Shore enough: La Conner alum now a beach volleyball pro

The sands of time have been kind to Cora Kellerman.

A trained electrical engineer, the 29-year-old former La Conner High and Eastern Washington University volleyball standout now plugs into office hours on southern California beaches.

Kellerman, who helped lead La Conner to State net titles in 2006 and 2007, is riding the popular wave of professional beach volleyball.

Even for an accomplished player like Kellerman, who led EWU by averaging nearly three kills per set her senior year – while also earning academic honors – the beach has been as much a classroom as a playground.

“I’ve had the pleasure of sitting on the steep side of the learning curve,” Kellerman told the Weekly News, “and fully becoming a student of this game.

“I would say that beach volleyball is almost an entirely different sport from indoor – the surface, the elements, the size of the court, the ball, the strategy, the technique – not much is the same,” she stressed.

Beach volleyball is played two to a side. Six players per team must cover the larger indoor volleyball court.

Kellerman, of course, is no stranger to new challenges.

She underwent three surgeries to correct a rare heart condition during a redshirt year at Eastern. By that point, after two years in Cheney, Kellerman had already established herself as a stellar collegiate player and top student.

Recipient of the Eagle Award, in recognition of how well she represented EWU and its volleyball program, Kellerman returned to the court after her accelerated heartbeat was successfully treated.

During her final two seasons at Eastern, Kellerman was recognized as one of the top half dozen volleyball players in the Big Sky Conference, surpassing 300 kills in both her junior and senior seasons.

Kellerman credits her skills development at La Conner High, playing for head coach Suzanne Marble, with preparing her to first play collegiately and now in the pro beach ranks.

“Without a doubt,” she said, “my La Conner volleyball experience has been a concrete foundation in my athletic career. Coach Marble held us to a very high standard mentally and physically. She continually pushed us to reevaluate what we thought we were capable of, and anything less than our everything was unacceptable.

“I remember her telling us that come the fifth set of the championship match,” said Kellerman, “we should be able to look across the net and stand confidently knowing that we had put in the work, and we would outlast and out-grit any opponent – that preparation and mindset yielded tremendous success.”

Taking comfort in discomfort – which Kellerman terms as growth – is something she has carried with her through each level of volleyball.

Today she plays four to five days a week, with strength training and conditioning workouts at least a couple days as well.

Kellerman does so even after having compiled a lengthy list of honors and awards, from being named to at least one All-State, All-Area, and All-League team throughout her years at La Conner High to receiving Big Sky Conference first team recognition.

“I think highlights generally tend to fall into the category of championships, accolades and the like,” Kellerman said. “All of those things absolutely are highlights for me, but I more so reminisce moments, plays and the feelings associated with them. Not every team or partner is the same, but the feeling of competing with one mindset, one goal and wanting to win just as bad for the person next to you is second to none.”

Kellerman made the switch to beach volleyball after moving to California, her electrical engineering degree in hand.

More changes were afoot.

“After being down here and getting a better understanding of the time commitment to train and the time of day that training generally takes place,” said Kellerman, “it was evident that I needed to find employment that provided a bit more flexibility in hours.

“Just like anything,” she said, “in order to improve, you have to put in the time. For the past few months, I have been coaching nearly full-time. It’s been a transition and quite the balancing act, but worth every minute.” She coaches middle and high school.

Coaching is hardly foreign to Kellerman. Her dad, Brian Kellerman, served as a La Conner High basketball coach after starring at the University of Idaho in the late 1970s and early 1980s, where he led the Vandals to a No. 6 ranking in the Associated Press (AP) poll and spot in the Sweet 16 of the 1982 NCAA Tournament.

Now in Redondo Beach, California, Kellerman relishes having had the opportunity to grow up in La Conner but is eager to conquer new challenges.

“Whether it’s beach volleyball or something else,” she explained, “I don’t ever want to look back and think about what ‘I could have done.’ I find that ‘could have’ is a very safe place to reside. It’s also a disservice to yourself and a sure way to dis-empower the choices that we get to make.

“I’ve not reached my goals yet,” Kellerman said, “but I’m committed to taking my biggest, best and most honest swing at getting there.”