Shonto Starlings marks 20 years of club volleyball

WINDOW ROCK
This past June, the Shonto Starlings finished their club season of volleyball with high marks at the Starlings National Championships.

Their teams took gold in the 16U and 14U Brackets, and athlete Shaniley Dugi received the Spirit award.

Ellyce Begay also won in the art section of the Art and Literacy Competition; her prize-winning drawing reflects her life as a student-athlete from Navajo. Her drawing can be viewed on the Starlings website under the 2023 winner category.

In addition to another successful year, Head Shonto Starlings Coach Harrison Miles was recently informed that his team had just completed their 20th season.

“I didn’t realize that it was 20 years until a parent mentioned it and I was like ‘wow, where did the time go?’ I guess time flies when you’re having fun,” Miles said.

Sports clubs are rare on the Navajo Nation, so the Starlings reaching the 20-year mark is a major milestone for them.

Most young athletes on or near the Navajo reservation are only able to play school sports, but Miles believes club sports can be just as beneficial as it gives kids more time to play, hone their skills and offers them a chance of competing against a greater variety of teams.

Miles started the club around 2003, while he was a volleyball coach with Shonto Preparatory School (going on 23 years now). He was approached by a group of girls asking if he could help start a volleyball club so that they could play in a tournament.

Miles agreed, wanting to give the girls a chance to play the game they love. He also had a niece who joined a club but for most of her time on the team, she wasn’t given much of a chance to play. Miles didn’t want that to happen on his club team and said that he wants to give everyone a chance to play and grow.

Initially, he named the club the Shonto Juniors, a moniker they would use for the first two and a half years. Then after a tournament, Miles was approached by a representative of Starlings Volleyball USA.

The Starlings are a non-profit organization that seeks to support girls volleyball clubs operating in economically challenged areas and is currently the nation’s largest junior volleyball club.

After developing a partnership with Starlings Volleyball, Miles was able to get his athletes more exposure, help with fundraising, and make entry fees more affordable for the team. He also officially renamed the club the Shonto Starlings.

Since then, the Shonto Starlings grew from having one team, to as many as six; depending on how many girls would join in a season. Usually each team competes in about 10 tournaments, so this year with six teams the Shonto Starlings competed in about 60 tournaments.

Club players come from all across the Navajo Nation, with some as far away as Kirtland, New Mexico, making the hours long trip to practice in Shonto.

“It means a lot because I’ve had girls that were from Phoenix come to practice, I’ve had girls from Albuquerque and Farmington and that means a lot, that they want to learn. They want to be part of a program that’s consistent and something that they want to belong to,” Miles said.

Other coaches joined the club assisting Miles, like Tyson Calamity, who is also head volleyball coach for Shonto Preparatory Technology High School and just completed his 6th season with the Starlings.

“Coach Miles has definitely done an outstanding job with the program,” Calamity said. “He’s grown and nurtured so many young athletes who have excelled on their respective school teams in middle school and high school…it’s just awesome to see them performing on their respective school teams.”

Calamity said he has learned a lot while working with Miles, saying that volleyball is a passion for him and that’s the reason why he decided to help coach the Starlings. He is proud to be part of such a successful volleyball team like the Starlings as they represent the Navajo Nation.

He credits Miles for keeping the club going for all these years and their success in the tournaments. He also believes that volleyball is helping their club members learn to live healthy, have discipline and pushes them to be the best version of themselves.

“If anyone out there wants to start a club, go for it. Let’s promote our students, let’s get our students out there and get them exposed. Let’s give them that experience so that they can perform at their own school,” Calamity said.

Miles also gave thanks to his assistant coaches. He said that coaching is volunteer work, and they all make sacrifices for the Starlings. If one of them couldn’t make it, then the others would step up and fill the role, always helping one another whenever they could.

Through the years, Miles said they have never had any major issues that threatened the club, often the challenges he faced were finding enough coaches willing to work during their off-time, and minor disputes with parents over how they coach, and planning for long trips.

However their biggest challenge was the 2020-2021 seasons, during the initial outbreak of COVID-19.

The club was briefly shut down, but when regulations were released, including one allowing gatherings outdoors, Miles cautiously reopened the club as he felt all the negativity from the pandemic and no available outlet was afflicting the kids.

“I think it was kind of scary at the beginning because when we first opened up club season outside, that was the stipulation, we’re going to be outside for practice. Whether it was raining, snowing, whatever we were to be outside,” Miles said.

The girls practiced in a nearby wash, running in the sand while the net was tied between two cotton trees. They often played under the hot sun and during sandstorms, not wanting to waste the precious time they got to play. There were only a few of them at first, but as time went on and their methods apparently kept the virus from spreading, more girls joined as the club’s numbers were rebuilt and they started playing tournaments again.

During this time many schools were shut down, but the Shonto Starlings were able to showcase some of the local talent and were able to get four of their young women signed on to play college volleyball.

For years, the club has maintained a strong presence at tournaments all over the southwest, from San Diego to Denver and Phoenix to Salt Lake City. Today, other top volleyball clubs know who the Shonto Starlings are and respect the native team.

Miles hopes the girls on his team will learn discipline, critical thinking, communication and other essential skills they can use in their lifelong journey.

“For me, Shonto Starlings is not work, it’s a lot of fun, for me. It takes a lot of my time, but that time was for pure joy and excitement,” Miles said.