Recognizing Sharon Zavala

Floor Speech

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Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Grand Island Central Catholic's Sharon Zavala, the winningest high school volleyball coach in Nebraska history, who is retiring after 49 seasons.

Since 1975 Coach Zavala has built a volleyball dynasty at Central Catholic. She recruited athletes and cheerleaders back then to start a shaky first team but by the end of her career would compile a 1177 win 220 loss record and 11 state championships after 49 years.

Zavala was a pioneer in high school volleyball and set the standard for girls' sports in Grand Island and the surrounding areas. For her efforts she's been inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame, the Northwest High School Athletic Hall of Fame (Zavala graduated from Northwest), the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame (Zavala's alma mater) and the National High School Hall of Fame.

In 2007 she was awarded the National High School Athletics Coaches Association National High School Volleyball Coach of the Year and won the Independent Girls' Coach of the year three times during her tenure.

Few coaches have demonstrated Zavala's dedication and passion to high school volleyball. In 49 years she's missed only one practice due to a positive Covid test. She is devoted to players past and present and is responsible for the careers of many successful coaches whom she coached at Central Catholic. Her players speak of her quiet demeanor and her ability to stay calm during close matches. Notably, she has maintained long-time relationships with 49 years of players and is very proud to have coached daughters whose mothers played for her the previous generation.

Zavala attributes her calm demeanor to the traditions she's meticulously followed through the years. Every match, she says, has begun with a ``Hail Mary''. Her players dedicated themselves to the recitation of the prayer at every match and noted that it always calmed and focused them.

Grand Island Central Catholic is grateful for Zavala's many contributions to the school history and for helping to develop girls' sports at a time when boys' sports was the only show in town. Thanks to Zavala, hundreds of girls in Grand Island and in Central Nebraska have experienced the thrill, hard work, and perseverance and rewards of girls' athletics.

Sharon Zavala has been a role model, leader and certainly a gift to Grand Island Central Catholic, to the Grand Island community, and to the state of Nebraska.

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