When Ali Skayhan was just 10 years old, she fell in love with volleyball. It wasn't long before Skayhan's future had been mapped out and was in motion.

"I told my coach once that I wanted to play for as long as I could," Skayhan said. "She told me that I would need to play in high school and in college, and then I would have to go to Europe to play professionally."

Since that moment, Skayhan grew up telling her parents she was going to play volleyball internationally, but it didn't sink in for them until Skayhan was 18 and off to college. It became reality however when Skayhan was picked up by a team in Hungry, the BRSE Volleyball Club.

Playing overseas was hard and adjusting to the lifestyle was different, but playing volleyball was where Skayhan shined. After a year in Hungry, Skyhan made her way to Germany where she played for two seasons with the SWE Volley Team in the Bundesliga second division. It was the time of her life, according to Skayhan, and she would have played or one more season if it weren't for a back injury that led to her decision to come home.

"As athletes, we don't do a very good job at listening to our bodies," Skayhan said. "I just continued to play [through the injuries] because I could, but after some of the injuries I had, I felt that was a good time to stop."

While her time as an athlete had ended, Skayhan's plan wasn't over yet. In fact, Skayhan said she was right on schedule.

"I've always wanted to coach," Skayhan said. "That was always the plan — play professionally and then get into the coaching world. I wanted to give back and I was waiting to get my foot in the door at the right spot."

That was when the volleyball team at the University of San Francisco came up on Skayhan's radar, but it wasn't the first time they had crossed paths.

When still in high school, Skayhan was recruited by Frank Lavrisha, then head coach at Regis University. While Skayhan ended up at Florida Southern, she had a made a connection that wouldn't be useful until she started looking for a job after her professional career ended.

Lavrisha had made the switch to USF in May of 2017 and when he started looking for his assistant coach, Skayhan said she wasn't what he had in mind initially. After getting reacquainted however, it seemed like the right fit for the both of them, and Skayhan joined the coaching staff in the summer that same year.

"I actually came back just for this job," Skayhan said. "I like being in on something from the ground floor because there is only one way to go. When I was in Germany, we had to work to move up to the first league so being a part of that was eye-opening. To get to work with someone like Frank was a really big factor as well. He has been around for a long time and has the reputation of being a good person so he was someone I wanted to work for."

With her first year as the assistant coach done and in the books, Skayhan sees the past season as a learning lesson, not just for herself but for the entire coaching staff as well. To see the transition from the start of the season to now was something Skayhan was proud to see and be a part of. And while the team had to endure a lot of changes, Skayhan found herself lucky to see the team culture stay strong through the hardships.

"We have had two tough years here, from both the coaches and the players, so we are excited to see everything come together in one piece," Skayhan said. "We try to be much more focused on the process then the results. Instead, we want to see what we've accomplished because the results will be a by-product of the process."