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Coach Bio'sSummers | Afman | Taylor | Meinhover | Kaniewski | Sheets | Wilczynski | Habegger Cervantes | Hunt | Breshock | Pasko | Rhodes | Higgins | Torres | Frey | Djulabic | Mitchell | Wayne Philosophy Volleyball should be coached the same way it is meant to be played: intensely and with a nearly obsessive focus on improving fundamentals and increasing athleticism. These are the essential keys to improvement and success on the court. Overall success, on the other hand, is much more complicated. Volleyball is one aspect in a student’s life. Overall success is measured by the success of the individual as an athlete, but also the success of the athlete as an individual. Club Coaching Experience
High School Coaching Experience
Professional & Collegiate programs that I have been involved with either as a player, a coach, or a volunteer assistant.
I am the Assistant Director and have coached 14U, 15U, and16U travel teams for Diamond Elite. My coaching experience in volleyball includes five seasons at Wilbur Wright Middle School in Munster, IN with an overall record of 57-14. This year, I coached the Munster varsity volleyball team. We had a record of 27-11 and were both conference and sectional champions. The girls hard work also helped me to be recognized at Times coach of the year for 2009. I have also helped out with several volleyball camps and volleyball programs including, but not limited to, Munster HS, Orland Park JH, and Timothy Christian. Additionally, I have coached the Munster Builder Group for Diamond Elite as well as coached a few camps for DEVA. Besides coaching volleyball, I have coached 5 years of basketball at the junior high and junior varsity levels as well as 3 years of track. Before teaching and coaching in Munster, my playing experience includes 4 years as a libero and defensive specialist for Trinity Christian College and served as co-captain on the team for 2 years. A highlight from my personal volleyball experience was playing against the Costa Rican National Team in 2003. Currently, I have expanded my game to the beach and grass and played in several EVP and grass tournaments. I also play in 2 coed indoor leagues and on a women’s USAV club team. My philosophy of coaching is to provide my players with a positive, challenging, intense, and fun experience through playing volleyball. My intent is that they learn the concrete fundamentals of volleyball and achieve optimal improvement through discipline, intense practice, and maximum touches (ball contact). I feel that there is so much untouched potential that can come out with good coaching and my goal is to be that coach to the girls that play for me. Head Coach Lake Central High School 7 years varsity experience Three time conference champions Three time sectional champions Assistant Coach Lake Central High School 2 years junior varsity experience Two years conference tournament champions Director, Founder and Coach USVBA Greased Lightning Based out of Lansing, Illinois USVA Club player Chicago power league Certified Illinois and Indiana Volleyball Official – officiated Illinois High School regional tournament Played for St. Xavier College, Chicago, Illinois. Greatest experience playing in the NCAA Volleyball regional tournament. Philosophy: The sport should be fun to play and a challenge for all players. When the players stop enjoying what they do, they need to stop playing. Volleyball needs to be in their blood. I have been coaching volleyball for the past 10 years at high school and club level with the past 2 years as Head Coach at Prairie State College. I am a CAP level I accredited coach with USA Volleyball as well as having been a certified personal fitness trainer for the past 8 years. Outside volleyball, I have been a police officer for the past 19 years with the Park Forest Police Department and have received my Bachelor’s Degree from Governors State University. My coaching philosophy is to provide athletes with a positive competitive environment in which they can improve their physical and mental capabilities. I am eagerly anticipating this new season of club volleyball and the opportunity to work with these outstanding athletes. I have been coaching Diamond Elite’s 12U Travel teams since their second year. I have also coached the 5th/6th grade team at Sandridge school. I have been playing volleyball since grade school. I played throughout high school, both for my high school team and for a club team. I started competitive play as a setter, and then became a middle hitter. I have coached high school summer leagues and assisted in summer camps for all ages. Currently, I play volleyball on co-ed teams. I have a strong passion for coaching which compliments my career passion for teaching. I believe they are very similar fields. I want my players to become the best they can be – on and off the court. They need to develop skills in all areas and learn how to use their strengths. I think sports are a great way for an athlete to gain talents they can take away from the court. Determination, team work, confidence, persistence, hard work, and respect can all be achieved through playing a sport. Volleyball has been and still is a huge part of my life. Volleyball is a great sport and I hope that I can instill and encourage the same passion I have into the players I coach. Although Ryan has only been on the coaching scene for a short period of time, his dedication and determination to see his players succeed is second to none. Being on both sides of the court, as a parent and now a coach, his ability to connect with players and their parents is an asset that many coaches have not been able to achieve. In his quest to always improve on