Giustino Bovenzi – Editor

After high school, Jessica Thobe wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue playing volleyball at an organized team level anymore.

But a year away from the game and now a full season in the books for the Sinclair Community College women’s volleyball team, Thobe has been named as a National Junior College Athletic Association All-American, District XXII All-Region, Ohio Community College Athletic Association Conference Player of the Year and first team All-Conference.

“It’s definitely an honor that people see me as a good player,” Thobe said. “I worked hard so it’s nice [to receive the recognition]. ”

She didn’t expect to come back and have this successful of a season right away.

“I’ve been taught well and coached well, so that definitely helps,” she said.

Thobe finished the year #1 in kills per set (4.72) in the NJCAA Division II, totaling 598 for the entire year.

“[Stats] are good, but its whatever,” she said. “I’m just out there to play.”

She said her family was also very excited to hear the news and that they were proud of her accomplishments on the court.

Thobe, a graduate from Lehman High School and Sign Language major at Sinclair, said she was excited to hear the news of winning the awards, but is even more excited to see how her team can grow heading into next season.

“I know that we’re going to progress more next year,” Thobe said. “I’m really looking forward to next year.”

The team will return five players next season, including the All-American selection. She said she was excited to see who her coach can bring in to help build the program.

In addition to all of the regular season awards, she was voted and ranked second out of seven players for the All-Tournament team in the NJCAA District F Tournament.

Her team finished the year with an overall record of 32-7, placing third in the OCAAC and third in the NJCAA District F Tournament — narrowly missing out on a chance to play in the NJCAA National Tournament.

“I think we hoped to make it a little bit farther than we did — but injuries happen,” Thobe said. “I think we we’re pretty pleased about where we ended up.”

Sinclair head coach K.C. Gan said he was proud of her play all year long and hopes to continue to see her progress as the staple of Sinclair’s offense.

“I am very proud to coach such an outstanding player,” Gan said in his end of season press release.

In addition, Thobe said she will be returning to play for the Tartan Pride next season.

“I’m really, really wanting to stay, just because I had a really enjoyable year,” Thobe said.

Now that her volleyball season is over, Thobe will be training over the winter and preparing to play softball for Sinclair as well.

As part of Building 8’s renovations, strides have been made to improve the athletic department. Including upgrades to the weight room, field house, general locker room, athletic offices, gym floor and the pool.
So far, there have been two phases worth of renovations. Phase one began last year. Those sets of renovations were a liquid process, including: the floor in the weight room was re-poured, and the floor in the field house was re-poured and re-leveled.
Phase two began this year after graduation. Renovations included: upgrades in the athletic office and improvements in the general locker rooms. The gym floor was also re-sanded, repainted and re-varnished as well as the restorations in the pool.
“The mechanics downstairs have worked overtime to keep the pool going and clean,” said Jack Giambrone, Sinclair’s athletic director.
Renovations included new plumbing, new tiling, new filtering as well as a new deck area.
“It’s getting the pool version of a nice white wash,” said Giambrone. “Where they’re taking out the old tiles and keeping the pool shell itself, but everything around it is going to be updated.”
He said the pool is getting used now more than ever with classes, training, scuba diving, water workouts, aqua aerobics and open swim.
Giambrone said that open swim is a great program.
“As long as you’re a student, you have access to keeping yourself healthy and fit, and that’s really, really important for everyone.”
Renovations for the gym were completed by the beginning of July and that’s when the pool renovations began. Giambrone said that more time has been dedicated to the pool.
Efforts for the Athletic Department to go more green were completed three years ago with new lighting installed.
Giambrone said that renovations for the athletic locker rooms are on his wish list later down the road, although no plans have been made.

 

The newly reborn softball program has appointed their coach of the future.
Steven Beachler has been hired to lead them into their first year back after a 21-year absence.
Beachler, a former Sinclair graduate, said the chance to get to coach at his alma mater was a chance he could not pass up.
“I was elated,” Beachler said. “I was very humbled to have the opportunity to coach here. This is probably the only job I would take because I graduated from Sinclair and this is like home to me.”
Sinclair’s new coach has been a women’s softball coach for the past 23 years, most recently as a varsity assistant at Miamisburg High School.
Throughout his life, Beachler has been a man of many hats.
During the day, Beachler works in the Montgomery County engineer’s office as the county surveyor.
In addition, Beachler recently retired from his role as a part-time firefighter for the Miamisburg Fire Department, a role that he performed for the past 35 years. He is also a member of Ohio Task Force One, one of 28 FEMA search and rescue units stationed in the U.S.
As the new head coach, he said that he has a long-list of tasks that are facing him before their scrimmages start in fall. Of those appointed tasks, his biggest challenge is getting the team together.
“I think the [biggest] challenge is getting a team put together in such a short amount of time,” Beachler said. “We’re looking at about eight players right now that we’re in the process of signing, which will give us a good core group of players. I think the amount of interest [in the program] is very high, so we shouldn’t have any trouble filling the roster.”
Their out of conference schedule has not been determined yet but is another focus of the first-year head coach.
By his projections, the team will play a total 30 games of which a dozen will be conference games against Cuyahoga, Lakeland and Owens Community Colleges.
Beachler said that he would like to win 75 percent of their conference games in the upcoming year to give his team the best shot at winning a conference title.
“I would like to take three out of four from each team,” Beachler said. “I would love to make it to the regional tournament.”
Another goal of Beachler’s is that all of his players leave Sinclair with a degree in their back pocket.
“I want all of my players to graduate,” Beachler said. “That’s what you’re here for—an education. We’re going to stress that to our team.”
Beachler said that he has seen the game of softball change tremendously and he knows there are a lot of high quality players out there that will fill the Sinclair roster for years to come.
“We have many young women in the area who are talented fast pitch softball players,” Beachler said. “With this talent we plan to put a team together that is competitive and fun to watch.”