Coastal Volleyball Club

Chris Lessick entered the world of volleyball at age eleven, playing with people from the factory where his father worked.  Years later, he continued playing and training on local sand courts in the Pittsburgh area and after two years at Westmoreland Community College, he transferred to Shippensburg University (PA) where he started as a middle hitter and primary passer.  In his junior and senior years, Ship advanced to the EIVA East Coast Championships, where they finished fifth and third, respectively.  During his years at Ship, he won several All-Tournament team awards and was voted captain his senior year.  He graduated in December 1998 with a B.A. in English and then finished a second B.A. in psychology in May 2000. 

While completing student-teaching, Lessick volunteered as a varsity assistant coach for Chambersburg Area Senior High School in the fall of 1998.  He returned the following season and helped lead CASHS to their highest finish in school history, fifth in the AAAA PA State Tournament. 

In the fall of 2000, Lessick began teaching at Currituck County High (NC) and coached the varsity girls' team.  They finished the season with a 14-7 record but lost in the conference tournament. 

The following year, Lessick started at Great Bridge High, coaching the junior varsity team for one year and then taking the varsity girls position after Coach Albaugh moved over to coach the boys' team.  Taking over a team that finished fifth in the district the year before, Great Bridge has not finished lower than second in the past seven years, and have finished first in the district six of the past seven seasons.  Over the past nine seasons, Great Bridge has compiled a 134-14 district record with 8 straight trips to the Eastern Region Tournament.  Throughout these years, Lessick has been honored with Coach-of-the-Year awards four times at the district level and once at the region level. 

Lessick began coaching Junior Olympic volleyball for Waynesboro Area Volleyball Express (WAVE) in Pennsylvania in 1999 and 2000.  Several of his players went on to play at PA DII colleges. 

After moving to the Tidewater area, Lessick started coaching for TVA in 2001.  That season, he coached the 17-2 team, and in the following season, the 18-2 team.  After that, he moved down to coach the 16-1 team for two years, compiling a 116-67 record those two seasons, and finishing thirteenth at the NIT in Phoenix in 2003. 

In December of 2004, Lessick decided to start his own one-team club, and Shore Break Juniors was born.  The first year was a 17s team and in 2006 he fielded a 16s team which would go on to win the Villanova Invitational, Williamsburg Rumble, the Shamrock Festival, and other smaller events.  Over two seasons, Shore Break Juniors would accumulate a 163-43 record, and finish no lower than ninth at national qualifiers, including Baltimore, Atlanta, and Minneapolis. 

Coach Lessick has coached five players-of-the-year, and numerous All-District, All-Eastern Region, All-Tidewater, and All-State players in PA, NC, and VA. 

Lessick currently resides in Virginia Beach with his family.  He teaches English at Great Bridge High School and is working on a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at Murray State University (KY).