When I started coaching in 1992 (at the age of 18), I thought I would set the world on fire. My first job was as a volunteer coach at a local club. Ironically, I was assigned to the current 18U team, so I was basically helping to coach girls that I was just in school with the previous year. Basically, I was just a ball shagger and water bottle filler. The problem was the head coach was mediocre at teaching the game and even worse in developing me as a coach. We had no boys team in high school, and the club scene was really non-existent in Pennsylvania at the time. I learned to play the game simply by “playing the game” at the age of 12. I “cut my teeth” playing 5 days a week during the spring and summer on grass courts and beaches up and down the east coast. That was the only knowledge I brought to the coaching realm.
I heard that my Alma Matter was close to starting a boys team and that was all I needed to hear. I decided at that moment I would dedicate my passion to coaching the sport I love. Don’t get me wrong; I still was passionate about playing. I just knew that window was very limited. I began to surround myself by every book I could find. I would stand in the corner at events and listen and watch the elite coaches. This was long before YouTube and Facebook, so I tried to find every volleyball VHS I could to study games, methods, and player development. I became a “Vollydork”. I ended up getting the very first JV position for the new boys team. I held that spot for three years when I was offered the head coaching position. A position I would hold for 10 years.
Over the course of those 10 years I would go on to win 100 matches, make few deep playoff runs, and even coach an All-American. I even did a 5 year stint at a local community college which was really more like being a fan. I got to recruit the best high school kids who didn’t know what they wanted to do next. I won 100 matches in 5 years at the Community College, but to be honest, I had little to do with it. I just had really, really, really good players. In fact, to this day I stay in touch with them because I had such a great time being around them.
Recently, I decided to make the jump to the college game. It was a huge deal for me because it would be the first time in 15 years I was not coaching in the spring. I would be leaving the comfort zone that I created. It was during that time that I did a little soul searching. It was not the big games, the wins, or the loses that kept coming to mind. It was the journey, the stories, and the kids I coached that went on to become coaches them self that came to mind. That is when the idea for this site came to mind.
I wanted a site that I could actively add content to that was not the typical “drill site” or “how to coach” site. I wanted a site where I could pass on some of my knowledge and share some of my war stories. I also wanted to help coaches the way I wasn’t in the beginning. There are a ton of places and resources for how to coach the game of volleyball, but very few places to learn how to be a “coach”. Lastly, I just wanted a place to store my memories, thoughts, and ideas. Hopefully, at the very least, this site will get you thinking.