Coaching volleyball allowing Caron to continue sport career

In addition to dealing with wild animals in her full-time job, Raquel Caron coaches high school boys. For Caron the job of coaching Fallbrook High School’s boys varsity volleyball team isn’t another challenge but a chance to stay in the sport she played at Fallbrook High School.

“I just really loved the game and want to stay in it,” said Caron, who has not played on an organized team herself since spending two years on the University of California, Davis club team. “I thought coaching would keep me in the game ‘cause I love it.”

Caron was born in Grass Valley and moved to Fallbrook with her family at the age of four. She attended Fallbrook Street School, Live Oak School, Potter Junior High School, and Fallbrook High School before majoring in Animal Science at UC Davis.

Caron started her organized sports career with the Boys and Girls Club of Fallbrook, where she played basketball and softball. She played volleyball and softball for Fallbrook High School; her four-year volleyball career included two years on the varsity, one year on the junior varsity, and one year on the freshman team. Caron also sang for the Fallbrook High School choir.

UC Davis has both a varsity volleyball team and a club team, and Caron opted for the club team due to time commitment issues. That may have actually contributed to her ability to coach a team; during one summer she made her coaching debut at McBlack Sports Camp in Sacramento, where she coached basketball.

She also spent two summers as a volunteer for Wild Wonders, which is located in Carlsbad and supplies wild animals for schools, birthday parties, corporate events, libraries, and other educational outreach opportunities. Some of those opportunities involve television shows; Caron, who has worked full-time for Wild Wonders for the past 22 months, has appeared on national television.

Her desire to coach led to the position as assistant freshman girls coach during the fall 2004 season. The head coach for the freshman team is Heather Schulte, who is also Fallbrook High School’s athletic director. When the vacancy for the boys varsity coach was announced, Schulte informed Caron of the opportunity.

The concept of a woman coaching a boys team at Fallbrook High School is not new; Susie Boyd and Laura DuPre were both head coaches of varsity boys soccer teams. The bigger adjustment for Caron was transitioning from an assistant freshman coach to a head varsity coach. “There’s a lot more responsibility, that’s for sure,” she said. “But I’ve gotten the hang of it. Took a couple of weeks to figure it all out.”

The Warriors lost all five non-tournament pre-league matches. The two tournaments were an improvement for the team Caron coaches; although the Warriors didn’t advance to bracket play in the Rancho Bernardo Tournament the team took second place in the consolation bracket of the La Jolla Tournament.

Caron believes that the tournaments were a turning point for the team. “It’s kind of given them more confidence in themselves,” she said.

That may have been borne out by the team’s Avocado League opener April 15 in which the Warriors swept Oceanside. “I think they’re starting to really come together now,” Caron said. “I think we’re going to do pretty well this season.”