Riverview grad Arden Fisher lends her volleyball experience, insights to coaching staff of Chatham women’s team
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Arden Fisher always has found her happy place on the volleyball court.
The Riverview grad had a standout career at Robert Morris that included four All-Northeast Conference honors — first team as a senior — more than 1,200 kills, 1,800-plus digs and a conference championship. She played professionally for a couple of years in Europe — recalling fondly her Swiss club having chocolate and Coca-Cola on the sidelines during matches — and even now continues to play in sand- and grass-court tournaments and indoor leagues.
And in the past couple of years, she has added college coaching to her volleyball resume. Fisher is in her second season on the staff with the Chatham women’s team, coaching under Joe Bortak, who also happens to be her fiance. The couple got engaged in May and recently purchased a house.
“I enjoy working with Joe or else I don’t see him for three months,” Fisher, 28, said, laughing.
Fisher and Bortak also spent a couple of years coaching together at Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball but took a break this past year.
Their coaching partnership has worked well at Chatham. Last season, the Cougars finished 6-4 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. This fall, the Cougars contended for the conference championship and will be among the favorites to win the tournament when it gets underway Tuesday.
Having Fisher on his staff, Bortak said, has been a big help. Not only does she bring years of volleyball acumen, she understands how to connect with the young women on the team. And with Fisher teaching skills, he said, it’s more meaningful than when Bortak or assistant Dan Follett do it.
“I think it’s awesome to have her on the staff,” said Bortak, in his fifth season at Chatham. “My other assistant, Dan, we’re two gentlemen, right? So having Arden on the staff to be able to relate more to the women, that’s a great thing, first and foremost.
“It’s great to be able to have her in the gym to be able to talk through things with the girls but also be that active demo at times, too.”
Senior right-side hitter Delaney O’Shea said she and her teammates appreciate what Fisher brings to the coaching staff.
“I love Arden. She is very sweet to us, but she’s hard on us when she needs to be,” O’Shea said. “Having her there, you can’t have the girls not respect her opinion because she played at such a level. She will come in the gym early with me and work with me on certain things, and she’ll do it for any other girl, too.”
Fisher said when she explains an on-court scenario to the players, she often approaches it more like a player and less like a coach. She talks them through what she would do in certain situations or what she would be thinking as a play was developing.
From a more tangible standpoint, O’Shea said, Fisher often will jump into the lineup in practice. This serves a two-fold benefit: She can explain a skill and supplement that explanation with a demonstration, and she can hit shots at them, shots with far more velocity and pin-point accuracy than they are likely to face in PAC competition.
Fisher confessed that her favorite times at practice are when she can get on the court and play with the team.
As much as she enjoys teaching the skills of the game, however, Fisher also likes to incorporate mental and emotional lessons. From her own experiences, she can deliver meaningful messages about keeping the game in perspective.
“It doesn’t have to be stressful,” she said. “Athletes put so much stress on themselves, and in the bigger picture, you can just do it for fun and you can do it anywhere. That’s what I try to bring back to coaching now is just bringing the joy of the game out of every athlete.
“That’s the best part. When everybody is playing their best is when they’re having fun and enjoying what they’re doing and enjoying where they’re at.”
Although Fisher has no plans to become a head coach — she works full time in child care and development at Sampson Family YMCA in Plum — she said she has relished her role with Chatham. Being able to impact the lives of young women, she said, is not something she takes lightly.
“I think it’s awesome that I get to do that and try to give back,” she said. “It’s an emotional game, and I think I like to find the mental side of the game and help the girls through that stuff. Girls are so hard on themselves already, so (I’m) just trying to get them out of their comfort zones and build their confidence.”
This Cougars squad, she said, has the look of a confident bunch. From the first day they came to camp, Fisher said she could see the ladies’ determination to finish what they have been unable to do the past couple of seasons.
Chatham’s PAC Tournament run has been stopped in the semifinals each of the past two Novembers. The Cougars entered the final match of the 2023 regular season at 8-1 in the PAC (16-5 overall), vying for a high seed in the postseason and with a chance at matching or breaking the program record for wins in a season (19 in 2021).
Fisher helped Robert Morris win a Northeast Conference championship during her junior season in 2015 — she contributed 10 kills, 23 digs and two aces in the title match — and now looks for her first conference title as a coach.
“This is our year to do it,” she said. “We have a lot of good leadership. We have good experience and our practices are very competitive. It’s not like our ‘A’ side is way better than our ‘B’ side. … It’s a very gritty team with a lot of girls who want to win. They want to get that ring on their finger at the end of the season.”