HighLine Volleyball Club
Get to know HighLine Volleyball Club, its Work Hard. Get Better. mission, and its community-focused approach to athlete development.
By Phillyball
About the Club
What does your club bring to the area that we can’t find anywhere else?
Our mission. Work Hard. Get Better. We do not claim to be an “elite” club. This word is typically used to misrepresent what clubs are offering. Our goal is to help young athletes develop and grow into well-rounded young adults. We have a community at HighLine that often feels like a family. We’re not interested in recruiting and turning over high volumes of athletes who come and go year to year. We want athletes to start working with us at 11U, and have such an awesome experience that they decide to come back every year! At HighLine we see our athletes as young people, not checks to cash. None of our coaches or staff are full-time volleyball coaches; we coach volleyball because we truly love it, and we love teaching.
What’s one thing you wish people knew about your club?
We think it is crucial to any organization to have uniform principles. Our coaches all follow Gold Medal Squared (GMS) methodology. Some of the greatest volleyball minds: Carl McGowan, Doug Beal, and Marv Dunphy came together and created Gold Medal Squared to create some uniformity in the way that we coach volleyball. Today that tradition continues, and we get our coaching methods from people like: Chris McGowen, Courtney Thompson, and Joe Trinsey through GMS!
Our coaches are also Positive Coaching Alliance certified. We are not a club where your athletes will come to practice and be belittled for making a mistake. We don’t yell, scream, or punish our athletes when they fail. We coach the game the way teachers teach in a classroom. Our coaches build our players’ confidence by shouting praise, and whispering criticism.
What’s your club focusing on this year?
Our coaches believe that club volleyball is about more than getting recruited to a NCAA D1 program. We want athletes to learn life skills: teamwork, leadership, and confidence. We are also very passionate about creating a space where learners feel it is safe to fail. Failure is inherent to the learning process, and we believe it is essential that young people learn this lesson very early on. We aren’t focused on the medals, the status, or the records. We want our athletes to work hard, get better, and learn a little bit along the way!
Do you anticipate any changes in the next year?
We plan on sending ten additional coaches to Gold Medal Squared to ensure we have the latest and best information, systems and methodology to support our volleyball athletes.
Imagine parents and players are talking about their first year at your club. What would they say?
Our familles love our positive vibes! They love our club culture!
They love our data-driven decision making!
They love our data sharing approach.
They love our language of volleyball.
They love our best-practice teaching.
They love our coaches!
And we love them!
How many coaches return year-to-year?
Most of our coaches return every year! We develop our coaches by bringing them up slowly. We give them time to learn from our more experienced coaches. We place an emphasis on opportunities for new coaches to gain experience as an assistant coach over saddling newer coaches with teams to earn a buck. This is rarely effective. We also focus on coaching education through GMS and PCA! We send lots of coaches to training every year! Every head coach at iRoy [HighLine Aspiring] coaching ages 11-17 this season will be a GMS trained coach!
What coach-to-athlete ratio can your players expect?
Each team at iRoy [HighLine Aspiring] typically carries three coaches. 1:4 ratio!!
More reps! More feedback!
Besides team practices, does your club offer other opportunities for players to build their skills or increase their volleyball IQ and are they included in club fees?
Friday Night Position Tech.
Friday Night Scrimmage/Open Gym
Gym Membership (iRoy [HighLine Aspiring] teams)
Speed and Agility Fitness App
Any misperceptions or myths about your club you want to address?
None. We are not concerned with that. \
Once families experience us. They know. We. Are. Different.
Describe your club’s practice facilities.
iRoy Sport houses a 3 full size basketball courts, 7 full size volleyball courts, cutting edge cardio machines, weight-lifting equipment, a Synergy studio with 40+ Schwinn cycles, a wide-range of exercise classes, personal & sport performance training, nutrition education programs, and tournaments, leagues, and camps. We at iRoy Sport are dedicated to providing a unique, clean, friendly, state-of-the-art facility with top notch classes, instructors, and trainers.
How should players prepare for tryouts at your club?
Be loud.
Apply feedback.
Run.
Be kind.
Say “thank you coach.”
Introduce yourself.
Be fearless.
Be aggressive.
Be grateful.
Support other athletes.
For more information on HighLine Volleyball Club visit their [club profile page](https://phillyball.com/clubs/pennsylvania/montgomery/collegeville/highline-aspiring?state=Pennsylvania)