his coaching abilities Ryan received his IMPACT certification this year. This summer he coached in the Lansing Old Timers League placing 4th all around out of 20+ teams. With the help of a great coaching staff, they took this group of girls and boys that had never played volleyball together and turned them into a team. Ryan is not only a coach of volleyball, but also coaches the Muster Magic 12U fast-pitch softball travel team. He is a Clinical Massage Therapist specializing in Sports Massage and has always been active in physical conditioning. His approach to coaching youth sports is simple: - There are only two things an athlete can control; and that is attitude and effort. Alex Cervantes is no stranger to the volleyball world. In fact, he has been playing the game for 18 years and still continues to strive to become a better player and coach every year. From the hard court to the beach sand, Alex has acquired a vast amount of knowledge of the game and is always eager to pass it along to his players. His philosophy, to be the best player you can be, is to practice the fundamentals constantly until the mind and body are in unison. "I know I succeed as a coach when a player stops thinking too much and instead relies on his or her volleyball instinct." Alex, to this day, still competes in competitive volleyball leagues and tournaments around Northwest Indiana and Chicago. Alex is IMPACT certified and a member of the EVP Tour. This is his second year coaching with DEVA. Relevant Work History: Hanover High School Wheeler High School Community Bible Church I am CPR certified and have attended Sports Injury and Prevention Clinics at Lewis University in Romeoville, ILL to further my education to understand how to help players avoid injury but also treat injuries, if they happen. I am also a certified coach from the IHSAA and have taken Sports Nutrition, Dealing with Teen Athletes and their Parents, and all the required CYO classes on coaching. My coaching philosophy:
My coaching experience: Basketball: For the past 5 years I have coached at the Saint Xavier University women’s basketball camp. The camp is 3 weeks long and about 2 and a half hours long. The age levels are 1st-8 th grade. Volleyball: I have just recently been helping with the Elite Volleyball Players program which is conducted every Sunday from 9-11. The age levels are 1st-8 th grade. *This will be my first time coaching for any type of club team. My playing experience: I played at T.F. South High School and was on varsity for 2 years. My position was middle blocker. I was All-Conference, All-Area, and Team MVP both years. The team was Conference and Regional Champs both years. I played club volleyball for Chicago Finest for half a year because I was extremely dedicated to basketball as well as volleyball. I was moved up to the 18’s. I also played at Saint Xavier University for 4 years, where I continued playing as a middle blocker. I was All-Conference 1 st team, All-Region 1st, and team MVP both my junior and senior years. I am currently playing in a co-ed league in Alsip where I am STILL a middle blocker. During the summer, I played in a co-ed sand volleyball league in Mokena. My Philosophy is to improve and introduce new technique in the area of volleyball. The girls should take from my coaching the enjoyment of playing volleyball and wanting to keep playing outside of club. Coaching experience: I have coached for 15 years. 8 years at Shepard High School at the sophmore level. 3 years at Marian Catholic- 1 freshman, 1 sophmore and this year at the varsity level. 2 years at the club level. I am also the President of the Lansing Volleyball for the past 6 years. I have coached for Lansing for 8 years at the age level 9-13 yrs. old. I played high school volleyball at T.F. South, college volleyball at Lewis University. During my years at Lewis; my sophmore year Lewis took 2nd in the nation and I made the 2nd tournament team at nationals. My junior year I was the MVP at the State Tournament and MVP my senior year for Lewis.Casey coached two years ago with TopSpin, but was not able to do so last year becuase it conflicted with school. She is currently attending Purdue Calumet full time and majoring in Accouting. Casey is also working there in the Graduate Department. Her playing experience includes high school at Crown Point and also club ball for many years. Casey has grown up with volleyball all around her whether it was going to her older sister's games or watching her mom play. She is looking foward to coaching for Diamond Elite and hoping to share her love and knowledge of the game with her players. Casey is very eager for the season to begin and start working with her new players! Higgins has many years of coaching experience at various levels throughout his career. Prior to being named the head coach at PNC, he served as the assistant coach for the Panther club volleyball team in 2006. Volleyball Experience as a Player Coaching philosophy:
Coaching experience:
