Only so many fathers have the luxury of coaching with their daughters and being around them full-time.

"It's no better experience," Rosario Lopez said.

Lopez is the assistant volleyball coach at Phoenix Christian after being introduced to the sport late in life. Lopez, in fact, played soccer professionally in what is now the United Soccer League. He retired from soccer to protect his health and focused on his career as a Phoenix police officer.

It was not until 2002 when he first coached volleyball at his two daughters’ high school. Both Amanda and Sam played the sport as a libero and setter, respectively. His oldest daughter, Amanda, was hired this summer as the head volleyball coach at Phoenix Christian, and her first move was hiring her father to be her assistant.

Amanda Lopez first fell in love with volleyball when her dad was working as a police officer, and the station was having a volleyball tournament. She grew up with asthma and was unable to play other sports such as soccer. However, she never let that hold her back and found volleyball to be a sport that she could play.

She had a successful volleyball career, beginning at the Division I level at the University of Texas. After finishing college, she continued playing in a professional league in Arizona.

Growing up, Amanda and Rosario Lopez were pretty close, but their relationship hit a few bumps in the road when Rosario Lopez became her coach during her sophomore year in high school.

“Looking back, it was great, and I am definitely appreciative towards it, but at the time it was terrible,” said Amanda Lopez. 

Both are strong-willed and want things to be done their way. There were times when Amanda Lopez was playing and she would get mouthy toward him. She also found having her dad as her coach to be tough because after games and practices she would have to hear from him all the way home.

Things changed in 2004 when Rosario Lopez founded the Arizona Saguaros Volleyball Club. During her junior year, Amanda Lopez began coaching on her own, taking over the 12-and-under team at the Arizona Saguaros Volleyball Club.

The experience of coaching together for almost 15 years has brought the pair closer.

“When we started coaching together, it became our time,” said Amanda Lopez. “Even if we leave the gym, whoever we are coaching that’s always something we come back to.”

Rosario Lopez had an effect on his daughter's way of coaching, but there is one thing that makes them a lot different as coaches. Rosario Lopez is a quiet and composed coach, while Amanda Lopez is vocal and not afraid to express her opinions. If a call is wrong, she will give the referee an earful, even if it means getting a yellow card.

A former player under Rosario and Amanda Lopez, Jessie Ragland, is the other assistant coach at Phoenix Christian. Ragland notices the impact of the father-daughter coaching team.

“I do think there is an impact since Coach Lopez taught Amanda everything she knows, and they just go off of each other all the time,” said Ragland. “The wisdom that they bring to the team is phenomenal because they have experience from both sides, as a player and as a coach.”

Their relationship has been noticed by Phoenix Christian players as well.

“He lets her coach and the way he looks at her is cute because he just looks proud of her,” said Phoenix Christian player Ainsley Ebert. “They are kind of a dynamic duo.”