Mira Costa High School junior Piper Monk-Heidrich focuses on beach volleyball and a future at UCLA
Racing down the slopes on her snowboard, 10-year-old Piper Monk-Heidrich was doing her best to keep up with her older sister Indigo, an Olympic hopeful training for a berth on the U.S. Snowboarding 2014 Winter Olympics team.
But when the aches and pains suffered by falling on the hard-packed snow began to take their toll, coupled with a growth spurt, Piper decided to change sports.
Although Monk-Heidrich swam and played soccer and volleyball as a young girl, she had been picked up by Burton Smallz as a snowboarder when she was only seven years old, riding for the Burton team.
By the time she was nine years old, Monk-Heidrich was so tall that she outgrew the Burton youth clothing, forcing her to have Burton’s outerwear specially tailored for her so that she could model in their photo shoots on the mountain.
She had also been playing beach and club volleyball, but just for fun.
Athletic genes run in her family. Older brother Julian, 24, was a standout water polo player at Mira Costa. Indigo, 21, was a professional snowboarder before an ankle injury cut short her career and younger brother Slater, 13 played soccer and swam for the Dolphins Swim Team in Manhattan Beach although his true passion is playing bass in a rock band, which he has done since third grade.
“When I was 12, I began to take volleyball seriously,” Monk-Heidrich said. “It became a great passion of mine.”
She played indoor volleyball for acclaimed coach Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer at Mizuno Long Beach and during her first two years of high school for Mira Costa’s storied indoor program.
“Playing indoor helped me with the basics like serving, passing and the proper form in setting, which translated to my beach game,” Monk-Heidrich said. “I learned a lot last year even though I was playing middle blocker, which was a new position for me. I pulled a ligament in my right elbow at the end of the season, which took me out of beach training for a few months.”
As she prepares to enter her junior year (she turns 17 on July 27), Monk-Heidrich has opted to forego the indoor game to focus on her beach volleyball career in preparation for college. She has committed to play beach volleyball at UCLA.
“Beach is not as specialized as indoor volleyball,” Monk-Heidrich explained. “You have to learn every aspect of the game in beach volleyball, plus the atmosphere is much freer and more laid back. You get to choose your own partner and the tournaments you want to play in.”
Standing 6-foot tall with a reach of 7-foot-11, Monk-Heidrich played a key role for Mira Costa’s girls beach volleyball team. It captured its fourth consecutive Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League (IBVL) championship in May.
Monk-Heidrich and partner senior Emma Smith were the Mustang’s No. 1 team for head coach and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Eric Fonoimoana. The duo also won the IBVL Pairs Championship.
“Winning the IBVL was so exciting for me,” Monk-Heidrich said. “Mira Costa has such a great tradition in beach volleyball so to continue the winning streak was a fantastic feeling. Also, winning the Pairs Championship with Emma Smith was so much fun. It was great to have the opportunity to play with such a talented partner.”
On April 14, Monk-Heidrich won the Mira Costa Queen of the Beach tournament besting Mustang teammates Maddie Micheletti and Lea Ungar who placed second and third, respectively. Monk-Heidrich became the first Mira Costa players to have her name inscribed twice on the Mira Costa Beach Legacy Trophy.
Monk-Heidrich also trains with Elite Beach Volleyball, a program run by Fonoimoana. It includes beach volleyball Olympians Holly McPeak and Barbra Fontana, who serve as coaches and mentors.
“It’s been a great experience and I feel very fortunate to work with three Olympians who all have different views, so I gain something from each one of them,” Monk-Heidrich said. “Every aspect of my game has improved. The coaches are very inspirational and continue to help me prepare for the next level of competition. Having Eric as a coach on the Mira Costa team and at Elite, has been a big plus for me, providing the opportunity to play with and against the top young players in the game.”
Fonoimoana is excited to see Monk-Heidrich’s development on the sand, noting her strengths of siding-out and blocking.
“Piper is a good teammate and easy to play with,” Fonoimoana said. “She has a great demeanor for the game, not getting too emotional when she is winning or losing. She is a well rounded player. I tell Stein (Metzger), the coach at UCLA, that he is going to be very happy with her. She has a bright future and I get two more years to teach her what I know.”
