Rogue330: Meet the Coaches!

From our experience, your club season of JO Volleyball will only be as good as the coaches. Does your coach care? Does she teach the essentials and fundamentals of the game? Does he encourage you to reach your potential? Does she stick with the team through the ups and downs of a long JO season? Does he make his players believe in themselves and in each other?

I wish EVERY player, team, and family could experience at least one season with coaches who try to do all of those things.

And here we sit, a week before possibly filling both of our 16U and 18U rosters, with a Rogue330 Coaching staff that is – quite frankly – better than a new club should be allowed to have.

This isn’t a publicity post, a flex, or an attempt to convince you that our coaches are better than anyone else’s.

It’s just the new director of a new club saying something like, “how on earth did we get such an experienced, caring, competitive, and committed coaching staff so soon?!” It’s crazy. Crazy good.

We start with our Head Coaches, Kaleigh Courtock (18U) and Mandy Dale (16U). Both have played competitively, coached competitively, and care deeply about their players.

Kaleigh was that high school star who went to college pre-Med, graduated early, and is launching her medical career. She still happens to love Volleyball and has been coaching Club teams for four years now, with experience coaching at the regional and national levels. We met her through a couple of glowing recommendations from another JO Club Director, and Kaleigh is more than excited to set the tone for a brand new 18U team loaded with local talent.

Mandy is that former player and coach who moved to the sidelines to raise teenagers and watch their careers and support her family. But you can only watch from the sidelines for so long. “Coach” is in her blood, in her heart, and in her mind. She’s been a natural at helping us connect with new players, meet their families, and instruct them at open gyms. Mandy’s fully-committed to winning and developing players, but more importantly she will see these players as girls with names, lives, and value far beyond the JO gym.

Let’s talk about the assistant coaches – Jennie Underwood (16U) and Megan Raber (18U). Both are former players who love the game and care deeply about encouraging young women and teaching them the game. Megan has coached at the high school level but stepped back to, you know, start a family and raise her kids. Jennie was all-conference and team captain in high school, and raising three teenagers has brought out her “coaching gene” to encourage, teach, and speak the truth in love.

Our “official” coaching staff (above) includes four incredible human beings. As a Dad with two daughters, I can only pray and hope that my kids could become something like these four women and coaches as they grow up.

But we all know teenagers listen to their peers, and they look up to college students like they are rock stars. So it’s beyond thrilling to tell you that ROGUE330 has connected with Walsh University players who want to help out with both of our teams as their schedules allow. In case you didn’t know, Walsh University Women’s Volleyball competes in NCAA Division 2 and is having an incredible season right now (24-3, 15-1)!!!

Our players will be honored and enjoy to have NCAA D-2 talents helping our girls develop and learn! I’ll share their names when it’s time, but these two college players are leaders with hearts to invest in the next generation of volleyball players and young women.

Before we started this ROGUE330 thing, our goal was to support each JO team with three committed coach-types: a head coach with experience and strength, an assistant coach with encouragement and stability, and at least one college player who could show the girls how it’s done, on and off the court.

Pinch me. It’s happening. Thank you to Mandy, Kaleigh, Jennie, Megan, and you Walsh superstars for “going rogue” with us in this new adventure. The best is yet to come!