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By Jay Spivey 

For the Clemmons Courier

Liam Shugart wasn’t born with a volleyball in his hand, but he might as well have been.  

Shugart, who is 17 and just finished his junior year at West Forsyth, helped the school win the N.C. High School Boys Volleyball Association state championship. He is also the son of two volleyball-playing parents — father, Patrick and mother, Chrissi. 

“I’ve always been passing with the family and hacking the ball around,” Shugart said. “But I played at the YMCA in fourth grade, and it just really started from there. I just wanted to keep playing. It was lots of fun. I just wanted to keep (getting) better.”

One of those parents is his father, Patrick, who is the head boys volleyball coach for the Titans. Patrick Shugart played club volleyball at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Chrissi Shugart played collegiately at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. After graduating from Mary Washington, Chrissi went to medical school at the University of Virginia and played club volleyball one year there.

“My wife and I, we both played volleyball,” Patrick said. “But with all three of our kids we made it a point to have them try to play as many different sports as they could growing up. I’ve been in sports long enough to know that when you make a kid do something, that’s a one-way ticket to unhappiness for everybody.  

“Growing up we tried to get the kids to baseball, flag football, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, all the various things. And (Liam) certainly liked a lot of the other sports. He really liked basketball and flag football in particular.” 

Growing up, Liam was always short. Even early in high school he was just 5-foot-2. However, that changed very quickly after hitting a growth spurt and he’s now 6 feet.  

“He was definitely exposed to volleyball the whole time because I’ve continued to play every year, as well,” Patrick said. “He’d watch when I’d have some friends come over and play in the back yard and stuff like that. He was always around it because I still played so much. I think it was in fifth grade he had some friends at elementary school that were interested in playing. He wanted to play, so I volunteered to coach them, the YMCA team at the Jerry Long Y.”

Interestingly, Patrick said that Anna Hege and Brooklyn Vogler, who just finished their junior years at West Forsyth and play on the girls volleyball team, were also on Liam’s YMCA team in fifth grade.  

“It was a blast,” Liam said of playing at a young age. “Every single time I couldn’t wait until the next day of practice. I just always wanted to be playing. And then we have a volleyball net we set up in the backyard, just always playing whenever I could.”

Liam’s volleyball playing days progressed until he arrived at middle school at Meadowlark. He played briefly for Meadowlark in sixth grade, but because of COVID-19, he didn’t play in seventh grade. He did play in eighth grade for Meadowlark. 

“In the summer months there are these volleyball tournaments all throughout the area,” Patrick said. “Now, there are some junior tournaments, but they’re really hard to find for boys, a little easier to find for girls. But there’s a ton. Almost every weekend in North Carolina you can find adult either grass doubles or triples tournaments.  

“And so, when (Liam) was in middle school I started taking him with me and I would play tournaments with him. I used to play the higher-level men’s divisions, but I would play a lower-level men’s division with him.”

The father-son relationship evolved into an additional relationship of teammates.

“The first year or two we didn’t win too much, but it was clear he had some promise,” Patrick said. “It was a fun day to spend with my son. It was awesome because you’d get to go for a whole day. You’d pack a picnic lunch and some Gatorades and stuff, and you’d just hang out outside all day and play some volleyball and compete. The best way to get good at stuff is just to go out there and do it. 

“And so, when he’s out there competing against grown-ups in eighth grade it was really cool. And he accepted the challenge of that, he knew it was a tough thing that he was doing.” 

A funny thing happened along the way. 

“(Liam) got enough taste of success. Win a point there, win a point here, and the grown-ups are saying, ‘Hey, you’re actually good at this,’” Patrick said. “I think he enjoyed that, and now he’s better than me.”  

After leaving Meadowlark, there was one problem with Liam wanting to play in high school once he went to West Forsyth in ninth grade — the N.C. High School Athletic Association didn’t, and still doesn’t, sanction boys volleyball. However, the NCBVA sanctioned it with boys high school teams all over North Carolina playing. 

“I remember a few times throughout the year in eighth grade I’d ask my dad ‘Hey, you think we’re going to get this thing going at West?,’ and he was like, ‘I don’t know.’” 

Something positive happened that summer before Liam entered as a freshman at West Forsyth. Liam said his dad, who is also the head coach for the 14 Elite boys team at Triad United Volleyball Academy (TUVA) where he currently coaches Liam’s brother, Ryan, told him there was a chance there was enough interest to field a boys indoor volleyball team at West Forsyth. 

