Appreciation for Club Coaches (Doing it the right way)

A little while back, I wrote something about the assistant coaches I’ve had at Lincoln Land.  Each one has left a mark on the program, helped it be a better place, but because they are ‘only’ assistant coaches, they don’t get the recognition they should publicly…even if I know what they did, they know, and the players know.

I’ve been fortunate to work with some people with club coaching here in Springfield that deserve recognition as well.  Before I can do that, I should mention four other people.  They’re how I got connected into volleyball in Illinois.

Mike Deterding and Craig Jones: They were the co-directors for Twin City Volleyball which was the first club in central Illinois.  They ran one practice up in Champaign then another at Stew-Stras down by Effingham.  When I moved to Charleston, I reached out and they let me come on board to help coach.  Through them, I wound up landing my first head coaching job and got to help coach some kids that went on to play at places like Michigan State and Illinois (in addition to SIU, WIU, NIU, Oral Roberts, etc).  Without meeting these two guys, I likely leave coaching completely after moving here in 94-95.

Cathy and George Wenthe:  Cathy was coach at Stew-Stras at the time and George is her husband.  I don’t think Cathy was happy when I got that HS job–we proceeded to come out and beat her right away (it reversed the next two years, then back to us the next…), but we’ve become coaching friends now over 25 years.  As Stew’s coach, she turned out five D-1 players from one team…not bad at a school with a 140 enrollment.  George runs the best HS tourney outside of Chicago (the Crossroads Classic), created a Jr High tournament like the Classic (the Sideout Shootout), and because he’d been willing to help, made sure the crosstown rivalry VB game is on radio every year (proceeds are donated to charity–for breast cancer patients usually).

I mention these four because without them, life takes a different route and I don’t get to work with these other coaches below.  If I am thankful for the coaches who I’ve worked with in Springfield, I should be thankful for the coaches who pointed down that road.

A few of these others have helped with LLCC.  I’m mentioning them again because club coaching is a different sort of work.  The first three are listed in order they became club directors.  Everyone else is in alphabetical order.

Stephanie Merano: Steph coached the first year when we had only a single travel team, did all the grunt work of establishing the club, working with the region–making sure we did everything the right way and never played shenanigans with the rules.

Joe Reuben: When Steph stepped aside, Joe stepped in to help run the club, handling the registration paperwork and Region-related work while I did recruiting work for the kids and educating parents about the recruiting process.  The year Energy VB up in Chicago opened their facility, Joe’s team and my team faced off in the championship match.  I remember the line judges and work-team being horrible (100% disinterested)–and we kept giving points to each other on honor calls and correcting the score…but I don’t remember who won (neither does Joe).  I appreciate the ref for going along with us, too, and understanding the issues with that work crew.

Amber Stephens: Amber started by coaching a 14u team and wanted to get more involved since she wasn’t coaching JH/HS ball at that point.  Amber’s good with organization stuff, so she got brought on as a third director…and now with Joe and me on ’emeritus’ status, she runs everything…and depending on the parents and kids, that’s not glorious work, but without it–you can’t help kids.  The most important thing is having a club director who has priorities straight.  It’s not about money, it’s about helping kids.

Alison Anderson: Alison runs Capital Area’s program for kids in 3rd-6th grades.  She’s been doing this since I came to Springfield.  She had her daughters play club with Capital Area and her oldest became one of LLCC‘s greatest players ever (if not her, it’s the best juco libero ever–Emily Orrick).  What I love is that she STILL is doing this for these young kids–even though she no longer has children of her own playing.  Think how many people coach until their kids are no longer involved.  It takes a lot of love for kids to coach hundreds of them when your own aren’t involved.   Would you be surprised to know she’s also a great grade school teacher?

Nikki Binetti: She was an assistant over at Illinois College in Jacksonville and helped with our HS teams for one year before moving back east.  She’s at Gettysburg College now.  What I loved with Nikki was her different perspective–she’s a Jersey sort of gal (in a good way, not a Jersey Shore sort of way).  That’s important…kids need different perspectives and ways of learning things.

Mary Jo Bushur: Mary played at LLCC.  When she was done and was still doing some school, she coached a Jr High team for a year.  Mary’s three older sisters all played HS for me.  Mary never knew how to give less than 100%…whole family was that way.  Her sister, the best HS setter I ever coached, told me last week that she’s coaching 7th grade VB this year in southeast Illinois–just couldn’t quit the coaching bug.

Will Clawson: Will coached club his one year at LLCC as my assistant.  I think it changed his perspective on working with athletes, especially after a season of college-level kids.  Club works very differently across the country and I hope/think he learned quite a bit to take back with him to the good ol’ Southwest.

Rachel Cunningham: She played at Benedictine U. here in town–I talked to her during the recruiting process, but she was too short for what we needed.   A few years later, I  recruited her younger sister instead.  What I liked about Rachel was she didn’t tolerate a lack of effort.  Lack of skill, lack of knowledge–you can address those, accept those…but lack of effort…that’s always on you.

Brigitte Dietz: I’m biased here since I’m also Dad (the last name MAY have given that away).  She coached HS and JH for Capital Area.  She always emphasized teamwork and what I loved was her encouragement for girls who made mistakes–you have to make mistakes to get to the point you do things right.  Every chance she got to learn (working USAVHP, camps at Iowa State), she took it.  Now she’s working as a HS/JH/USAV official.  Young people need to see young women officiating–that’s the only way we can recruit more young officials.

