Club volleyball season has officially started in Badger Region. Players are attending tryouts, coaches are filling their rosters and club directors are busy running the show behind the scenes.
In the midst of all this chaos, Motion Volleyball Program (MVP) took some time to chat with us about their growing program.
Dave Goetzel and Mike Pridavka started MVP in the summer of 2012. Both men had daughters in the volleyball world, which gave them first-hand knowledge on what makes a program successful. Their vision was simple: to build a club around a great coaching staff.
"We felt it was important to build a club around a philosophy." Pridavka said. "We felt that if you can find a great coach with similar values and let that coach run his team, you could build a great club."
According to their model, a key part of the equation for a great club is to find great coaches. When Pridavka and Goetzel identified a local coach who fit the bill, they realized their vision could become a reality.
"When we came across a great coach living in Madison who had coached in the area previously and taken a year off to get situated in his professional career, we started to think this vision for a club could be a reality." Pridavka said. "We pitched him our concepts and he fell in love with the idea."
From there, the fabric of MVP began to take shape. Goetzel, Pridavka and the coach, Kurt Derenne, met several hours a week to plan and prepare for their first club season.
MVP started small, hosting one club team during the 2013 season.
"We didn't expect to grow very fast because we are very picky about who we have coach." Pridavka said. "We understand that there was more to being a great coach than just being able to teach or play volleyball."
MVP's vision and philosophy got them started, but their objective and methods for achieving their objective have given the program legs.
"We have a multi-phase approach to achieve our objective," Pridavka said. "Through the combination of practices, tournaments, film sessions, nutrition plans and workout programs, MVP will meet their objective of helping dedicated players and families set and reach their goals as a volleyball player and give them the tools to reach and accomplish those goals."
Apparently, MVP's vision, philosophy, objective and methods have a market in Badger Region. MVP has expanded to include five teams in their second season: two teams at the 12 and under (12U) age level along with two teams at the 14U age level and one team at the 18U age level.
"This year, MVP grew faster than we thought." Pridavka said. "We were approached by some fabulous coaches who wanted to try other opportunities and liked what our club stood for. We went from one team our first season to five teams for the 2013-14 season."
Running a successful club is no easy feat, and MVP has faced their share of challenges as they navigate this competitive youth sport world.
"The hardest part about being a club director is that everyone has a different opinion of reality." Pridavka said. "They have different opinions of what should be done and how it should be done, who is better than who. You have to take a lot of information in, process it and then make quick and sometimes not so popular decisions. At the same time you have to be flexible and patient so you can explain the details on what and why things are being done a certain way."
MVP has handled this tricky aspect of youth sport and kept their focus on the tremendous upside of working with young athletes.
"The most rewarding part of being a junior club director is helping girls get better and reach their potential in a sport they love." Pridavka said. "We know our players are learning lessons that will stick with them for their entire lives. We really try to teach that nothing comes for free, you have to work hard for it and earn it."
The end result of molding human beings is rewarding for a club director, but the journey getting there is rewarding as well. Pridavka mentioned several here-and-now moments that make club directing worthwhile.
"The smiles on the girls' faces when you present them with an offer is great," Pridavka said. "Also, when a team takes the floor in their brand new uniforms for their first tournament or how our 16-1s team rallied around one of our directors, Dave Goetzel when he went through his cancer treatment."
Pridavka wasn't the only one touched by MVP's support of Goetzel. USA Volleyball ran a story featuring the club and their use of video streaming to keep Goetzel involved in the team's performance while he battled cancer. Click here to read the story.
It's evident by the story above that MVP has created a club volleyball family, and we are glad their program is a part of our Badger Region family.
No comments:
Post a Comment