Nate Ngo ’06 and Justin Lam ’06 Continue Volleyball Excellence

7/12/2010

The duo continued that success, albeit at different colleges, this past year. In his role as head coach, Ngo led the Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) women’s club volleyball team to the Division I national title, while Lam led the UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) Banana Slugs to a berth in the NCAA Division III men’s National Championship.

 

Both Ngo and Lam credit their time at SHCP as being instrumental in helping to develop a love and passion for the sport of volleyball. They were also influenced by key experiences in their SHCP tenure: successfully overcoming adversity and learning valuable life lessons while playing under Fightin’ Irish Coach Nga Tran.

 

As freshman, Ngo and Lam were members of a team that went 0-12 in the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL). Just three short years later, the Fightin’ Irish went 11-1 to claim a league title en route to a berth in the CCS championship.

 

Lam says being part of the turnaround makes him proud.

 

“You have to keep working hard, no matter what,” said Lam, who, after starting for the Fightin’ Irish for four consecutive years and being named CCS Player of the Year in 2006, sat on the bench for his first two seasons at UCSC.

 

“It was very humbling,” Lam continued, “but I continued to work hard and was ready to make the most out of my opportunity when it came.”

 

That positive attitude resulted in the 5-foot-11 Lam leading the Banana Slugs (15-7) with a team-high 81 games played, 3.79 kills per game, and 41 service aces. He was also second on the team with 1.58 digs per game and fourth in total blocks (46) for UCSC, which fell 3-1 to Springfield in the Division III national title match.

 

Lam was one of only eight players named Division III First-Team All-American, and he was selected to the All-Tournament Team. This season he was also named Sports Imports/AVCA Men’s Division III National Player of the Week.

 

He credits his parents, who both played volleyball, as well as the coaching staff at SHCP for preparing him to succeed at the next level.

 

“I appreciate everyone who has helped,” he said.

 

Ngo, whose club team finished with a no. 6 national ranking, says the Fightin’ Irish learned to work for everything when he and Lam played together.

 

“You have to put in the work and play to win. If you do, good things are bound to happen, and the hard work will pay off eventually.”

 

Now, Ngo tries to impart that same wisdom as a coach.

 

Ngo, who served as a student manager for the women’s volleyball program at SHCP under Coach Margi Beima, has worked as a volunteer assistant for the Cal-Poly SLO women’s team for the past four years after serving as the team manager his freshman year.

 

“Coach Tran really was a big influence on me, and Coach Beima helped out a lot,” he said.

 

Ngo will graduate from Cal-Poly SLO with a BS in mathematics this coming December, while Lam graduated last May from UCSC with a BS in business management/economics.

 

Currently, Ngo also works as a statistician for the US Men’s National Team. He says he loves volleyball and enjoys serving as a positive influence in young people’s lives.

 

“The compositeness of sports is something I really enjoy and am passionate about,” said Ngo. “My goal is to continue to climb the coaching ladder; hopefully I’ll start by working as a graduate assistant coach. If not, I might teach and coach at the high school level.”

 

Lam has also coached club volleyball for the past three years.

 

“I will definitely continue coaching and continue playing for pleasure,” said Lam, who returned to SHCP to work in the boys’ and girls’ volleyball camps as part of the SHCP Summer in the City program.

 

Coach Nga Tran adds, “Justin and Nate have come back to SHCP many times to share their love of the game with our players. The current students in the program look up to them. I’ve watched them both develop and mature throughout their college careers. They’ve maintained their work ethic at the collegiate level and every bit of success that they’ve achieved this past year was well earned. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

 

The entire SHCP community congratulates Ngo and Lam on their recent success and wishes both of them well in their future endeavors.