Longtime Massapequa Volleyball Coach To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame

Longtime coach in the Massapequa School District CarolAnn Habeeb-Kiel will be inducted to the Nassau County High School Athletic Hall of Fame this month.

Habeeb-Kiel, who coached the girls varsity volleyball team for 29 years, will be inducted on Sept. 27.

As a student, she was a member of the Massapequa High School volleyball team, including three years as a starter, before playing a year for SUNY Cortland and three years for St. John’s University.

As a 20-year- old in 1988, she became Massapequa’s varsity coach and led the team through the fall 2016 season.

Now, Habeeb-Kiel turns leadership of the team over to her former players, but will remain coach of the
eighth-grade team.

During her tenure, her teams finished with an overall league record of 367-88, and were undefeated in the last 218 league games since 2004.

Overall, the Lady Chiefs have 500 victories under her leadership, including tournament play. Massapequa captured 17 consecutive county titles from 2000 to 2016 with Long Island championships in 2007, 2013 and 2014 and a state title in 2007.

Habeeb-Kiel credited the success of the teams to a strong feeder program. In addition to successful junior high school and junior varsity teams, she and her varsity players have hosted a weeklong summer volleyball camp for the past 20 years.

The camp is open to girls entering fifth through seventh grades to give them a feel for the sport before junior high tryouts.

“We’re not just a team, we’re a program,” she said. “It starts from the junior high and it starts from the camp.”

As a coach, Habeeb-Kiel has always emphasized the importance of good character, evidenced by her teams earning the New York State Sportsmanship Award three times.

She implemented a mentoring program in which senior varsity players guide newcomers to the team, and high school players help out the junior high students.

The varsity team also started the Dig Pink tradition each October, in which one game is designated to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Multiple fall sports teams in the district followed suit and in the last 10 years, Massapequa has collected more than $85,000 for the Side-Out Foundation.

She has been an elementary school teacher in the district since 1991 and enters her ninth year teaching fifth grade at McKenna Elementary School. She said coaching the varsity team in the late 1980s is what inspired her to pursue a career in education.

Habeeb-Kiel was nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame by John Piropato, district director of health, physical education, athletics and recreation. The ceremony for the 31 inductees will be held on Sept. 27 at the Crest Hollow Country Club.

She said she shares the award with all those who have supported her including her former players, assistant coaches, members of the Booster Club and her parents, who were always in the stands for her games.

“The people that I am in this class with are outstanding athletes and coaches that have these huge accomplishments,” she said. “For me to be included with them is a great honor. I couldn’t have done it without good people around me.”

Congratulations to CarolAnn Habeeb-Kiel!

Photo courtesy of Massapequa School District