THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Callari: From kicking a round ball to smashing it

Gianna Callari came to Coeur d’Alene High as a highly regarded soccer player. 

She’ll leave as a standout volleyball player. 

It’s not often that athletes are allowed to play two sports during the same season. 

But the Viking coaches quickly figured out how it could work out best for both of them. 

GROWING UP in California, Callari had been playing soccer since age 4, and eventually landed on a high-level club team. 

She and her family moved up to Coeur d’Alene before her freshman year of high school, and Callari started to get hooked on volleyball. 

She made the varsity soccer team at Coeur d’Alene as a freshman, then tried club volleyball in the spring. 

That’s where she caught the attention of Viking volleyball coaches. 

“We convinced her ... you’re a volleyball player, you’ve got the right personality, the right build, the right fire, you’re a volleyball player,” Coeur d’Alene volleyball coach Carly Curtis said. “We got her playing club, and she’s flourished from there.”

Callari turned out for volleyball as a sophomore and made the varsity as a middle blocker. 

But she also had a role as center forward on the soccer team. 

So Curtis and girls soccer coach Andy Vredenburg figured out a way to “share” her. 

Practice schedules were staggered so she could attend both. 

“if we had a game on the same day, there’d be a few times I’d play a soccer game, then go change and play a volleyball game,” Callari recalled. “That was actually so much fun. Obviously I was tired, but I do not regret it whatsoever.” 

Same thing her junior year. 

PRIOR TO this season, the 6-foot-1 Callari verbally committed to play volleyball and NCAA Division II Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego, where former Viking volleyball teammate Paisley Goings, the MVP in 6A Inland Empire League volleyball in 2024, is a student. 

“Yeah, I played soccer my whole life, but volleyball is kind of taking over,” Callari said of her decision to play volleyball in college. 

Having committed to continue her athletic career in volleyball, Callari opted not to play soccer this season for the Vikings, where she was an all-league selection as a sophomore.

After two seasons playing middle blocker (and earning all-league status as a junior), the Vikings moved the righty swinging Callari to right-side hitter this season.

“We had her playing middle the last two years because she’s a great middle, but we needed to get her the ball,” said Curtis, who praised Callari’s leadership.  

This week, Callari is hoping to lead the Vikings to a trophy at the state 6A volleyball tournament at Capital High in Boise. The last two seasons at state, Coeur d’Alene has been one win short of a trophy for a top-four finish. 

“Gianna has THE best energy on the team, I’m not gonna lie,” Coeur d’Alene senior outside hitter Kaylee Paulson said. “She brings it all the time. And her confidence and aggression is awesome. She’s someone I look up to her in that sense. It’s like, ‘Wow!’ She is a leader.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.