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FREMONT — Throughout her years as a player and a coach, Lindi Cahill learned successful volleyball teams have trust, respect and self-discipline. Those principals are the rocks Cahill will use as the foundation to take the Fremont Ross volleyball program to a new era of success as the new head coach of the Lady Giants.

Lindi Cahill

Before a four-year career at Kent State University, Cahill played under legendary Clyde coach Nancy Hanger and then coached under Hanger after returning to Clyde in 2000.  She learned first-hand from Hanger the bedrock on which a successful program is built.

“You can talk to just about anybody who came up through the ranks of that program and they were made to feel like they mattered,” Cahill said. “They really benefitted from the experience of being on one of her teams, as a person and, also, as an athlete. It was at a time when girls sports was just starting to emerge as something to respect. She really made me feel, as a student-athlete, it was a privilege and something to be respected and we were respected for putting in hard work to be successful. That is something I want to bring to this program – to have the program be respected and have the kids feel like this is an opportunity that is a privilege and we’re going to make the most of that privilege.”

After her playing days at Kent State, Cahill served as athletic director at Indian Hill Village Schools, a suburb of Cincinnati, where she also coached volleyball for one year before returning to Clyde. She coached the freshman Fliers for three seasons from 2000-2002 and has coached the last three years with Northcoast Showtime AAU volleyball.

“The volleyball search committee was impressed not only by Lindi’s resume as a player and coach, but felt her knowledge regarding the current state of the volleyball program would help with the transition and allow for her to have a more immediate impact on the program,” said Ross athletic director Chad Berndt.

Berndt added the search committee also viewed Cahill as someone to bring much-needed stability to the volleyball program.

“Given the turnover this program has experienced in recent years, the search committee was hoping to hire a coach who expressed a desire to be around for a while and help to develop a winning culture both on the court and off – and we believe coach Cahill is capable of doing just that,” Berndt said.

The Lady Giants are coming off a difficult 6-16 season in 2018 and Cahill said the first step in raising the program’s level of success is to get her players to believe in her and in themselves.

“For the kids who are coming back, it’s going to be a matter of building some trust, they have to be able to trust that I’m going to make decisions that are beneficial to them, they need to be able to trust I’m going to treat them in a positive and respectful manner,” Cahill said. “And I need to be able to trust they’re going to do the work in the offseason and to treat themselves like athletes and good student-athletes, so we can be stronger, be faster.

Cahill also said she hopes to increase the level of competitiveness for Fremont’s youth volleyball programs, including scheduling more interscholastic programs at the fifth- and sixth-grade levels to get athletes playing with one another at a younger age.

She also said part of the appeal of coaching at Ross was a chance to be a part of a program she’s heard so much about from her husband John, a Ross graduate in his first season as the boys basketball coach.

“For the last, almost 20 years, I’ve been hearing about how wonderful Fremont Ross sports are from my darling husband, so that’s kind of a personal incentive too, to be a part of something that, for John and so many people his age, there is almost a mystique about Ross sports,” she said. “It’s really interesting to be able to say I’m officially a part of that now, and not just a fan.”

There will be a meet-and-greet with Cahill for athletes and parents Thursday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.

 
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