Suwannee High graduate and star volleyball player Mika Robinson has signed on as an assistant volleyball coach at Idaho University. Robinson has spent the last four years as head coach of the Buchholz High School volleyball team and numerous club teams in the Gainesville area. Robinson played volleyball for Harvard University, where she was a four-year letter winner and team captain.

“I’m very excited about joining the coaching staff at Idaho State,” Robinson said. “I know we have a strong core of returning players and I’m excited to be a part of that future.”

“While working along side Mika at our Team Retreat Camps, I have been very impressed with her positive approach, leadership abilities, quality of teaching, composureand her knowledge of the game,” said ISU head volleyball coach Mike Welch. “I am confident in her abilities and feel Mika is a charismatic person who will exemplify the qualities that are important to our program.”

During Robinson’s four years as the head volleyball coach at Buchholz High School, she led the team to three-straight district championships. Her team also received the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2004. She has also had success coaching numerous club teams in the Gainesville area. She also spent time as a staff member at Welch’s Team Retreat Camp and has coached at the camps the past few years. She also is a nationally-respected member of the board of directors for the AVCA.

“As head coach of the Bengal volleyball team, I could not be more pleased with the outstanding people we now have to lead our team into 2005 and beyond,” Welch said. “Mika and assistant coach Heather Kidd have the character that makes champions. Coupled with our returning student-athletes and signing class, Idaho State volleyball is poised to continue growth as a program with great pride and admiration.”

Robinson is a 1996 graduate of Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Psychology. Robinson and her husband, Clint, have a son, Clay, and a daughter, Bryce.