Kristy Duncan: Kristy was head coach over at Illinois College (she is now at Loras).  She coached one of our 18s teams–because we were serious about making sure we had high-quality coaches and that we were doing it to help the sport, not just a specific program.  She had a great ability to related to the juniors and seniors on her team–serious when needed, mellow as necessary.

Ocie Glover: Ocie played at LLCC.  Eventually she became coach at Benedictine before the program closed–when she played, I don’t think she understood why I did what I did, regardless of how it was explained.  Once she became a coach, she got it.  When Benedictine closed, she started coaching with 12u groups.  Ocie’s short and that’s a big advantage with that age group.  She’s relatable with them.  She’s demanding and positive at the same time.

Morgan Houser: She coached non-travel teams, then travel HS teams, and then Jr High.  She moved away and came back to central Illinois and is now at Blackburn as the head coach, sadly too busy to coach club right now.  I love her passion for coaching and she always says how horrible she’s doing and…she’s not.  She uses her own fear of failure to drive her forward, unwilling to accept less than 100% from herself and that rubs off on the people she coaches.  As a player, Morgan got to experience every possible reality–MVP/starter, role-player, bench; winning team, not-so-winning team; good team chemistry, bad team chemistry; mellow coach, hard coach, mind-games coach.  There’s nothing she can’t help kids with.

Jim Hunstein:  Jim is now men’s coach at Illinois College.  He coached with Kristy Duncan, taking our other 18s team.  He had a lot of perspective since he’d coached D3, was at D3, and spent a few years getting beaten up by LLCC while he was a juco coach.  (HAHAHAHA!)  He’s also co-founder with me of the League of Bald Coaches (if you qualify, feel free to apply to join). Jim is now men’s coach at Illinois College.  He coached with Kristy Duncan, taking our other 18s team.  He had a lot of perspective since he’d coached D3, was at D3, and spent a few years getting beaten up by LLCC while he was a juco coach.  (HAHAHAHA!)  He’s also co-founder with me of the League of Bald Coaches (if you qualify, feel free to apply to join). Jim is now men’s coach at Illinois College.  He coached with Kristy Duncan, taking our other 18s team.  He had a lot of perspective since he’d coached D3, was at D3, and spent a few years getting beaten up by LLCC while he was a juco coach.  (HAHAHAHA!)  He’s also co-founder with me of the League of Bald Coaches (if you qualify, feel free to apply to join). 

Brook McKinney: She played at LLCC, too and is now a HS coach at Glenwood.  Brook is very direct and has no problems telling players what’s going wrong.  What I like is that she’s getting better with experience and modifies her teaching depending on the age/skill of the kids she’s working with.

Haley Maxwell: She coached a Jr High team for us one year back in 2012.  She was always patient with younger kids.  I think this is because she’s sincere and good at heart.  She moved on to a four-year school and coached club while there, but she doesn’t anymore as she moved to Louisiana for her career.

Melanie Merano: Stephanie’s sister, she coached HS and JH for us for a couple years before focusing on teaching, etc.  She’s another coach who was great at working with kids, making each one feel unique, helping build their self-confidence, not just their VB skills and ultimately, that’s a big part of what youth sports is supposed to be.

Brandy Bradley (Moos): She moved to Springfield and was teaching/coaching.  My favorite story with Brandy is when she comes to practice and is excited about one of our signees–turns out she was that recruit’s club coach for a couple of years in St. Louis! …always remember the world is connected in many small and unusual ways.

Laura Payne: She coached while also working as my assistant and before that with our non-travel teams.  Laura was great with teaching fundamentals and always struck the right balance of firm/friendly with club kids.  I also appreciate that she knew when it was getting to be too much (because she was getting married, etc) and stopped coaching because kids deserved 100% and she was stretched too thin.

Kallie Sinkus: She’s one of the best 12u coaches I’ve seen.  It’s not about teaching skills, just relating to them.  I joke (partially) it’s like she’s got a cult around her.  There was one day where she couldn’t be there and I filled in.  The girls asked, “Where’s Kallie?”  I told them I was coaching for the evening.  The response was “We want Kallie” and “Well, this sucks.”  Somehow she makes them way better (she’s beaten 14s with 11s) while making sure everyone has fun…and has matching scrunchies, socks, etc.

Brittany Stewart: Brittany is a worrier, always worried she’s not doing the best possible for the kids, and yet, she stopped coaching when she had her own because she couldn’t give 100%, and has now come back to coach.  She’s able to give a ton of perspective to high schoolers, including on going back for a bachelor’s as 30 comes around the corner.  Her ability to (successfully) juggle life, kids, marriage, school, applications for graduate school, work, and coaching–I don’t think she realizes how much of a role model she is for showing what hard work achieves.

Kelly Streeval (Wajda): It is hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since she coached travel teams (or at LLCC).  She still lives in Springfield and what I like is that she’s helping Alison Anderson with the 3rd-6th graders–the passion for volleyball is still there!  Her ability to balance everything in life and still help with volleyball and be a role model to kids, I love it.

Tiffany Sunderlin:  Just like with LLCC, I like that Tiffany holds athletes accountable.  She’s not coaching travel-ball right now.  Instead, she supervises our non-travel teams and league, making sure coaches are doing their jobs right and things go smoothly.  As a club director, working with her was great.  She was always reliable.  That makes practice planning and going to tournaments much less stressful.