De la Cruz said he’s already begun communication with his assistant coaches, who he believes will be equally important to the team’s success this season.

“My dynamic with my assistants–it’s more like they’re my second head coach of the team,” De la Cruz said. “I want them to study the game. I want them to provide me feedback as well [and] see if there’s new ways that we can do things.”

Going into his debut season, De la Cruz said he’s optimistic about the future success of the program.

“We’re going to win the state championship. There’s no other goal,” De la Cruz said. “We’re building a dynasty, and Brookline has a chance to be one of the power teams for years to come.”