Hunter Zeng

Hunter began his coaching career while attending UC San Diego for his undergraduate degree. Working as an assistant coach at Coast VBC, he learned not only what it takes to coach in tryout, clinic, practice, and tournament capacities, but also how a club at the highest level manages logistics, coach development, and customer experience.

After his move to Santa Cruz during the 2020 pandemic, he began coaching for Main Beach. He fondly remembers the days of grass volleyball and ball sanitization. He prides himself on the effort he makes each season to be a better coach, mentor, and human than the one before it. Hunter’s favorite part of coaching club volleyball is serving the athlete and parent community within the club, and seeing the growth of the sport in the region.

While attending UC San Diego, Hunter received his B.S in Cognitive Science, better known as User Experience Design. He learned principles of how we learn from the world around us, through interaction with technology (anything developed by us that evolves over time) and culture (our intangible world of rules and meanings).

He is pursuing an M.S in Coaching and Exercise Sciences from Concordia University in Irvine. Some big takeaways from his studies so far have been the importance of modeling and teaching character to athletes, learning about the human body in kinesiology, and reading material such as “What Drives Winning” by Brett Ledbetter and “Teaching Character Through Sport: Developing a Positive Coaching Legacy” by Bruce Brown.

Hunter attributes his knowledge of the game to the experience of playing every position at some point in his volleyball journey. He encourages players to develop an understanding of all the skills required to play volleyball in order to succeed. Hunter takes on many private lesson clients within the club, helping athletes break down important skills and improve decision-making. For individual or small group private lessons, please email hunter@mainbeachvolleyball.com.

When he isn’t coaching, playing beach, or watching volleyball, he enjoys cooking and getting nine hours of sleep. In 2024, Hunter is focused on spending more time with friends and family, and managing his screen time.