Thankful Thursday: Matt Alongi

This Summer, as local COVID restrictions began to loosen, the club knew that we wanted to return to play outside using our grass volleyball nets. We emailed and called every facility we could, no one was willing to rent us space. Defeated, we returned to the drawing board and hopped on Google maps in search of any grassy areas we could find.

Lo and behold we saw Excite Ballpark, home of the San Jose Giants. Lucky for us, coach Matt Alongi is also the VP of Marketing for the Giants. Quickly we put a text out to Matt asking if he thought it would be possible to host grass practices at the stadium. Within five minutes Matt responded with one word: “Yup”.

A week later Matt had gotten health department approval, arranged a rental agreement for us, coordinated dates and times, found us storage space in the stadium, got us signage and equipment to help with flow of traffic, and even served as the facility supervisor for every practice (5 days a week).

Without a doubt, coach Alongi spearheaded the creation of one of the coolest, safest, and most memorable returns to play this summer. Without him, we would have been delayed for another 4-6 weeks until other facilities started to come back online.

Now for the coaching side of Matt Alongi: We often get the question “which coach has won the most medals?” (besides the Directors). It often surprises people when we say Matt Alongi.

Why is it a surprise? Because Matt primarily serves as an assistant coach and likes to operate behind the scenes. Nevertheless, he is often one of our most requested assistant coaches due to his quality input and fantastic sense of humor.

Matt has been with the club for a long time. He played for Bay to Bay growing up, bouncing between the 1’s teams and the 2’s team as a setter (his 2’s team always beat the 1’s team — I know because I was on the 1’s team 😅).

After returning from college, coach Alongi has been a coach of every age group in the club. Matt is a beloved member of the staff, known for his quick wit, passion for his athletes, and ability to make things fun and competitive at the same time.

Thanks for all that you do Matt, Bay to Bay is lucky to have you!

Looking for a present for the volleyball player in your life? Check out the Bay to Bay Holiday Gift Guide!