ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — University of New Mexico sand volleyball coach Jeff Nelson has added Daniel Foo to the Lobos coaching staff as a volunteer assistant for the inaugural 2015 season. Foo, originally from Albuquerque, graduated from New Mexico in 2006.
A personal trainer by trade, Foo isn’t new to UNM or sand volleyball. He worked as an athletic trainer for the Lobos while completing his undergraduate degree at New Mexico, and has been playing sand volleyball competitively for eight years.
“Daniel is an outstanding guy and an exceptional sand player,” Nelson said. “He is very level and will add a lot to our new program.”
Foo — who is married to Krista Foo, a former Lobo soccer player and current assistant coach — looks to translate his experience as the Lobos embark on their first-ever sand volleyball season on March 8.
“It’s a brand new sport for UNM,” Foo said. “… So the fact that it’s so new and a chance to be a part of the program and built it and teach the girls the game is really exciting.”
Foo will be involved in all phases of the sand team, working with the athletes and overseeing the players’ conditioning.
Despite his ties to both New Mexico and volleyball, Foo started out playing baseball at Flagler College, an NAIA school in St. Augustine, Fla. He returned to Albuquerque after one year to assist his grandfather, who had lung cancer.
When he returned to New Mexico, he enrolled at UNM and became an athletic trainer.
“As far as athletic training goes,” Foo said, “it was the best fit for me as a far as being involved in the medical profession and working with athletes who are really trying to push themselves as much as they can. And I really enjoy that.”
He graduated from with his bachelor’s degree in university studies, and continued to help his family. His brother, who has cerebral palsy, requires assistance, which Foo has provided daily for the last four years.
“I do like to help people, especially my family,” Foo said. “I’m very close with my family.”
Foo has also become a licensed personal trainer, and specializes on developing speed and agility.
“I enjoyed the [personal-training] field very much, and I like helping,” Foo said. “I really like rehab, and that’s where personal training came in. The strengthening portion of personal training and the conditioning portion of personal training really appeal to me.”
He’s put his skills to good use in the sand, too, compiling a long list of credentials playing sand volleyball. He’s played at the open level – the top level in sand volleyball, Foo said – for three years, and has his sights set on playing at some AVBA volleyball qualifiers.
But this spring, he’ll help with the Lobos during their inaugural season of sand volleyball, which kicks off with the first-ever practice Feb. 9.
New Mexico opens its competition schedule March 8 in Phoenix vs. Grand Canyon and LSU before returning home to host GCU for the first-ever home sand volleyball event.