Burton View

Andrews looks back on career as Raiders volleyball coach




Coach Shawn Andrews (right) poses with the district title alongside her daughter Kendyl. Photo courtesy of Salvatore Ausiello

Coach Shawn Andrews (right) poses with the district title alongside her daughter Kendyl. Photo courtesy of Salvatore Ausiello

FLUSHING — For 25 years, Coach Shawn Andrews was a mainstay of the Flushing varsity volleyball program, leading the Raiders to numerous district titles and deep postseason runs.

With the 2021 season in the books, Andrews has decided to resign from the volleyball team to focus on other pursuits. However, she won’t be officially retiring from the sport; she plans to stay connected with the Raider athletic program and continue coaching a club volleyball team.

“I just felt like it was the right time,” Andrews said. “Moving forward, my plan is to stay involved with athletics. I always want to invest time in coaching kids.”

Andrews will also continue teaching health and physical education classes at Flushing High School.

Under Andrews’ leadership, the Raiders won 827 games, five regional titles* and 17 district titles. In 2021, the program captured its fourth straight district title and its 16th in the last 17 years.

Coach Andrews (far right) with players and staff from the 2021 team. Photo courtesy of Salvatore Ausiello

Coach Andrews (far right) with players and staff from the 2021 team. Photo courtesy of Salvatore Ausiello

Beyond on-court success, Raider varsity volleyball produced Academic All-State honors student-athletes for 24 years in a row.

Andrews attributed much of the program’s consistency to its “bigger than volleyball” approach. Throughout her career, she encouraged her players to serve as mentors to youth in the Flushing School District and work just as hard in the classroom as they did on the court.

“By the time our kids are seniors, they understand the type of role model they want to be and lay the foundation for the next team to come along,” she said. “We always want kids to be ready to represent, be leaders, set high standards and be the hardest workers.”

As she enters the next phase of her career, Andrews said that she will always value her close-knit coaching staffs and the relationships that she forged with players and their families at Flushing.

“What I’ll miss the most is the time we got to spend together, whether it was trips up north, summer activities or team dinners,” she said. “Those memories have stuck with me over the years.”

Andrews also had the chance to coach her daughter Kendyl, who earned All-Flint Metro League honors for four straight seasons. Kendyl has committed to play college volleyball at Wayne State University next fall.

Andrews, a Flushing graduate in 1990, was a three-year varsity player in basketball and volleyball in high school. She began her teaching career at Flushing as an elementary phys-ed teacher in 1997 before moving up the high school level to teach health, phys-ed and psychology.

In addition to running the varsity volleyball program, Andrews coached JV girls basketball for several years and was the JV volleyball coach for one season. She also helped to organize the Volley 4 Mollie fundraiser—a volleyball tournament that raised over $100,000 for young students diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions.

*Flushing won two regional titles in 2007, the first in the spring of 2007 and the second in the fall of 2007 when volleyball schedules switched from winter/spring to the fall.