Molly Dean, substitute math teacher at MHS and assistant volleyball coach at Parkway West, is in the process of building a new indoor volleyball facility in Chesterfield Valley.

Q: Is teaching math your main job?

“No. I’ve been a teacher the past three years, I was a math teacher at Webster Groves High School. This year I stopped teaching altogether to pursue this project. [The position] fell into my lap. Mrs. Curtman is an old friend of mine and she called me and was like ‘Hey, I really need a sub and I can’t find one who actually knows how to teach math. I know that you’re not wanting to teach anymore but can I get you for four months.’ I said yes.”

Q: Why did you stop teaching?

“It’s been a lot of fun. I didn’t dislike teaching by any means, I just found something that I was more passionate about in this project. It’s fun to be back in a classroom, and I really enjoyed my time here, but it’ll be nice to be done in a couple weeks because I’ve been really busy.”

Q: What is your history with volleyball?

“I’ve played forever. My mom was the head varsity coach at Parkway West for 31 years. I’ve grown up in a gym. I think the first volleyball game I went to I was like a week old. So I started playing as young as I could, which I think was like six years old, and I started playing competitively at 10. It’s always been a big part of my life.”

Q: Explain your project to me.

“We’ve already purchased a big nine-acre plot of land and we’re gonna start building up on it by the end of February or March. What we’re building is a big facility and it’ll have ten hard courts and then there’ll be kind of a little barrier and then eight sand courts, all indoors.”

Q: Do you work with an organization?

“No. I work with investors but the project itself has been really just myself going into it and figuring out who can help me and how they can help.”

Q: What do you hope to offer at your volleyball facility?

“I think there’s gonna be a lot of variety. A big piece of it that I’m really excited about is the competitive youth side of it, and that’s why High Performance is a really exciting investor for me because that’s national level volleyball. Having those high school age kids in there training and getting better, that’s what I’m really excited about.”