Our Staff

We believe in investing in our coaches across the central valley so that they can invest more into the athletes across the valley. We have some of the best coaches in California with vast experience from youth to high school to college to the USA National teams. They all have a passion to teach the game, help explore the athletes’ potential, and strive to coach in a way that fosters a love of the game for life.

Current Staff

JONATHAN WINDER
Owner

Jonathan is one of only 13 four-time All-Americans in NCAA volleyball history, a National Player of the Year, and National Champion. He coached men’s volleyball at Pepperdine and women’s indoor and beach volleyball at the University of Washington, where he mentored more than a dozen All-Americans and won two Pac-12 Championships. Now, he is the Head Coach at Fresno State where they have had the best winning percentage in over 20 years.

HEATHER LONG
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Heather Long served as the Director of Sport for Girls’ Basketball at Clovis North High School from 2012-2020, where she established a premier program in the Valley and the state. Heather earned a degree in Kinesiology – Exercise Science from Fresno State, along with a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University, while serving as a Graduate Assistant to the Men’s Basketball team.

CHANTAL PASCHETTA
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY

Chantal was the Buchanan Girls’ Volleyball Head Coach and a Central Cal VBC Co-Director from 2013-2021. She played intercollegiate volleyball at UC Davis, earned a Masters Degree in Sport Psychology at CSU Fullerton, and worked for USAV, UC Irvine, and Irvine Valley College Women’s Volleyball Programs.

SHASTA MILLHOLLIN
RECRUITING COORDINATOR

As Head Coach at Fresno Pacific, Shasta has years of experience and immense success as a college head coach, high school coach, and club coach. She has been involved with recruiting and coaching at national powerhouse clubs, like Aspire in Arizona and Synergy in Sacramento.

Dr. Wade Gilbert
DIRECTOR OF QUALITY COACHING

One of the world’s experts in coaching and sport performance. Dr. Gilbert travels all over the world working with teams to maximize performance. He is passionate about developing youth sports the right way and will be consulting to develop the sport of volleyball in our community.

Daniel Samarin
Director of Youth Programming

Daniel graduated from Buchanon High School and UC Santa Barbara. He has worked with mens and womens volleyball for 12 years at the club, high school and collegiate level.

JEFF WANDERER
DIRECTOR OF ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT

Jeff serves as the current head coach at West Hills College. He has coached club and high school volleyball for over 3 decades, where he has won a national championship. He coached in college at San Jose State and Fresno State with immense success. For over 20 years, he has been involved with USA Volleyball as a coach, scout, and team leader from youth programs all the way up to the senior women’s national team, as a team leader in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.

RUDY BARAJAS
MASTER COACH, SPECIAL PROJECTS

Rudy has been coaching volleyball here in the San Joaquin Valley since 1999. During the span of his coaching career, he has enjoyed great success with both men’s and women’s high school and club programs. His college coaching tenure includes 4 years coaching indoor and beach volleyball at CSUB and is currently the volunteer assistant coach at Fresno State.

Leadership Group

  • Michael DeRaffaele

  • Rhonda DeRuiter

  • Travis Herb

  • Kaycee King

  • Chantal Paschetta

  • Danny Samarin

  • Matt Terra

  • Jonathan Winder

  • Kelly Winter

Here are some of the coaches who will be joining us this upcoming season!

  • Justin Adams

  • Amy Armstrong

  • Rudy Barajas

  • Ernesto Cazares

  • Michael DeRaffaele

  • Rhonda DeRuiter

  • Maggie Eppright

  • Molly Eppright

  • Julia Handy

  • Matt Hirata

  • Kevin Kaaz

  • Kaycee King

  • Sierra LeBeau

  • Jordan Lovero

  • Matt Oliveira

  • Gabbi Parker

  • Ashlyn Riding

  • Justin Rita

  • Kieran Roblee

  • Jocelyn Rodriguez

  • Richard Saldivar

  • Aaron Samarin

  • Daniel Samarin

  • Matt Terra

  • Courtney Thacker

  • Jeff Wanderer

  • Mikayla Weiss

  • David Wiechmann

  • Lauren Winslow

  • Kelly Winter

  • Hardy Wooldridge

We are always looking for great people who are passionate about the game and want to get involved. Whether you have a passion for the game, previous experience, or a child interested in the sport we’d love to have you join our tribe of coaches who are constantly searching to learn and improve as coaches so we can best support the young people of the Valley. For our vision to come to fruition we need more passionate people in our community coaching the sport. If you’re interested in joining us please email Jonathan at Jonathan@valleyvolleyballacademy.com.