Adam Shingler has been an over achiever ever since he attended Sahuaro from 2009-2012. Mr. Shingler’s favorite year of high school, like most students, was his senior year. Thanks to his reduced schedule, involvement in Student Council, the varsity volleyball team, and the feeling of more freedom, his senior year left an impression. Some of his best and worst moments in high school happened during his last year at Sahuaro. Playing “Just The Two Of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. in jazz band and organizing for Student Council were some of his best memories; breaking his collarbone right before graduation, however, did not make the list. Although ups and downs occurred throughout high school, he enjoyed his years at Sahuaro, and now he is back for more.

Believe it or not, he was once that awkward freshman that we all were. Mr. Shingler’s freshman year didn’t have too many horror stories besides his decision to get a buzz cut. Other than that, he didn’t get picked on too much because he “always looked older,” and was mostly friends with juniors and seniors.  One of his fondest memories of his first year at Sahuaro was having a blast in first period PE with all of his friends. His hard work finally paid off in May of 2012 when he graduated with a 3.8 GPA and went straight into coaching at Zona Volleyball Club as a part time job, as well as working at the YMCA.

As great as high school was for Mr. Shingler, he admits there were definitely some obstacles he had to face. Having so many extracurricular activities came with many responsibilities and a lot of pressure. Honors, AP, volleyball, and StuCo kept him on his toes and forced him to make a schedule so that he could get everything done. He understands how sometimes you just don’t have time for everything, so his advice for you is, “It is not dorky to be a nerd.”  By that, he means that just because you need to schedule things and prefer to have a high standard for yourself academically, does not mean you are a “try-hard”. His advice for student athletes with busy schedules like he did is, “Work hard in school, because everyone is not guaranteed an athletic scholarship, and you will one day be done playing sports, so work hard now.”

Shingler has a strong passion for volleyball in general, but especially the Sahuaro volleyball program. He had been the head coach for the girls freshman team in 2014 and 2015, as well as an assistant coach for varsity for 2 years. This year is his first time head coaching for the varsity team. He played varsity volleyball from his sophomore year onward at Sahuaro, and went on to play in the state semi-finals his sophmore and junior year, then quarterfinals his senior year. Unfortunately, he lost to the team that ended up being the state finalists, Desert Vista High School. He wanted to play college club volleyball at the University of Arizona but was unable to due to his broken collarbone.

Stop by and say hi anytime in room 225, or catch him inside the volleyball lines coaching up his team.