Building a volleyball team that thrives—whether you’re coaching elite athletes or newcomers—requires more than just skills and drills. It involves creating a culture that fosters commitment, leadership, and trust, while motivating players to push beyond their limits. In this blog, I’ll share some of the key lessons I’ve learned over the years and how you can build a better, more competitive team—even if your players are starting from scratch.

My Journey to Volleyball

I didn’t grow up playing volleyball. In fact, baseball was my main sport, and I played several others throughout my life. It wasn’t until I was asked to coach a middle school volleyball team that I found myself falling in love with the sport. Fast forward to today, and I’ve spent years learning the ins and outs of coaching, building better teams, and constantly improving.

Coaching, for me, is about learning. I love meeting other coaches, sharing ideas, and figuring out how to communicate better with players at every level. Whether it’s coaching an elite team or working with beginners, I believe that every coach can create a competitive culture—even when you’re not always working with the most experienced athletes.

Defining Your Team’s Culture

Creating a successful volleyball program starts with clearly defining the culture you want to build. Over time, I’ve realized that a well-defined culture can solve many of the common issues coaches face throughout the season. When I started writing my book, I focused on the idea of core values—how they drive commitment, create buy-in from players (and their parents), and foster leadership.

Here are the four key components to building that culture:

Coaching Philosophy – This is where it all starts. Why do you coach, and what drives you to lead a volleyball team? Having a solid coaching philosophy not only helps you reflect on your role as a coach, but it also sets the tone for your players. For me, my philosophy revolves around developing athletes for the next level, focusing on fundamentals, using guided discovery to teach new skills, and reinforcing that mistakes are part of the growing process. Every season, I check in with myself to see if I’ve stayed true to this philosophy.

Team Vision – A strong vision helps players see what’s possible for the team. Whether it’s aiming for a specific result at regionals or fostering a culture of hard work, casting a vision gives your players a clear target to aim for. I start communicating this vision early—sometimes even right after tryouts. Even if the team has lower skill levels, the vision doesn’t always have to be win-based. It could be about teamwork, passion, or work ethic—something that everyone can get behind.

Core Values – This year, I made it a point to actually write down my core values. They include commitment, work ethic, trust, teamwork, and respect. One of the biggest rules I enforce is that I won’t tolerate laziness or disrespect. But beyond just enforcing rules, these core values are the foundation of everything we do, from practice to tournaments. It’s what keeps the team moving in the right direction, even during tough times.

Mission Statement – If there’s one thing that drives the culture of my team, it’s our mission statement: “We will work hard at all times, not just for ourselves, but for each other.” Every player on my team knows this statement because we repeat it at every single practice. It’s not just about individual effort, but about understanding that each player has a responsibility to their teammates. This collective mentality helps build a strong, cohesive unit that’s more focused on supporting one another than just individual success.

Player Buy-In: The Secret Ingredient

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a coach is the power of player buy-in. You can have the best coaching philosophy, vision, and core values, but if your players aren’t on board, it’s going to be an uphill battle all season long. Getting player buy-in can make all the difference between a team that struggles and one that thrives.

I get my players involved in defining what commitment, respect, and hard work look like for them. I’ll often use Google Forms to ask open-ended questions about what these values mean to them and how they see themselves contributing to the team. At the next practice, we review their responses, and I make it clear that these are their words. This process shifts the ownership of the culture from me to them, making it much more meaningful.

Developing Leaders on Your Team

Leadership is one of my favorite parts of coaching. I’m a firm believer in cultivating leaders from within the team, especially team captains. I spend extra time with my captains, meeting with them at least once a month to talk about what they’re seeing on the court and how they can help their teammates. What I’ve noticed is that when captains take ownership of their leadership role, the team responds in amazing ways. Sometimes, all it takes is a quick captain’s huddle to change the mood of an entire game.

But leadership development isn’t just about assigning captains. It’s about empowering every player to step up and lead in their own way, whether that’s through communication, effort, or setting an example of hard work.

Communication Is Key: Reinforcing Culture Constantly

One mistake I see a lot of coaches make is only communicating their expectations once—usually at the beginning of the season. Then, by mid-season, they’re wondering why they’re having issues with the team. The key to building a strong culture is communicating it early and often. Whether it’s during tryouts, at the first team meeting, or throughout the season via emails and reminders, it’s essential to keep reinforcing your core values, mission, and expectations.

I make sure to send a follow-up email after orientation with a recap of everything we discussed—core values, mission statement, and team goals—so that both players and parents are always on the same page. I also try to include reminders in my regular emails throughout the season.

Celebrating Small Wins: Tangible Progress

It’s easy for players to get discouraged if they’re not winning matches, especially if they’re facing more experienced teams. That’s why I focus on setting smaller, tangible goals for my players. For example, instead of measuring success by wins, I might set goals around improving their hitting percentage or serve-receive consistency. These measurable improvements give players something to celebrate, even if they’re not coming out on top in every match.

End-of-Season Reflection: What Players Learn

At the end of every season, I ask my players to reflect on their growth. I ask them questions like, “What would you tell yourself if you could go back to the beginning of the season?” It’s always amazing to see how much they’ve internalized over the course of the year. Often, they’ll repeat things I’ve said to them during practices, and that’s when I know the culture has really sunk in.

One of the most powerful things I’ve seen is how players use their own words to reflect the values we’ve built together as a team. It’s a reminder that building a culture isn’t just about setting rules—it’s about creating a space where players feel empowered to contribute and grow.

Conclusion: Build a Culture, Not Just a Team

Building a successful volleyball team is about more than just wins and losses. It’s about creating a culture that fosters commitment, trust, and continuous improvement. By clearly defining your philosophy, vision, core values, and mission, and by involving your players in the process, you’ll create a team that’s not only competitive but also resilient and united.

Remember, it’s not just about what you say as a coach—it’s about getting your players to believe in it and own it themselves. When they do, that’s when the magic happens.