As a young, skinny, undersized high school volleyball player, health professor and former volleyball coach Charleen ‘Sharkie’ Zartman was told by her coach that she was too small and suggested she should try another sport because she might not make it as a volleyball player.
That incident lit a fire under Zartman to be one of UCLA’s top volleyball players of all time along with coaching EC to nine league championships and two state championships.
Zartman’s work ethic might be as impressive as her volleyball resume, but she downplays it because she said it is all about hard work and being driven to be the best you can be.
“I’ve always been a fanatic,” Zartman said. “In everything I do, I give it one hundred percent, because it all goes back to what my high school coach said when she told me I wouldn’t make it. So here I am after all these years still motivated and focused to do other things.”
As a member of UCLA’s volleyball team, Zartman was part of the first National Championship team in 1972. She was also named one of the top 25 volleyball athletes of all time and UCLA also retired her No. 23 jersey.
“That 1972 group was so special,” Zartman said. “They were a great group of individuals to work with and we all had fun, we were also very competitive. And on top of that to have my jersey retired and to be named among that list of top twenty-five greats was an honor.”
After being honored and graduating from UCLA, Zartman went on to coach the EC women’s volleyball team for ten years, winning the state championship in 1981 and 1983. Her most memorable year in coaching was when the Warriors won the championship in 1983; she was also pregnant with her second daughter, Chrissie.
That year was also her last year to coach as she focused on attending to the needs of her two daughters. It was not because she wanted to stop coaching, but because she believed that it was time to be a mother
“Coaching took up so much of my time, and my kids needed me,” Zartman said. “I loved the girls on the team, I loved the championships we won, but I needed to get my priorities straight. And also, I believed they had to get someone that could give the energy required for the job, because at the time I didn’t have the passion and energy anymore.”
Not only was Zartman a great mother figure to her two daughters, but she was also their coach and passed along the work ethic that she had as well. Her daughter Chrissie also played at UCLA where she was a 3-time PAC-10 All-American and wore Zartman’s No. 23 straight from the rafters.
“She wanted to wear my number so they asked me if she could, and I said ‘of course’,” Zartman said. “She didn’t feel any pressure wearing my number because she also did amazing things on her own as a volleyball player.”
After Zartman’s coaching career, she not only brought state and league championships to EC, but she was also the one that introduced Yoga classes.
“Yoga is a great class for stress management and great for students who want to find a way to relax themselves,” Zartman said. “We only had a couple of sections for Yoga in 2000 and 2001, but it became so popular and the classes were all filled up so the school added more sections with more instructors. Now, all yoga classes are filled.”
Beginning in the fall semester, Zartman will introduce a new P.E. class called Bootcamp Fitness.
“That class is going to be fun because it gives students more of a challenge than other P.E. classes,” Zartman said. “It’s a class that will whip you into shape with different regimens, different calisthenics so it should be a great class.”
She is also a health teacher and she is still trying to get the hang of the new technology, so she can make learning a little more interesting for her students. As a teacher, Zartman shares her enthusiasm and charisma with her students.
“She is an awesome teacher,” Daniel Bateman, 31, business major said. “She is very passionate about what she is doing, the classes are never boring and she gets everybody involved. She is interested in the students and the way we learn things. She cares.”
Zartman is always willing to lend a helping hand to her students, because she wants them to pass her classes. Even when she is busy, she will find time to help her students.
“She would help us with tests, and answer questions about the test even though she is doing something else,” Andrew Salazar, 20, Business major said. “She gives students the opportunity to succeed in the class, because she has the best interest in us to learn the material.”
Zartman loves to travel and has also written five books about volleyball while co-wroting a fitness book, which turned out to be very successful.
“I am just very blessed to be doing what I am doing right now,” Zartman said. “I am very fortunate, I love the students that I teach, it is so great how I’ve done all of these wonderful things.”
With her many accomplishments and accolades in life, Zartman always shares with her students and ex-players to always try their best at everything they do and to enjoy what they are doing because she believes that it is just a waste of time if they didn’t.
“You have got to want it,” Zartman said.
“My high school coach told me I should have played another sport because I was too small. But I wanted to play volleyball because I loved it, and I wanted to prove the coach wrong. Ever since then, I always give full effort and I always have a passion for everything that I do and that is something I want to get across to my students.”