2022 Group 4 Title. 13-time Conference Champion, 8-time Union County Champion. 2022 NJ.com Volleyball Coach of the Year. 2015 inductee into the NJ Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. And on Tuesday, volleyball head coach Beverly Torok became the third Westfield coach in the school’s history to reach 500 wins.
Coach Torok can do it all.
In high school, Torok was a four sport athlete, playing volleyball, softball, basketball, and field hockey each year. She chose to continue softball in college, playing on scholarship at Rutgers University.
She started her career as a physical education teacher in 1993 at WHS. Along with coaching freshman field hockey from 1993-97, she was the girls swimming coach from 1993 to 2000. Her swim team in those years held a record of 75-21-1. Along with a spectacular winning record, her team won seven Union County Championships and five NJSIAA Sectional Championships. In 1999, she led them to an NJSIAA State title, the team finishing as the number 4 ranked team in the state.
She started her volleyball coaching career as the JV coach. She stuck with volleyball for the rest of career because “it’s quick. The sets are intense,” said Torok. “When you score a point, it’s not a really long, drawn out system. It’s real bang bang. And I just really liked the strategy of it, like the different techniques that you can use to score.”
The Westfield volleyball program is a dominant powerhouse, and Torok built it from the ground up. Athletic director Sandy Mamary said, “14 years ago, when I first became the AD, she walked into the office and said, ‘We can’t win a state championship if we only have a JV and varsity team.'”
Even in 1993, she had the championship vision. So, coach Torok set off to start a feeder program for the high school volleyball team. Mamary said that within a few years, Westfield had “a middle school program and ninth grade program, JV and varsity. We became dominant at every single level.” This marked the beginning of Torok’s reign over New Jersey volleyball.
After the formation of the feeder program, Torok set off to work. Her dedication was clear from the beginning.
“[Torok] has done spring workshops for our kids, summer workshops for kids, got our varsity and JV into summer leagues to play. She does stuff really 12 months out of the year,” Mamary said. “At every level, at every age, she wanted to get our kids playing more, get them interested in it. And now we’re finally seeing that really come to fruition.”
Working year-round showed not only Torok’s drive for championship glory, but her dedication to the team, and more specifically, the players.
“[Torok]’s put a lot of time and effort into helping us as people outside of volleyball and inside of volleyball, and it really shows,” said senior Giuliana Gallo, who has played volleyball for years and spent the last two seasons on Torok’s varsity team. She said the decorated head coach always “pushes us to be the best that we can be.”
Mamary recognizes the effect that Torok has on her players. “I think that the kids recognize her dedication. If the coach is working harder than you, you’re gonna play as hard as you can, every day, right? If you look at the coach, and you see everything that that coach is doing, how do you not want to play for that?”
One word stands out when reviewing Torok’s astounding career: discipline. Building a championship caliber team from scratch and having only three seasons with more losses than wins is a masterclass in discipline. She instilled discipline into all of her players, which was key to their success. Senior captain Caitlin Cabrales said that “the most important lesson that Coach Torok taught me was that nothing’s handed to you, especially after coming off like a state championship last year, we had to work hard for that. She pushes us to be our best.”
Coming into the 2022 season unranked and emerging as state champions can only be attributed to this discipline. Cabrales said Torok’s most crucial contribution to the team’s success, besides her knowledge, was that, “she would be understanding if we weren’t having a great practice, or something happened at school, but at the same time, not allow us to just be at 50% or just stay mediocre. She pushed us to be at 100% as much as possible and stay competitive in every game even if we were not winning.”
When Westfield took down Governor Livingston on Tuesday to secure Torok’s 500th win, the stands were flooded. “I think a huge testament to her is how many people came back the other night to watch her win,” said Mamary. “There were people in the bleachers, parents from years ago. I mean, years ago. There were kids that came back just to watch it. That doesn’t happen if you’re not one of the most beloved coaches. It just doesn’t happen.”
Having a career as long as Torok’s allows for enough time not only to rack up 500 wins but also to touch countless lives. “When you coach, I think you get a little closer relationship with [your players] than with your students because you’re at least two hours a day with them every day. And you get to know their families, and their background, and what makes them tick, and their struggles and you help them through that as well.”
Just as she has impacted every one of her players, her players have had a meaningful impact on her. “I don’t have children. So, in a way, this helps feed my nurturing side,” said Torok. “When I look back at some of the pictures and remember now with Facebook, some of these kids are having their own families, and I think back to who they played with and it was really, really enjoyable. But, I think with the 500 wins it really makes me think about all those teams and the fun that we’ve had in having that success.”
The love Torok poured into Westfield’s volleyball program is reciprocated back at her tenfold. It points only towards even brighter days for the team and the future success to come.
