We offer varying levels of training at WAVE, from beginner to advanced. We have local clinics, summer camps, lessons, and travel teams. Our focus is to provide our athletes with the best possible training and develop the athlete in multiple areas at their specific level. All kids come in at different levels and progress at different times. Majority of our coaches have a background in education, so we understand how to give individualized training within a team setting. We are able to really break skills down so the athlete can understand what is being taught and build up to a full application of those skills. Whether it is beginner clinics or high level travel teams, we have coaches who have multiple years of coaching experience to help our athletes.
One area we really take pride in is not having parent coaches in our program. Families are paying for coaching and providing a parent who just wants to coach their daughter on a team is not something we do. We have coaches who have children who play, but all our coaches are current or former volleyball players who have competed at high levels, and have multiple years of either collegiate, HS, or club volleyball experience. Coaches who have played the position or sport can accurately set expectations and relate on how to perform skills. When asking families to pay for club volleyball we cannot in good conscience give a team a coach who is just a dad or mom with no volleyball playing/coaching experience.
Many clubs also offer “elite” level teams or “elite” training. Sometimes those promises are accurate and a team or multiple teams can consider their performance elite. Other times it is just a selling tactic for you to play for that club. WAVE offers a wide variety of programs like mentioned previously. What we work to provide at elite levels is our coaching and passion for working with youth athletes. Our coaches are always working to improve and provide the best training we can for players.
We believe the focus of elite should be geared towards the type of practices and skills they are receiving from our training. You can have great players and great athletes that have good results. That doesn’t mean they are receiving higher level coaching to push them further in their development. Our focus with our coaching staff is to be detail oriented on skills, movements, expectations, and keep our practices efficient and structured.
WAVE coaches will provide a positive but demanding learning environment where players are competing in practices each day. Our coaches work to break down skills for athletes so they know why they are performing a certain movement or they know why we are running a specific defense.
We are not here to make promises in terms of tournament outcomes, playing time, or players playing a specific position, but we will promise that we will make great growth as a team and with individual skill development.