LESLIE HAMANN, HEAD COACH

In 2007, Leslie Hamann will begin her eleventh season with the Garfield High School volleyball program, her eighth as head coach of the varsity. In 1998 and 1999, Leslie was junior varsity coach; she began as a volunteer assistant in 1997.

Leslie's seven year conference record is even at 39-39. In the past five seasons, however, her conference record is 37-15, second (to Bothell) for the most wins of any team in the conference during that span. Since 2003, her teams have 31 conference wins, among the very best in the league. Nearly one-fourth of all KingCo 4A's first-team All-Conference players since 2002 have been Garfield athletes coached by Leslie.

In 2003, Leslie's fellow volleyball coaches voted her the KingCo 4A conference Coach of the Year. In 2002, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer named Leslie the Coach of the Year for the newspaper's coverage area (87 high schools in Western Washington.) In 2003, Leslie coached the Garfield varsity to the school's first-ever appearance at the WIAA State Championship Tournament, and led them to a repeat appearance--and ninth place finish--in 2005.

Leslie played college volleyball at UCLA for coach Andy Banachowski, and was a member of the AIAW national collegiate championship team in 1974. She has a degree in psychology from UCLA, and a postgraduate degree in forestry from the University of Washington.

During 2004 and 2005, Leslie was a member of Jim McLaughlin's coaching staff at the annual University of Washington summer volleyball camps. She has twice completed the Gold Medal Squared volleyball course. She is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the Washington State Volleyball Coaches Association.

Leslie is the co-producer (with husband Jack) of "Generation IX," a 2007 public television documentary about the first generation of women athletes to grow up under Title IX, the federal law granting equal access and opportunity for female athletes.. The documentary features the University of Washington volleyball team, and includes the team's journey to China.

Leslie's daughter, Lauren, is a teacher in Los Angeles, and a graduate of UCLA, where she was a four-year varsity letterman for the Bruins' rowing team. Her son, Brett, studied theater Western Washington University, and is now a writer and filmmaker in Austin, Texas. Leslie's younger sister, Stacy (Buck) Sax, was a volleyball All-American for UCLA, and her younger brother, Craig Buck, was a member of the U.S. Olympic volleyball team, winning gold medals in 1984 and 1988. Craig Buck is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame.

JACK HAMANN, ASSISTANT COACH

Jack Hamann has been Garfield's junior varsity coach for eight seasons. Over the past thirty years, Jack has coached youth swimming, baseball, basketball and volleyball. During 2004 and 2005, Jack was a member of Jim McLaughlin's coaching staff at the annual University of Washington summer volleyball camps. He is a writer, and the author of ON AMERICAN SOIL (Algonquin Books, 2005; University of Washington Press, 2007). For much of his career, Jack was a television news reporter (KING-TV and CNN) and documentary producer (CNN and PBS.) Jack is a graduate of UCLA (1976) and the University of Oregon School of Law (1980.) Jack and Leslie were married in 1976, and have lived in Seattle since 1983.