Coach Spotlight: Christy Lambright leads women's volleyball in second season

LANSING, Mich. - For Christy Lambright, it's good to be back.

After playing volleyball for Great Lakes as a student over a decade ago, the mid-Michigan native enters her second season as the team's head coach.

While Great Lakes was always in Lambright's sights growing up in Charlotte, volleyball wasn't initially her first love. "I started playing in sixth grade," she says. "I played through high school, but basketball was my primary sport in high school. I wanted to go to GLCC for basketball, but I was recruited to come to a volleyball practice during freshman orientation."

"I was kind of hooked."

As a player, Lambright played for one of the best teams in school history in any sport.

"Melvin Balogh was our coach… and he was the one that started building the volleyball program. When I was here, we were ranked third in the nation at one point."

After Great Lakes, Lambright moved south, taking tours in Tennessee and North Carolina with Youth For Christ. But even as she traveled, she never left the game behind.

"While I was in Tennessee, I met a group of students there just randomly who wanted to learn how to play volleyball, so we would have a volleyball club that would meet in someone's backyard. I still have pictures of us playing and diving in the mud."

Lambright moved back to Michigan a few years ago, returning to Charlotte, where she lives with her 95-year-old grandmother and continues to work with YFC in addition to her work as coach, which she sees as a way to give back to a community that is meaningful to her and prepare young women for success in their lives.

"The relationships that I built through GLCC and volleyball are still strong today, that support and network I still have years later is invaluable. I loved my experience here and it set me up for success as an adult in a career, so I want to be able to give that to my players."

"Most of our players aren't going pro, so while the game is important and we're going to build the program so we have success, I think it's just as important to teach and model to our players good life foundational lessons."