Alyssa Forget had no clue what to expect after not watching her team compete for almost two full years.
Her West Milford squad closed the 2019 season with an 11-13 mark and she had to split the early parts of the 2021 season juggling practices and games with the girls team.
Still, that 11-win campaign was the best in the program’s history at the time. In fact, in each of the five years Forget has coached the team, the win totals have gone up.
That trend continued this spring.
A program that went just 2-26 in 2017 capped off an incredible 2021 season with a 23-2 record. Along the way, West Milford shared a Big North divisional title, won the Passaic Tournament and came one set win shy of winning a sectional championship.
All were program firsts.
As a result, Forget has been named the NJ.com Coach of the Year for 2021.
“They’re so dedicated to the program and love volleyball,” Forget said of her team. “They love the game and they were so easy to coach because their love of the game and will to win was something I’ve never seen before. We’ve never had it before at West Milford.”
Forget has been with the boys program since its inception six years and five seasons ago. She’s coached the girls for five seasons as well, though the mentality between the two programs proved to be quite different this season.
“I would go from girls practice to boys practice and it was a complete culture shock,” she said. “To walk into the gym and have the boys going for it on day one and pushing the limits of every drill I put them in. We were flying through the basic drills and I felt I needed to step up my game.”
A graduate of Washington College, Forget needed to dig deep into her college playbook to find more skilled drills for her team to undertake in practice and they rose to the occasion each time.
She wouldn’t hesitate to participate in the drills herself.
“I play with them a lot at practice,” she said. “They know I can play and respect that I can play. They know what I’m talking about and they’ve grown with me over the past four years.”
Having risen through the volleyball ranks over the years and having played for numerous coaches, there isn’t one single person Forget models her style after.
She just takes a little bit of everything and make it her own. You won’t see her pacing up and down the sideline or yelling from the start of the match to its end. That’s just not her.
“I think it’s a different strategy for a not-very-old coach like me coaching high school boys,” she said. “I like trying to pull what I see and like from other people. A lot of the coaches from when I was in high school like (Demarest’s) Beth Powell that are still around and have all the titles are the kinds of people I looked up to.”
Now five years into life as a coach on the boys side, Forget has enjoyed every bit step of the ride. With each passing season, that ride is becoming better and better.
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Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Brian on Twitter @BrianBobalHS and on Instagram @BrianBobalHS. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.
The Link LonkJune 25, 2021 at 05:44PM
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2021/06/west-milfords-alyssa-forget-is-the-njcom-boys-volleyball-coach-of-the-year-for-2021.html
West Milford’s Alyssa Forget is the NJ.com boys volleyball Coach of the Year for 2021 - nj.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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