Monk-Heidrich, who feels her strong hitting and play at the net are her biggest assets, began to make a name for herself on the sand in 2013 when she won 11 California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) tournaments in the girls U14 and U16 divisions.
In 2014, she won two USAV tournaments and had nine second-place finishes in the U16 division. She also won a silver medal at the AAU Junior National Championships.
Moving up to the U18 division in 2015, Monk-Heidrich won two USAV tournaments and was runner-up twice. She also captured three AAU championships.
She finished finishing second in the U18 division at the AAU Southern Pacific District Championships on June 5 while partnering with Huntington Beach’s Cami Sanchez. Last weekend, she competed in the AAU Junior National Championship in Hermosa Beach.
Monk-Heidrich and Sanchez will team-up again when they attempt to qualify for the Main Draw at the prestigious Manhattan Beach Open July 14-17. Ranked No. 14 and No. 15, respectively, the girls are the second- and third-ranked players from California in the USAV Girls U18 national rankings.
“Cami and I have played against each other since we were young girls,” Monk-Heidrich said. “We’re on the USA Beach Volleyball High Performance team together and will both be playing at UCLA. Qualifying for the Main Draw is really difficult, so our hopes of making the Main Draw aren’t too high. All of the teams are amazing so the experience of playing against such high competition is what matters most.”
Along with winning the USAV High Performance Championships, Monk-Heidrich has the goal of winning the CBVA Cal Cup, to be held in Manhattan Beach Aug. 20-21. She will have four local tournaments including Dockweiler (July 24) and Hermosa Beach (Aug. 20-21) to earn an automatic berth with a championship.
“Winning the Cal Cup is a goal of every player,” Monk-Heidrich said. “You’re playing against the best in California, which always produces top beach volleyball players. I just want to keep improving, getting to that level where I can step right in and help the Bruins my freshman year.”
Monk-Heidrich said the highlight of her beach volleyball career has been making the USAN High Performance team the last five years, joining Sanchez as a member of this year’s Girls U19 Youth Beach National Team.
Her mother Kat Monk has her own favorite memory.
“Pip has just finished seventh grade and she was playing in a CBVA AA tournament just for practice with a new partner (Mima Mirkovic),” Monk said. “It was a very hot day and every top-ranked youth team was there, as well as many adult teams. After they lost in pool play, it wasn’t looking very good. However, once playoffs started they played out of their minds and won the tourney, earning their AAA ranking. The tourney started at 8:30 a.m. and we left the beach at 8 p.m. I was so proud of her.”
Choosing UCLA was a no-brainer for someone who also wants to attend film school.
“Ever since I was six years old I have wanted to go to UCLA, so there were no other colleges I even considered,” Monk-Heidrich said. “The campus is beautiful and I really like the Westwood area. They have great academic and athletic programs and Stein Metzger is a great coach.”
Her mom completely supported her decision.
”I couldn’t be happier for her,” Monk said. “Not only will she be going to UCLA but her coach, Stein Metzger, is one of her favorite coaches. Playing indoor for many years she learned through that process exactly what type of coach she would like to play for in college and Stein embodies what she is looking for in a coach.”
Monk-Heidrich hopes to contribute immediately to the Bruin’s beach volleyball program, eventually playing professionally and possibly having the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, she will be focused on her other passion of filmmaking.
“I love directing and film editing,” Monk-Heidrich said. “I directed a five-minute film for my final film class project at Mira Costa, I wrote the script, cast the actors and picked the settings. It was so much fun but a lot of work. It took about two weeks just to edit the film.”
Maintaining a 3.5 GPA, Monk-Heidrich enjoys reading, particularly history and, of course watching films. She credits her mother, an accomplished photographer and owner of Kat Monk Studio, as being the major influence in her life.
“She is such a strong, confident and independent woman,” Monk-Heidrich said. “She has been so supportive of me and my siblings allowing us to choose our passions in life.”
Monk attributes her children’s abilities to having had the opportunity to discover at a young age what they preferred to do after being exposed to a variety of activities.
“When I was growing up my mom, a single mom, was not able to help me discover that photography was my passion, so it wasn’t until I finished my master’s degree in political science that I decided to give up everything and follow my passion,” Monk said. “I always just wanted to allow my children to discover their passion early — whether it be volleyball, water polo, snowboarding or music. I allowed their individual personalities to rise to the surface.”
