Gecko glory: Bobbi Quinata seeks 16th volleyball title in 36th season at GW

Bobbi Quinata has won at all levels of volleyball. And she's won A LOT. She's now been on the "job" as GW's coach for 36 years, but make no mistake: as architect of the Lady Geckos program, her responsibility of shaping young athletes has never once been work. After starring at GW as a player, she landed her first coaching gig at Notre Dame. And in 1987, she came home.

"Competing in volleyball was a big thing back then," the coach told KUAM Sports. "You had GW and then you had JFK, which was our natural rival, since we were the to biggest public schools. I loved it – the competition was good, and now for me, it's my passion."

Her teams have scrapped, fought, and dominated their way to an unprecedented 15 islandwide championships. She's had multiple back-to-backs, a handful of threepeats, and twice led classes that won the title every year they were in high school.  Oh, and the Shieh Invitational Preseason Tournament? She's won that nine times, too. And it's not like GW had a cupcake schedule - every year, Academy, JFK, St. John's and ND were gunning for the Geckos' glory.

"The play is still the same. You just modify. Developing skills are comes down to how you practice, and how each coach wants to bring out the best in their athletes," continued Quinata about the formula that's worked, spanning nearly four decades.

She retired from DOE as a teacher in 2020, but maintains her role patrolling the sideline. With all her wins interscholastically, tournament titles in club play, Team Guam medals in the Micronesian Games and Pacific Games, and more players selected to the All-Island Team than she could ever account for, her legacy's set.    So...why keep doing this?

She replied, "PASSION", following-up with "I love the game. You've always got to have it an when you have the passion you'll build the drive to keep going. Some people say, 'Bobbi, so volleyball's your thing?', and I say 'Yes!'"

Now, you don't typically earn as many 'chips as she has by being nice...and in years past, Coach Quinata was known for an aggressive tone that willed her teams to victory. So has the passage of time and impacts of age softened her signature snarl? When we asked her players if she's ever smiled as much as she has this season, they emphatically said, "NO!"

And at a point in her legendary career where she's now coaching the daughters of her former players, she offers no hesitation about who the best of the best was to ever put on kneepads for her: Sophie Duenas (who played for Quinata in '87-'89 when she was Sophie San Nicolas), starred as GW's setter.

"Smart player, beautiful, beautiful hands. I still think about her a lot when it comes ro running an offense," she said of her now-fellow educator.

And could she ever see herself anywhere else? Again, without pause, she responded, "NO. I am a Gecko by God."

In the end, for this legendary coach, the drive for success is simple and more rewarding than any trophy case, not matter how jam-packed it may be.