Bear Ball Blogs Exclusive: Meet Coach Ricks

After many NBHS Bears teams just completed their first week of conditioning, I was lucky to get a chance to interview Coach Ricks about her background and the upcoming 2020 volleyball season. The future is bright for this program as Ricks has built a regional powerhouse with plans to continue deep runs in the state playoffs.

So who is Coach Ricks? Heidi Ricks is a counselor at New Bern as well the Head Volleyball coach In describing her background, Coach says she “grew up in the western part of North Carolina, near Hickory and 45 minutes away from Boone. That’s where Appalachian State is. I went to Western Carolina to get my bachelor’s degree, and then five years ago, I went to Liberty to get my masters in School Counseling. Before I was a counselor, I was a health and PE teacher. I got my first job in Pamlico County, where I coached Volleyball and softball. But now I only coach Volleyball. I have a five-month-old little girl and a black lab named Corn. He is also a therapy dog, so we go to the hospital and visit patients and everything.”

“Passionate, driven, outgoing.” Those are the three words that Coach Ricks used to describe herself. “Passionate and driven are the same thing, but in everything I do in education, kids, and my volleyball team, I want to be the best. So I go to clinics, see people talk and see their drills, and see how they’re doing things. On the school counseling side, I look for what other schools are doing and how we can become better as New Bern High School. I feel if you aren’t passionate, then you’re just kind of mediocre, and I tell my girls that we never want to be average, we want to be the best that we can be because average people kind of float in the world and they go about their way and people never notice them. And outgoing that kind of explains itself, I’m kind of up for anything, and I think you have to be that way to experience new things and put yourself out there.”

Ricks has done everything in volleyball. “I played Volleyball in middle school and high school. While I was in college, I was actually on the opposite side and I reffed, so I’ve been around all aspects of the game. Refereeing is really good money when you’re in college.”

After her playing days in high school and refereeing in college, coaching was always in her mind. “[Coaching] was a passion growing up, I saw all my coaches coaching, and I wanted to be like them teaching little kids. When I got to college, I was given the opportunity to help with a local high school softball team when I wasn’t in class. I was with them at their games and learned from the coaches.”

After serving in an “intern” type role in college, Mrs. Ricks’s coaching career would take off when she was offered a head coaching job upon graduation. Coach was surprised by the opportunity but she seized the chance and moved to eastern North Carolina. “I started [coaching] in college, basically as an intern helping with softball. Then I got the opportunity to be a head coach straight out of college, which normally doesn’t happen. Tom Marsh, at Pamlico HS, actually hired me and said hey you’re going to be the head volleyball coach. At 22 years old, taking over a program was an experience. I evolved as a person and as a coach from my time there. Earl Sadler, who is the athletic director, is amazing; he was my mentor. You don’t get told everything you are expected to do, like setting your schedule. And driving a bus was an experience and something they don’t tell you about. Then I got the opportunity to come to New Bern High School and take over this program and make it a winning program, and that was one of my goals. I wanted to be at a bigger school, I wanted more, so I am very proud of where our program has come from and where it continues to go.”

Coach Ricks just completed her 5th season as the NBHS head volleyball coach. The Bears finished the 2019 season with a 17-9 record, 7-5 record in conference. NBHS placed third in the conference in 2019 and lost in the second round of the NCHSAA State Volleyball Playoffs to Cardinal Gibbons. Coach Ricks had this to say about this past season, “We did good, we finished third in the conference, and we made it to the second round of the playoffs before we lost to Cardinal Gibbons, so that was a hard draw. But it was a great experience for our now seniors, and some of our sophomores got to play up. We have a tough conference, a very tough conference because we have Conly, South Central, Rose, there are three games right there, and all three go deep in the playoffs. We have a playoff atmosphere early on. We got to compete with them, and we did well against Ashley in Wilmington. Every year we’ve been adding competition to our schedule.”

With the 2019 season behind the Bears, Coach Ricks is anxious for the season to begin. “I miss my girls; we usually start in May with workouts, getting in the weight room, and starting to touch a ball. We have summer leagues, and we get to play throughout the summer, seeing them grow throughout the summer because we are like a family. I’ve talked to other coaches about not having a season, and it’s because it’s who we are. It’s going to be tough. I got to see my players twice this week, working on the tennis courts. We’re still not touching a ball, but just being together has been great.”

Fortunately fall sports such as volleyball were recently allowed to start conditioning. Ricks told me this about the return to work, “I talked with coaches about what kind of conditioning, we always condition, but we always touch a ball at first. I was kind of nervous because it’s overwhelming because when you see your kids, you want to go up and hug them and give them high fives. But right now we can’t do that, because we have to stay six feet apart, so it’s been a ball of emotions. But it’s been great to have our girls back. I think they want it even more now because it’s been taken away from them.” 

While there is uncertainty around high school sports this fall, Coach Ricks is planning for a great season. And if we get to have fans in the stands, we invite you to come watch the exciting volleyball Lady Bears have what should be another great campaign.

Go Bears!