In all the time I’ve known him, Sandburg girls and boys volleyball coach David Vales has never made anything about himself.

He’s always been 100% about his players. He has taken many kids through tough assignments, tough challenges, tough personal times.

But now, while he’s still there for them, he’s also there to surround himself with all the support he can get as he fights off non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“I need to be in the gym,” Vales said. “Their energy and their positivity, and the hope of young people, is what is really going to help me get through this.”

Vales has already been through one cycle of chemotherapy. He has rarely been absent from practice or matches.

He was on the bench Thursday night as the Eagles played brilliantly in a 25-13, 25-16 senior night victory over Andrew. It was the 456th win of his 17-year career.

When Vales isn’t there this season, the team is being run by his son, David, and volunteer coach Kathy Krueger.

Meanwhile, the doctor’s prognosis is very positive.

His son’s prognosis is even better.

“I’m not worried,” David said. “I know that I’m not the only one supporting him. He has the whole volleyball team, the whole coaching staff. Obviously, we have our whole family at home and a lot of old volleyball players and coaches who are reaching out to him.

“So we have a lot of support behind our backs. I know he’ll make it to the other side of this thing.”

This is the elder Vales’ second battle with cancer. The first came when he was a student-athlete at Richards.

“It happened during the football season my sophomore year, when we found a lump,” Vales said. “I had it taken out during basketball season. Then I came back from the winter break, and sure enough, the diagnosis was there.”

It was Hodgkin lymphoma.

Vales missed the spring season and the following football and basketball seasons. But by his senior year, he was back at full strength, playing both football and volleyball.

For three decades, Vales was cancer-free. But the long-term side effects of radiation treatment don’t have an expiration date.

This spring, during boys volleyball season, Vales discovered another lump. In June, he had it analyzed. The final diagnosis was revealed to him after the Eagles’ season opener against Downers Grove South.

“We won the match, I went to my car and I had a voicemail from the doctor,” Vales said. “I had seen the scan, so I knew it was probably cancer. But the official diagnosis of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma was actually a blessing.

“I knew there were a couple of other options it could have been. This one, the doctor said he had a plan for. I didn’t mind that message because it could be considered good news.”

Finding positivity has always been a part of Vales’ teaching technique.

During the pandemic, he upped the ante by sending out daily messages to his student-athletes with positive thoughts and quotes.

Through the early portion of his current battle, he has kept an open line of communication between himself and his Sandburg volleyball family.

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The kids appreciate it. Just ask senior libero Karina May.

“He cares about all of us, on and off the court,” May said. “His being there for us now is very interesting. If anything, we should be there for him. But his reassuring us that our season will be OK is so very kind.

“He’s the one battling this. But he’s being very courageous for us.”

And excuse the little dash of selfishness. He’ll use it well.

“I’m taking all the positives,” Vales said. “To all the old players and alumni who have reached out, I said, ‘I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to use all of your energy and positive messages as a fuel for me. I’m going to save them and read them during the treatment.’”

A splendid strategy.