To Amanda, Bella, Bri, Crystal, Ella, Halle, Jess, Kyla, Nicolette, Phoenix, Kyla, and Sarah, A quick story: Tuesday afternoon I found myself watching the Nebraska Beach Volleyball practice next to Jordan Larson. The girls had just finished some warm-up drills and Coach Reyes put them on three courts to scrimmage in preparation of their season opener that took place Thursday. The wind was causing chaos, but the girls were working hard, laughing and having a good time along the way. "Oh to be young again." Coach Larson said as she watched them scramble around their respective courts. Here's ..read more

While top players are notified of their coach and teammates, newer athletes are expected to cut a check / sign a contract in July - only to wait until November/December to know what they paid for. We feel those athletes deserve better. When club tryouts moved from November to July, there were some pretty immediate repercussions. Every year since they've swapped to summer tryouts, I've gotten messages between Thanksgiving and Christmas from parents. They all come from various programs, but the story is always similar. "When we tried out in the summer they sold a lot of good things to us. Bu ..read more

Youth sports is supposed to help young athletes build confidence in themselves. But as focus shifts from outcome to income, is it doing the opposite? TW: Suicide, Depression My father was the head coach of my 5th-8th grade basketball team. While I would adopt a lot of my coaching philosophy from people like John Wooden, Lou Holtz, Karch Kiraly and others, a lot of my foundation as a coach came from those four years playing under my dad. He let the team decide if the focus would be on winning or playing time (while making sure everyone would play at least a quarter no matter what). There w ..read more

Me on what appears to be my 7th birthday. Dreaming then, dreaming now! Last week I celebrated my 38th birthday. I know a lot of people dread getting older - I always look at it as 'making it' to the new year. Once my college coach passed away 15 years ago at the age of 29, my perspective on aging changed pretty drastically. A more important milestone this year is this fall will mark my 20th year of coaching. I feel grateful for the opportunity to do what I do for a living. On one hand, it seems silly to have your life revolve around a game where we hit a leather ball over the net. But I've ..read more

Progress as an athlete isn't linear - and at some points adversity is unavoidable. How we respond to that adversity makes all the difference. Parents, I get it. You see how hard your kid works all year. You see how important it is for them to make their team. Maybe some of their friends made the team and they didn't, which can be very uncomfortable for all parties involved. If you read my blog directed at kids who didn't make the team , you know I was cut twice in high school. The time right after was pretty brutal - but that was truly a moment I needed to experience in order to eventuall ..read more

Getting cut twice in high school basketball was one of the toughest experiences in my life. Looking back on it, it was also the key to the success that followed years later. To The Ones That Didn't Make It, I know you're not feeling great right now. I was cut in high school basketball twice: It's one of the most emotionally painful memories I have from my childhood. But I wanted you to know: It gets better. And in some cases, this type of adversity is what's required to unleash the greatness in you. I know it was for me. Leading up to my own experience getting cut, I was a hard worker, bu ..read more

Ask yourselves: "Is my child playing for this organization, or is this organization coaching for my child?" Because if the answer isn't the latter, you may be better off looking for a healthier environment. Many players and parents are happy with their youth sports experience. They have a team they like and a coach that cares about them. Many high-level players have already received verbal offers from their club to return to the same team the following year. Those people don't need this piece. I have many athletes that have already verbally committed to their next season, and as they know t ..read more

To the cut kids: It's gonna get better. It's going to be OK. It stings, and there's nothing that I can say that'll take that away. Expectations are the thief of joy, and even if someone goes into tryouts assuming they'll get cut, if there wasn't a sliver of hope that they'd make it, they wouldn't have shown up. But I'd like to tell you a little bit about my experience getting cut - twice. I'd like to share the things that I had to process over time, and I'd also like to share with you why I think getting cut was the best thing to ever happen to me as an athlete - and why it can be good fo ..read more

Imagine spending your entire life dedicating yourself to your craft to the point where you are undoubtedly the greatest in the world to do it. Coincidentally, that craft is something that people do with the goal of competing to be the best in the world. The odds are so stacked against you - on top of dealing with abuse from the system that's supposed to be protecting you - and yet you pull it off. Imagine becoming so good at it that you are literally the only person on the planet that's capable of doing what you do. You've done what so many dream of doing, but 99.99999% of people will neve ..read more

There's an irony to using the phrase "coaches are thieves" when I snagged that line from another coach. But it's true: So many of the things I preach to our athletes came from coaches that influenced me. But there are a few originals of mine. One of them is "If luck is when preparation meets opportunity, you better cover your half of the deal". And for the last year, we've gotten incredibly lucky - but we also prepared. Today marks one year since we re-opened our doors - and I'm proud to say we did not have a single positive case affect our program during that time. It has not been an eas ..read more