“I’m late to everything in life but volleyball,” stated Mineola head volleyball coach TaShara Stephens-Ryder. 

That may sound like a claim made in jest, but for Stephens-Ryder, it is truly a characteristic of her day-to-day. 

Volleyball takes a very special place in Stephens-Ryder’s experience. 

To understand the meaning of volleyball in her life, one must understand that Stephens-Ryder was a star athlete in her youth. In 1995, she received a full scholarship to attend Lon Morris College and play volleyball. 

This was the result of her performance as a Mineola Yellowjacket and of a high school career chock-full of athletic honors. A record-setting sprinter, a track MVP, and a female Athlete of the Year, Stephens-Ryder received accolades while at Mineola High School that recognized her as a stellar athlete.

Receiving an athletic scholarship to play volleyball in 1995 is of itself an amazing accomplishment.

Stephens-Ryder moved from being a middle blocker at Lon Morris to being an outside hitter at Jarvis Christian University (then Jarvis Christian College), where she finished her four years of collegiate competition.

It was at Jarvis that she came under the tutelage of volleyball coach Elissia Burwell. At a time when Stephens-Ryder was beginning to question her decision to pursue a nursing career, Burwell made a life-changing impression on her.

“Coach Burwell taught me how to care for every single athlete,” Stephens-Ryder explained. She separated each of those words – ‘every single athlete.’  She continued, “She taught me about dedication, about leadership, about how to have an open, honest conversation.” 

Stephens-Ryder admitted, “I didn’t think the Lord was pulling me toward nursing; I think I was being pulled toward education.”

A fortuitous opening to coach the volleyball squad at Hawkins High School then placed her solidly in the coaching life. From Hawkins to Alba-Golden – where she was the first African-American coach hired at the school, and spent 13 years coaching volleyball and teaching science – to Mineola, where she just completed her fifth season, Stephens-Ryder has been a fixture of volleyball in East Texas.

She is indeed a local girl. The Stephens family is a large family with long roots in Mineola. 

TaShara was the first college graduate in the Stephens family. She speaks easily about the positive influences of growing up here. Among the many people who shaped her character were Godmother Rosalind Russell and two neighbors, Charles and Harry Henry. 

It is quite an anomaly to spend 20 years coaching scholastic sports in the same county, and to do it successfully and with flair, but that has been Stephens-Ryder’s path.  

All that time courtside, she was also nurturing a volleyball prodigy. TaShara’s eldest daughter CeTara graduated from Alba-Golden in 2016.  Her high school volleyball career included selection as All-State as a senior, Blocker of the Year as a junior, Hitter of the Year as a sophomore and Newcomer of the Year as a Freshman. She was gifted and smart – a super-academic all-stater as well. 

CeTara went on to play at Trinity Valley Community College and Prairie View A&M. Her collegiate career was also chock-full of recognition, including a first team all-conference designation while at Prairie View.

CeTara admits that volleyball was fun, but she had no desire to pursue coaching.

“There was no way I was going to do what my mom was doing,” she said.

There had been just a bit of rebellion in the relationship she had with her mom while a teenager.    

A few short years later, CeTara was entering the field of orthodontics.

“I found that I wasn’t as excited about teeth as I thought,” she explained. 

The next realization sealed her fate. 

She continued, “I just missed volleyball. It’s what I missed.” 

She called her mom. Mom was ecstatic. 

“I knew it!”  TaShara said. “I knew it all along, but CeTara didn’t.”

It marked a one-of-a-kind moment in the lives of mother and daughter.

Things moved fast. CeTara completed a degree in kinesiology and obtained her teaching certificate through the ‘I teach Texas’ program in 2021. 

That same year, she began building a volleyball program ‘brick-by-brick’ at 1A Covington High School – just down State Highway 171 from Cleburne.

The Mighty Owls of Covington have now been playoff-bound for each of the past five years. CeTara was named the district coach of the year for this past campaign. 

Mom and daughter have faced one another once, at the Van tourney this past season. 

“Mom whooped us,” CeTara confessed.

It was clear, however, that the match was a bit of a celebration as well.

CeTara summed up her thoughts about her coaching mom by saying, “Thank you for giving me the love of this game. Thank you for your support every step of the way, even when I was an upset 16-year-old.”

Just down the highway from Covington is the 4A school of Hillsboro, and another branch of the family coaching tree.  There Stephens-Ryder’s son Shaw is the head volleyball coach of the Fighting Eagles.

Unlike his sister, Shaw knew from his junior year in high school that he was destined to coach. 

“I watched all my coaches, how they motivated, how they explained and taught, how they challenged,” he explained. “I took good mental notes.”  

Shaw excelled on the sports fields and courts for the Mineola Yellowjackets. He quarterbacked the football team, ran relays in track, competed in field events, and was a point guard on the basketball team. For a stretch of time at Mineola High, he was the face of the athletic program.

Upon graduation, he was off to Stephen F. Austin University. A student teaching stint down at Brazosport ISD followed, and, in 2023, he joined the coaching staff at Hillsboro. 

When the head volleyball coach position opened up, Hillsboro offered it to Shaw.

“I always considered myself a basketball guy, and expected to coach boys, but I was lucky to have been afforded great latitude as an assistant volleyball coach, and just learned to love the game,” he said.

Shaw noted aspects of the game which suited his personality and made it a great fit for him.

“Above all else, volleyball is a skills-based game,” Shaw explained. “It is not enough to just be an athlete; you have to develop specific skills and be able to repetitively practice precise techniques.”

With respect to the difference between coaching girls and boys, Shaw related how girls are more fundamentals-oriented, with generally less ego at play. 

He commented, “It is easier to bring a little flair to the game after having learned fundamentals.” 

Boys, he admitted, often demonstrate flair athletically but at the expense of the fundamentals.

The young coach’s approach borrows from much of what he learned in Mineola athletics.

“I still use the ‘Effort – Attitude – Toughness’ moniker that is posted in the Mineola fieldhouse,” he noted.  

He also echoed the objective of scholastic athletics – to provide young people with the best chance to succeed in life while overcoming adversity.

Shaw recognized the investment that their mother made in he and his sister.

“A lot of credit is due to my mom. She taught us goal setting, and how to trust in a process and believe in one’s self, and how to find one’s way.”

Shaw, CeTara and their mom remain close and speak about their favorite sport unceasingly. They often attend the same coaching seminars, and share best practices. 

Their younger sister, Tiara, a recent Mineola graduate, has not followed the volleyball path, but is a banking investigator, living and working in Mineola. 

The volleyball legacy started by TaShara Stephens-Ryder as continued through CeTara and Shaw is equal parts positivity and emotion (CeTara) as well as attention to detail and exactness (Shaw). That is quite an endorsement of the sport and of the family.