DOUG VOLDING

Steve Virgen

For the past 31 years, Doug Volding has been teaching and coaching in

the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Is he tired of it?

No way.

For Volding his job just keeps getting better, whether it be

coaching on the pool deck with the Corona del Mar High girls swim

team or counseling students in his office at the school.

“I’ve enjoyed my whole career of doing what I always wanted to

do,” Volding said. “I’m in my 31st year. I still enjoy it like I did

the first year. I’m lucky. Every year I get this feeling that maybe

I’m tired, but I see the new athletes and I get recharged. I have no

regrets. I love every minute of it.”

Volding said he has always wanted to be involved in either

teaching or coaching since his childhood days, when he participated

in physical education while growing up in Long Beach. He maintained

his fervor for athletics when he attended Long Beach Poly, where he

competed in water polo and swimming.

With the Jackrabbits, Volding encountered his first experience

with CdM.

“I remember riding on the bus on a dirt road to [CdM] high school

and they handed it to us,” Volding said. They were great. It’s kind

of ironic that I’ve been working here now and this has been my

community. But it’s great. I’ve enjoyed it all.”

After graduating from Long Beach Poly, Volding went on to compete

in water polo at Long Beach City College and played under legendary

coach Monte Nitzkowski in 1958 and ’59.

At Poly and Long Beach CC, Volding played with Don Stoll, who

coaches water polo at El Toro. The two remain friends.

Volding stayed in Long Beach to finish college when he transferred

to Long Beach State, where he concentrated solely on academics,

preparing himself to work with children and coach.

Volding earned three master’s degrees -- in education, counseling

and administration. He said he realized the administrative side of

working at a school would give him too much of a distance from what

he really wanted to do so he decided to stick with teaching and

coaching.

In 1972, he began his career at Lincoln Intermediate, teaching

P.E. and coaching flag football, basketball and track and field. When

Lincoln closed in 1984 and CdM became a 7-12 school, Volding moved

over to become part of the Sea Kings. He became the girls swim coach

after being prompted by a student, Susie Paulsen, who asked him to

coach the team.

Most of Volding’s highlights involve his relationships with

students and parents. As far as in the pool, he singled out the Sea

Kings’ second-place finish in the CIF Southern Section Division II

finals last spring. It was the highest finish in Volding’s tenure.

CdM also won the Pacific Coast League last spring, its first

league title since 1994.

“It’s the personalities I’ve had fun with over the years,” said

Volding, the latest honoree of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

“I’ve done this for 31 years so I’m in the last few years in my

career. [Coaching and counseling] will probably end at the same time.

I want to keep doing it. I enjoy it. I have the want. The kids keep

me young, too.”

Volding, 54, lives in Mission Vieo with wife, Susie, and daughter,

Jennifer, who swims for Capistrano Valley High.