“When it happened, it was just amazing being able to play,” Liam said. “And especially being able to play as a freshman with so many talented older guys. It was a great environment being able to learn from them.”

Patrick was eventually named the head boys volleyball for the Titans.

“I don’t know if it’s the same for me or other kids that (have) their coach as their dad, if I call him Dad at practice, he won’t respond,” Liam said. “He’ll get mad. He wants me to call him coach. And he’s a lot harder on me than he is on other kids because he doesn’t like the whole coach’s kid, gets special treatment. He does the opposite of that.” 

Once it was confirmed by the administration at West Forsyth, it still had to get enough boys players to field a roster. The expectations were exceeded, and the school had enough for a boys JV and varsity team.

The boys team immediately had two anchors in Hayden Lichty, who just finished his sophomore year at Reinhardt University, and Grant Lamoureux, who just finished his freshman year at Pepperdine University. According to Pepperdinewaves.com, Lamourueux was the captain of the Team USA U19 2024 NORCECCA Continental Championship.

“It was good because they really helped direct the team. A lot of it was confidence,” Liam said. “They brought confidence and IQ to the court and experience that not a lot of us had. It was nice having people who knew what they were doing.” 

As a freshman, Liam was a freshman on the back row. The Titans reached the NCBVA state tournament in their first year and finished runner-up to Waxhaw’s Marvin Ridge 2-1.

“We were pretty confident we would make it to states,” Liam said. “Once we got there, we weren’t exactly sure. We were taking it game-by-game because that was our first time seeing a lot of those South Charlotte schools that had boys volleyball for three or four years.  

“So, we were confident we would get there. We were No. 1 in our conference, which wasn’t very big, but once we got there, we took it game-by-game and ended up in the finals.” 

The experience of playing in the first year of existence led to many expectations for West Forsyth in Liam’s sophomore season. The team finished 21-2 overall and lost to Weddington 2-0 in the state playoffs

“We found out that Grant had to go to Puerto Rico, and that was still the expectation, but obviously it would be a lot harder,” Liam said. “And we almost made it. We made it to the quarterfinals at the state tournament. It was a little bit of a letdown, but we also weren’t too upset because we didn’t have Grant.” 

The Titans lost four players to graduation in 2024, so this past season was a big question mark. 

“Maybe our mentality changed because we all had to step up this season because Grant wasn’t there to help us out,” Liam said. “So, we all grinded out and did our best to work hard and get better.” 

The team fared quite well this past season. West Forsyth finished 25-1 overall and won the NCBVA state championship two weeks ago at Queens University of Charlotte by defeating Chapel Hill 23-25, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-17 in the semifinals. Later that day, West Forsyth played in the state championship against Cornelius’s Hough and lost the first set 25-21, but it rebounded to win the next three sets 25-22, 25-21 and 25-18. 

“Right when the season started, teams started posting on YouTube their film, and all of our kids this year were very dedicated to winning,” Liam said. “So, we all started watching the good teams’ film and looking at their rankings, seeing who was at the top, thinking of how we knew them through the kids on their rosters through club.  

“So, once we started going through all those teams and seeing we could compete with them we did think we had a shot at winning the state championship, which gave us even more motivation to work hard in practice.” 

The team met shortly after winning the state championship for a celebration. And Patrick wanted to make sure nothing had changed from the court to the party. 

“We were at a pool party celebrating our high school state championship at one of the guys’ house,” Patrick said. “And, you know, Liam’s calling me coach because I make all my kids, whether it was in volleyball or flag football or whatever. 

“And I just felt that it was very important that you understand right now I’m your coach and not your dad. And this relationship is going to be a little different. It has to be because there’s the other families and these other kids involved. I’m not here to be your dad and coddle you or whatever. I’m going to be your coach. But at the same time, I still get to watch my son play from the best seats in the house. That’s certainly a fringe benefit.”

Liam still has one more year at West Forsyth. 

“I think that we will have success next year,” Liam said. “The goals are already to win another state championship next year, but that’s a long time away, and a lot of things could change between now and then. But we’re still feeling good about next season.”

This summer, Liam is going to play some grass-volleyball matches with some friends as well as lifeguard at Willow Run Pool, his third year of being a lifeguard there.

Liam still has a year before he graduates from West Forsyth, but he plans to attend North Carolina, UNC Wilmington or UNC Charlotte and study either finance or economics. As of now, he doesn’t plan on playing for his college of choice, but he does plan on playing club volleyball like his dad did at JMU.

“I plan on playing until my body doesn’t let me anymore, and also plan to eventually start coaching and following my dad,” he said.