I have been playing volleyball for the last 15 years as a setter and outside hitter. My playing experience includes 4 of years Varsity at St. Francis de Sales High School in Chicago, Illinois as well as club volleyball in the south suburbs. After high school I briefly played club volleyball while attending college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduating from college, I continued to play throughout my law school career in adult leagues throughout the south suburbs. Outside of volleyball, my career as a prosecutor allows me to strive for justice and keep our community safe. Today, I continue to play in 3-4 adult competitive leagues per year, including both indoor and sand-volleyball. I also enter as many tournaments as I can every year. I still strive to become better as a player every time I step onto the court, and seek to continue that passion as a coach. My goal is to pass on my love for the game of volleyball to my players and to help them realize and maximize their potential. Volleyball has been a huge part of my life for the last fifteen years, and I look forward to continuing that tradition by helping my players achieve their goals. Sherri started coaching 8th grade volleyball in 2000 while Keith was coaching his fourth season of freshman football. In 2001 Keith joined Sherri as an assistant for the eighth grade team. He took the 7th grade team over in 2003 when the position opened up. Together we were able to work on a strategy of development for the Middle School Volleyball program. Coaching Experience: I am currently the head coach at Wilbur Wright Middle School, Munster, IN. This past year, the girls amasses a record of 17-1 and were also 2-time tournament champions and undefeated conference champions. I am looking forward to a very successful season with Diamond Elite as head coach of the 5-Karat team and assistant coach to the 13U teams! Playing Experience: Before teaching and coaching in Munster, my playing experience includes playing for my middle school team and 4 years as setter at high school team. I also played intramural volleyball during college at Indiana University Bloomington and still play today whenever I can. Philosophy: Shawn Taylor joins the Valporaiso University Crusaders for the 2008 season for his first season as an assistant coach with the Valpo volleyball program. Prior to this, he spent one year as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan University. He guided the Coyotes to a 27-8 record during the 2007 campaign, including Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships. Five of his players earned All-Conference recognition, while three were named to the All-Region squad and one was named an All-American, the first in school history. Taylor also was named the KCAC Coach of the Year. Prior to Kansas Wesleyan, Taylor spent two years as a volunteer assistant coach at Kansas State, where he worked primarily with the middle hitters. He also spent two years as the women’s head junior varsity coach and as a men’s assistant coach at Graceland University. Outside of the collegiate realm, Taylor served as an apprentice coach with the U.S. National Team in Colorado Springs, Colo. in the spring of 2007. He also has experience as a training coach for the USA A2 National Team, as well as spending two years as an assistant coach for the Topeka Juniors 171 squad. Taylor earned his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with an emphasis on mathematics from Graceland University in 2004, where he also played for four seasons. He went on to earn his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 2006. I think sports often mimic life, and there are a lot of things that can be learned through volleyball: teamwork, competition, how to deal with failure, humility, and perseverance to name a few. I expect three things out of any team I work with
“I am only one, but…together, we are a force” You can be- powerful, successful, healthy and part of something GREAT. You can be skilled and talented, an athlete and an academic. We come from all walks of life and all corners of the city, state and country. We want to learn from the best to be the best, we want to train hard every day to be the strongest we can be, we want to understand the game so we can out-smart our opponents, we want to build a team to support each other and together, raise to the top. You are a volleyball player and together, we can do great things. Volleyball is an integral part of my life. I grew up learning from some of the greatest coaches in Northern Minnesota who took our club team to over 25 tournament championships. I made All-Conference team and All-State honor roll in High School and I went on to play at the University of Chicago, a four year starter, record holder for Career Kills, number two in career digs and top five in career aces. To be a great coach, I believe you need to love the game, know the game, and stay current with the game, which is constantly changing. I play daily, as a coach, in leagues across the city, competitive doubles for beach volleyball, and on our women’s USAV team. I ran summer co-ed volleyball camps for summer programs through the University of Chicago while I was in college and I made my debut as a head coach in the fall of 2006 at Ancona Middle School in South Chicago. We transformed the program and opened doors for girls to enter competitive club and high schools teams around the city. It was so rewarding to see the growth of individual players, and to see the team build confidence and embrace the competitive spirit of the game of volleyball. They won their first tournament championship in history: the trophy is proudly displayed in the school’s atrium. Currently, I enter my second season as the Assistant Women’s Varsity Volleyball Coach at the University of Chicago. With strong senior leadership and a phenomenal freshmen class, we have the best start to the season since 2004 and we are developing a strong presence in our Region and Conference. Personally, I strive to be a well-rounded player, making each part of my game as important as the next. Technique training and basic fundamentals lays the foundation to improve strength, speed, complex mechanics and strategy. We work from the ground up to ensure proper development early on to guarantee growth and development throughout your volleyball career. I am committed to you. Other Diamond Elite Coaches: Angela Halama |
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