Anthony Mezzavilla

Club Director & Head Coach (12s & 16s)

Anthony Mezzavilla, founder of Athletes Only, has been coaching volleyball since he was in high school, and now surpasses more than two decades of coaching experience. His excitement for coaching started when he volunteered his time as a middle school coach during his junior year. Year after year, his passion and high level of commitment to coaching youth volleyball produces consistent successes. Anthony believes in developing the athlete as a whole player. He strives to give each player, at any skill level, his dedication and commitment to their continued development on and off the court. After graduating from UCLA, he taught elementary school for three years. During these years he developed a passion for educating young players about the game and watching the moment when the training and learning click. The ‘Ah Ha’ moments.

Currently, Anthony is the head coach of Basha High School women’s volleyball program. Prior to Basha, Anthony served as the Master Coach for Actyve Volleyball Club in Santa Monica, CA. A role that satisfied his desire to work with a varied spectrum of athletes across the whole club. Ranging from the rawest developmental athletes to the highest echelon of athletes who compete in the top division in the SCVA. Within the world of club volleyball, he has found success at multiple clubs:

• While at Sports Shack, the 18U team won back-to-back Open Gold Medals in 2010 and 2011, 2013 ended in a Top 25 campaign in the Open division at Nationals, and 2014 the team took home a fifth-place finish in the USA division.

• While at Laguna Beach Volleyball Club, the 18U team finished in the Top 25 of Open and he coached two future NCAA champions headed to Stanford (2018 and 2019 National Champions).

• At Actyve, he coached the first team to ever qualify for nationals in 2016. Later on, in his last season coaching specific teams, he coached 13s and 14s simultaneously and both teams finished in the Top 36 of Southern California.

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At the high school level, Anthony has run two different programs in Los Angeles for a combined total of six seasons. Before that, he was the varsity assistant at Archer School for Girls for six seasons. Giving him more than a decade of experience with high school athletes. While running the program at Buckley, he brought in the first ever CIF-Southern Section title in the school’s 80+ year history; honors included, 2017 League Champions, CIF Player of the Year, 3 All-CIF players, League MVP, Coach of the Year honors, and [his personal favorite] highest team GPA schoolwide. During his time at Archer, he helped lead the team to an appearance in the CIF-SS Final Four. That finish was the highest any team in Archer School history had accomplished at the time. The team he assembled at Crossroads School, in 2022-2023, defeated the #1 overall seed in the first round of their division and went on to reach the quarter finals of CIF-SS the season after his move to Arizona.

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Prior to Archer, Anthony attended UCLA (2006-2009) and volunteered as the Undergraduate Assistant Coach for the women’s volleyball team. While at UCLA, the women’s team made appearances in the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. Under the tutelage of coach Andy Banachowski, who coached the Bruins for over 45 years, Anthony grew an immeasurable amount as a coach in just three seasons. He graduated cum laude with a major in history and minor in education.