Laguna Blanca School is proud to announce that the American Volleyball Coaches Association has awarded Laguna Blanca School head volleyball coach Dillan Bennett with the prestigious Thirty Under 30 Award.
This award was created in 2009 to honor up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport, 30 years old or younger.
“If you love volleyball, it’s hard not to smile when you look at this class of AVCA Thirty Under 30 award-winners,” AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer said. “Bright, dedicated, aspiring young coaches representing every facet of our sport — college, high school, club — coaching both male and female players. Each year selecting just 30 gets harder and harder and our excitement about our future grows stronger and stronger.”
Of the 30 recipients, 11 are NCAA Division I coaches, four in Division II, four are NCAA Division III, three are in high school, the NAIA and Two Year College, and two are club coaches.
“I’m deeply humbled and honored to be recognized by the AVCA, and to be in the company of an incredibly talented team of coaches who inspire their team, and share the passion of the sport of volleyball,” said Bennett, assistant to the athletic director and head volleyball coach for the boys at Laguna Blanca School.
Laguna Athletic Director Mike Biermann added, “This is a well-deserved award for Dillan. His dedication and passion for the sport of volleyball are unparalleled and he has a very bright future ahead in the volleyball world.”
Bennett began his coaching career at Laguna Blanca in September 2009 as a middle school girls volleyball coach. In spring 2010, he served as the assistant coach for the boys upper school volleyball team and was later named head coach in the fall of 2010, earning him the rank of youngest (age 19) head coach in California. In 2013, Bennett started Laguna’s sand volleyball program for the girls, and added the boys program in fall 2014. In 2014, he took on the administrative role of assistant to the athletic director in addition to his duties as boys and girls middle school volleyball coach and head of the boys sand volleyball program.
Bennett earned his associate’s degree in psychology from Santa Barbara City College and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in psychology at CSU Channel Islands. He is nationally certified beach/sand volleyball coach, receiving his BCAP (Beach Coaches Accreditation Program) Certification as an 18-year-old from USA Beach Volleyball, the national governing body of the sport.
— Sydney Gardner is a publicist representing Laguna Blanca School.