my passion

When I was still in high school we were asked to help coach the 12 and under team through the volleyball club we had through school. I still remember helping those girls and how cool it was when they got their first overhand serve over the net. I would venture out on a limb and say that I knew that early on that I knew I had a passion for coaching. My sophomore year of college I began my tenure at FaR Out Volleyball Club. Our then assistant coach Heather Kwantes connected me with the Steenhuysen's and I coached one of the local 14s teams. I remember going to practice one day and being so excited that I was going to be coaching there. I really didn't know at the time how great a program I was going to be working with, but just excited to be coaching. My team wasn't great, but we definitely improved and had fun (which should be every coach's goal). Soon after coaching my first year of club, Joe & Roxane approached me about joining their staff. At first they weren't sure what position they thought would be best, but it worked out that they wanted me to be their assistant coach. So as a junior in college I was working with one of the best volleyball teams in the state of Michigan and was being mentored by two of the best coaches around. I still joke with them about what they saw in me to take me under their wing. Whatever it was I am eternally grateful. They made me a part of the EK volleyball family and their own family. Each year I was able to coach club as well (did 12s, 14s, & 16s). My teams weren't always great (i.e. my 12s did not winning a single game in our last tournament), while others put our club on the map (16s qualifying for nationals, finishing T-5 at MEQ and 25th at Nationals). Every year it became more clear that God had really given me some amazing gifts to understand the game and how to teach it to young players.

My passion goes beyond just skills and strategy, though, for two reasons. One is that I've been blessed with some amazing coaches who were more like parents and friends. My high school coach would move heaven and earth for me just because he loved me and wanted to see me succeed. My first coach in college was a incredible woman who taught me about playing for the glory of God because He is the only audience that matters. I seek to model after them in my own coaching. The other reason is a player I coached in 2005 -- Emily Duits.










She personified a major lesson I struggled to learn as a player and that is playing volleyball for the pure joy of playing. She truly loved everything about the game as well as her teammates. It was a huge blow when she died in the fall of 2005. Being able to coach someone like Em was simply a blessing from God and I will always carry on her spirit to all the teams I am fortunate to coach. I consider it an honor to work with all the young women that I do. They truly are "my glory and my joy." I am sincerely grateful for the opportunities God has given me to do such honorable work. This season is becoming no exception. My team may not be the most talented or most athletic, but they do the things I ask, they are enthusiastic, they are humble, and they are respectful. They are teaching me a lot about patience and grace this year. I keep telling people that I can't wait till the end of the season because they are going to be a transformed group of girls. I'm just so grateful to help faciliate the process and to experience it with them.

Thank you Lord for the talents you have blessed me with and opportunity to use them. May the work I do always be for your glory alone. I pray that Em's joy and loving spirit would never leave me and that I could somehow keep it alive in the girls that I get to coach.