When I arrived in Las Vegas after I retired from my indoor and sand professional volleyball career, I never imagined the incredible journey that lay ahead.
As a former professional volleyball player and USA National Team member, I saw untapped potential in the Las Vegas volleyball scene.
Little did I know that my passion for the sport would not only transform my career but also play a pivotal role in elevating volleyball in the Las Vegas community
My journey in Las Vegas began with a simple goal: to raise the quality of Las Vegas middle and high school volleyball being played locally and nationally.
When I was a professional player in Italy in the late 90’s early 2000s, because I was there for so long I saw the positive benefits of older more experienced players coming into a country to play along side younger Italian players (both male and female).
I was a USA volleyball National team player playing in the Italian pro league with and against Olympic gold and silver medalists from all over the world which was a big deal for me.
Can you imagine being an Italian high school player good enough to make a Division I team (at the time) and practice daily along side Olympians and World champions for eight months out of a year every year?
I saw the benefits this had for Italy and the players who learned what to do and how to do it and what to say on the court and just how to be better learning a ton from these visiting professional volleyball players from all over the world.
Case in point: In my opinion....
Italy has one of the most competitive and toughest women's pro leagues to compete in. Only the top of the top players around the world regularly were recruited to play in the A-1 division (top 12 teams).
Throughout the 2000's Italy's junior Italian players had access to and played in practices with American Olympians, Russian Olympians, Brazilian, Japanese and Bulgarian Olympians who came to the country to compete in their women's and men's professional leagues.
Think about how high the standards for the game have been raised for the Italians all these years.
Here in Las Vegas we have the Las Vegas Thrill professional women's team. Imagine if they allowed 3-4 promising high school aged players to their roster? Then 8-10 years later in their early 20's imagine how good they would be?
Almost every summer when I finished my pro team season, I'd come to Vegas I’d visit my parents who had moved to Vegas from Southern California once my Dad, a traffic engineer for the City of Las Angeles, retired in late 80’s.
I’d visit them when I wasn't playing and then check out local Las Vegas volleyball practices or tournaments.
By the time I moved here in 2006 I had an idea as to what was going on in the local high school scene.
One last thing that motivated me also was that rule about freshmen players not making varsity that seems to only exist here with Las Vegas volleyball high school players.
Everyone else around the country has freshmen players who train to make the varsity team and Gatorade even produces a National All Freshman Team.
So I made it a personal challenge to produce better players at a younger age…and in my mind I dared the coaches to say No to players who HAD to make the team because it was so obvious they deserved to.
Those are my thoughts, inspiration and the motivation for doing what I've done for the love of this sport especially when it came to making Las Vegas volleyball players better.
Because of these 7 sources of motivation, when I started coaching I did it with a chip on my shoulder.
I played with a chip on my shoulder so that helped keep my passion on point.
I wanted to make a statement and prove these coaches wrong and send a STRONG message to the parents that basically they were not getting a REAL return on their investment.
That’s why my first classes were $2 classes when I was at the Hollywood Rec Center. We’d get over 60-75 players from the area and we only had half a court to work with.
By that time my mother found and introduced me to Coach Dermot Thomas who was knocking door to door to promote his physical training services. (See how God works?)
No one else at this time was doing what Coach D did.
And Coach Rick dropped in to one of my first classes and NEVER stopped coming for 7 years after that.
Coach Ray Payan was an awesome coach who helped coach regularly.
I told them the only way we’d do this is with a strength and conditioning component in every practice so that Las Vegas volleyball kids would get stronger, faster, jump higher and hit harder which was needed to compete at higher levels.
The price point raised eyebrows but word spread because in that neighborhood at the base of Sunrise Mountain there were kids who wanted to play and being able to find change or borrow a $1 from a parent was easy.
So the Boot Camp class concept came from that.
The other thing I insisted on was that the Boot Camp coaches would coach more and talk less...learning how to coach without spending so much time talking and with the goal that players would average 500 reps in an hour.
At club practices most players weren’t touching enough balls and definitely weren’t sweating or working hard in their club and/or high school volleyball practices...until they came to our Boot Camp class practices.
At Boot Camp class everybody sweats for this reason.
Its became a thing, what we became known for. Players didn't walk in practices, they ran, everywhere and we trained at the speed at which a game is played.
I did the same thing in my semi private training and all my clients and Boot Campers and Breakfast Club participants started bringing an extra shirt to change into and they always always said at the end of our sessions that "this is the first time I've ever seated in practice, this feels good"
I heard that repeatedly that they didnt sweat in their practices but they always sweated in ours.
To this day one of the biggest compliments I hear and love is “Man we dont sweat in our practices but we sure sweat and work hard at Boot Camp class and in private volleyball training sessions!”
That’s one main thing that motivated me and that’s what continues to motivate me.
Because with this sweat ethic I know more kids will learn faster how to play better volleyball. Which in turn means more kids get recruited ..which has been happening in the past 3-4 years.
I hope I helped in challenging Las Vegas volleyball coaches in the Valley to get better..improve their coaching skills and to really teach players how to play the game.
It took 2-3 years but when I charged $5 for classes and
…but parents began to notice our results and people began to talk about our results.
By this time classes were held at City of Las Vegas Parks Stupak Recreation Center once described as located in the top 10 worst neighborhoods in Las Vegas.
The Stupak Recreation Center is located right behind the Stratosphere a block off The Strip in a gated location which houses a lot of after school programs and offers community programs for the surrounding residents.
These early days were challenging. I often found myself not only coaching but also setting up nets, carrying equipment and even recruiting players.
But the energy and enthusiasm of those first students fueled my determination. I knew we were building something special, one $5 class at a time.
As word spread about the affordable, high-quality training, the demand grew exponentially.
This growth brought new challenges – securing gym space, managing larger groups, and balancing the needs of beginners with those of more advanced players.
The Las Vegas volleyball scene was evolving, and I was evolving with it.
I began organizing 3 vs 3 boys tournaments for high schoolers, and created the super popular Friday Night Lights Open gym attended by players from all over the city, I organized my own summer camps with special guest coaches and even started my own club team called Volleycats Elite VBC.
Each step was a learning experience, teaching me not just about coaching but also about community building and business management.
info@improveyourvolley.com
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I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.
Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.
If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list.
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-Coach April
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