Allison Ota

Allison was born and raised in Santa Cruz County and has been involved in the volleyball community here for 16 years.

In High School Allison attended Mount Madonna School and played for Main Beach Volleyball Club. At Main Beach she qualified for nationals three times and won a gold medal her 16's year. Both of these programs instilled a love for volleyball in Allison and she went on to attend UCSC where she played on the NCAA DIII women's volleyball team. While attending UCSC the team made it to the NCAA championships twice, which are the only times the team has made it in school history.

After graduating with an B.A. in psychology she went on to get her teaching credential and teach sixth grade math and science at Cesar Chavez Middle School for four years.

Allison still enjoys to play competitive beach volleyball and currently has her AAA rating.

Allison has been coaching for six years for various clubs, high schools, and camps in Santa Cruz County. During this time she assisted the 2016 Aptos girls team to Northern California Semi-Finals, the 2019 16's Main Beach Boys team to a nationals bid, and the 2022 Santa Cruz boys team to Northern California Semi-Finals.

Allison is a founder, vice president, and coach for Kinnect Volleyball. Allison's desire to start this club is driven by the strong sense of connection she feels to the volleyball community. For Allison this club is about creating a network that people can lean on in good times and bad times. It's also, about discovering yourself and finding out how far you can push yourself and what you can accomplish when you have that community of people...in volleyball and in life.