PETRO Gazz will be a family affair for real for Brooke Van Sickle.
BVS’ father Gary has been named the Angels’ new head coach, while her Ilocana mother Lisa joins in as an assistant coach.
It was Brooke’s parents who introduced and nurtured her to play volleyball in the US NCAA Division I all the way to the PVL where she is now a two-time .
Lisa played college volleyball at Hawaii Pacific University while Gary suited up for University of Hawaii Manoa, Brooke's alma mater, which was the top-ranked volleyball school during his time from 1998 to 1990.
The Van Sickles are the permanent successors to preseason interim head coach Brian Esquibel and now Mongolia-based Japanese mentor Koji Tsuzurabara, who departed Petro Gazz midway through the 2025 PVL on Tour in July.
Not only were Brooke's parents former college players. They were also former coaches.
Their coaching experiences were almost always shared with the same youth-level teams.
Among their most notable mentees was no other than Brooke herself from age eight to 18 around the time when she first began playing competitive volleyball.
Both part of the Washington State-based Excel NW Volleyball program for the last 17 years, the Van Sickles coached children ages 12 to 18 across various state tournaments in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada among others.
Lisa once spearheaded beach volleyball side Aloha Ball Club NW, one that was a side step from her previous forays in basketball as a youth coach and even a former player herself.
The Van Sickles' first tour of PVL coaching duty will be to restore the Angels' lost glory in the 2025 Reinforced Conference where they'll be backed by returning American winger Lindsey Vander Weide, the first PVL import to win a championship, best import and finals MVP in a single conference.
From once a year to everyday
Back in March, BVS shared how her parents only get to visit the Philippines once a year to return to Lisa's hometown of San Emilio, Ilocos Sur.
"They only come once a year, so I'm not really used to having (them around here). Normally, when we lose a game, I come home and if I try to call my parents, they're sleeping so I kind of like sit there and process (those losses) a lot,” Brooke said.
“Typically, I don't go to bed until three in the morning, re-watch the game, and I'm one of those players that if there's a bad game that happens, I think of every single little thing that I messed up on, what I can do to be better, and what can I do to help my team."
Now her coaches again, that feeling of longing and homesickness won't be a problem as they look to become the first family trio to win a PVL title.
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