Home
Sage Hill Hires New Head Coaches for Boys’ Basketball, Volleyball
Lightning Athletics recently onboarded two new program heads to fill its dynamic coaching staff for the 2025-26 school year.
Elijah Gaines is the new head coach for boys’ basketball and Ethan Cinco steps in to lead boys’ volleyball.
Since 2019, Gaines had served as assistant boys’ basketball coach, helping take the Lightning to the CIF-SS Division 3AA finals this past season. He views coaching basketball as a calling.
“Basketball, obviously, is a passion so I just wanted to stay around the game after my playing years,” Gaines said. “At first, this wasn't in my sights as what I want to do, but I think that I've been led here by God.”
Gaines recalls his father first putting a basketball in his hands at 4 years old. He’ll always remember his grandmother introducing him like he was an NBA player while he dunked on a Little Tikes hoop in the family living room.
“I wanted to be Michael Jordan and that’s really all I knew until I finished playing and I had to find some different endeavors. But from 4 to about 25ish years old, basketball was my life,” Gaines said.
The San Pedro native attended Long Beach City College to play basketball, earning First Team All-Conference nominations and was named a JUCO All-American player. He received a full athletic scholarship at Pittsburg State University in Kansas.
He graduated in Spring 2020 from Cal State Dominguez Hills with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology.
Among his coaching mentors is Alan Mitchell, boys’ basketball coach at St. Anthony’s High School of Long Beach.
“I just learned from him how he carried himself, how he leads and what he instills in his players,” Gaines said.
He also credits former Sage Hill Head Coach D’Cean Bryant with giving him the opportunity to grow with the Lightning Basketball over the past three years.
Cinco takes the helm for boys’ volleyball after the Lightning enjoyed an extraordinary run to win the first ever CIF Boys’ Volleyball State Championship last May. He brings eight years of coaching experience with Prime Volleyball Club in Ladera Ranch and previously served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, San Juan Hills High School.
“I'm excited to be able to use what I’ve learned to help lead a program that has recently found success and develop that culture and try to make it so it's a long-lasting tradition of success and excellence,” Cinco said.
As someone who played youth baseball for 12 years and started CrossFit in middle school, Cinco said he discovered volleyball by accident. He bumped into the San Juan Hills volleyball coach while volunteering at a youth basketball tournament. This coincidental meeting would launch his career, Cinco said.
“Volleyball saved my life and it gave me a purpose,” Cinco said. “It helped me find what I want to do. Through coaching volleyball, I found that it's awesome to work with kids and see them develop.”
Sage Hill School
A college preparatory independent day school for grades 7-12.
20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657
Phone: 949.219.0100 | Fax: 949.219.1399
20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657
Phone: 949.219.0100 | Fax: 949.219.1399
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.