PPVC PHILOSOPHY:
In today’s world of youth sports, there is an ever-increasing emphasis placed on winning. The Director and staff of Pikes Peak Volleyball Club have a somewhat different focus which we believe allows us to achieve even more goals and even better results with all those who become involved in our club.
While we will absolutely coach and prepare our players to compete and win as many of their matches as possible, we also understand that there is much more to youth sports than just the W-L record of a team. And with PPVC, this is more than simple lip service – we believe and coach with this in mind.
By becoming a member of Pikes Peak Volleyball Club, you will find:
- The best quality club volleyball experience available to all involved - players, parents and coaches (and it’s getting better every year!)
- A safe, fun and encouraging environment for girls and boys to learn a wide range of skills, including but not limited to: volleyball skills, sportsmanship, commitment, being a teammate and more...
As you can see in our Mission Statement, PPVC is focused on our girls and boys as people, not just as volleyball players and not just as a means to a championship.
PPVC Mission Statement: “Empowering girls and boys and developing excellent young adults through the sport of volleyball.”
And as you can see in our coaching philosophy, we are focused on much more than winning. We believe that coaches who only focus on winning will occasionally win, but they will also lose. Our coaching philosophy
PPVC Coaching Philosophy:
Our club operates from an overarching, three-point coaching philosophy that can be summed up as follows:
- Attitude & Effort: The number one thing that our players (and coaches) need to bring to the gym is a positive, ready to learn attitude and 100% effort. When a player comes to the gym with the right attitude and effort, a coach can teach them the skills they need. But if a player shows up without the right attitude and effort, even the best coach may not be able to teach that player what they need to improve.
- Improvement: Both individually and as a team, every coach will seek to improve each and every player, as well as seek to improve the team as a whole. All players, not just the best player, need to be prepared to improve through individual skills work, technical feedback and positive encouragement. The team will be improved through incorporating players into an effective team strategy to best utilize their skills.
- FUN: Volleyball is fun! It is one of the few sports that can be played both competitively and recreationally for a lifetime. To sum it up, I’ll use a line I tell every team I coach, and that is “If you’re not having fun, don’t come to the gym.”
Keeping the above 3-point coaching strategy in mind, PPVC allows flexibility in how each individual head coach chooses to coach their team. We understand that not all coaching styles work for all coaches and so we see this flexibility in coaching style as mandatory to providing each coach and team the very best chance for success in their season.
If you read carefully, you’ll notice that “winning” isn’t anywhere to be found in our club philosophy. However, in more than a decade of coaching, I’ve found these three points to be at the heart of successful volleyball – and yes, to winning as well.