Big City Volleyball, in its current form, was founded in 2007 as an adult volleyball league, hosting games Monday through Thursday in New York City. When League Director, David Walker, took over Big City Volleyball in 2007, his initial plan was to expand beyond volleyball and introduce other adult sports programs like basketball, soccer, and dodgeball. However, Big City Volleyball received frequent inquiries from parents asking if they offered youth programs. This demand led to the launch of the youth volleyball classes in 2010. From there, they expanded to include summer camps, private instruction, a girls’ and boys’ youth league, and, most recently in 2025, a club volleyball program. Today, the organization prides itself on being “New York’s # 1 Source for Everything Volleyball.”
Like many sports organizations, securing and maintaining gym space has always been a challenge. Big City Volleyball operates across more than 30 different locations.
“To expand our facility footprint, we prioritize building long-term relationships rather than purely transactional ones,” said Walker. “This includes offering free classes to students or facility members, providing discounted pricing, hiring their employees or students as coaches, and donating programming for fundraisers. These efforts help us foster strong partnerships and ensure continued access to quality spaces.”
A Volleyball Program for Everyone
Big City Volleyball offers a variety of youth enrichment programs, including classes, pop-up skills clinics, private instruction, intramural leagues, summer camps, and club volleyball. The youth classes run Fall through Spring, with over 500 kids participating weekly. The Girls Youth League has 550 players on 42 teams in both the Winter and Spring leagues. The Boys Youth League, while smaller, has 50 players participating in three different seasons.
The 1-week Summer Camps run for 11 weeks (mid-June through August) and average 150 sign-ups per week. Big City Volleyball’s Adult Leagues accommodate 3,000 weekly participants.
One way Big City Volleyball attracts new players is by offering free volleyball clinics, which serves multiple purposes. First and foremost, it provides an opportunity for kids who may not have the financial means to participate in our paid programs or those in underserved neighborhoods to experience the sport.
“We are passionate about making volleyball accessible to as many young athletes as possible,” added Walker.
Additionally, these clinics allow kids to try a class before committing to the full 4–8 week program. Big City Volleyball runs their own free sessions, while also partnering with facilities to provide complimentary programming for their members or students.
“Volleyball is experiencing an incredible surge in popularity. This is especially evident in club volleyball, which has seen explosive growth across the NYC metropolitan area. In response to this demand, we officially launched our own club volleyball program to provide more opportunities for competitive play. The newly launched club program currently has 7 teams with 80 boys and girls in the first season.
Leveraging technology for a robust and efficient communication process
Managing a program with over 4,000 weekly participants and a coaching staff of 100 dedicated professionals requires a sophisticated technology system. Big City Volleyball uses a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and an integrated app with chat features to streamline registration and communication.
Internally, the volleyball organization relies on the following tools to help efficiently coordinate across all programs and locations:
- Hubspot for customer relationship management
- Opensports for registration management
- G-Suite for our office productivity and cloud based collaboration tools
- Asana for project management
- Slack for team communication
- When I Work for scheduling coaches, referees, and field support staff
- Paychex Flex for HR, payroll, and compliance
The organization employs Google Suite and Slack for the central office staff communication, and Slack specifically, for daily field staff announcements and to address their inquiries efficiently. The “When I Work” scheduling platform helps Big City Volleyball notify coaches & referees on their assignments on a weekly basis, as well as supplying the leadership staff with their timesheets for payroll purposes. The”Big City Volleyball” app is used to post and manage the events, along with assigning staff with program specific details, attendance, expectations and best practices. Lastly, the organization holds monthly coaches clinics as an opportunity to have the managers and coaches meet in person to train new coaches and go over best practices.
The coaching staff of over 100 people is managed by a core operations team through clearly defined roles and responsibilities. One manager oversees equipment and program execution, another manager directs program planning and service offerings, while a third facilitates communication among coaches, children, and their parents. The Director of Operations, ensures cohesive and effective collaboration across all managerial functions.
Creating benchmarks for success and measuring progress
Big City Volleyball’s primary goals over the next 3–5 years include expanding into new markets while continuing to innovate, collaborate, and find creative ways to introduce our programs to new audiences.
To measure our progress, the organization focuses on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:
- Participant growth across all programs
- Expansion into additional facilities and geographic areas
- Retention rates for both players and coaches
- Engagement metrics from our marketing efforts
By holding ourselves accountable to these benchmarks, we ensure that Big City Volleyball continues to grow while staying true to our mission of providing high-quality volleyball programming for all ages.
Big City Volleyball is expanding into Pickleball from Youth Classes to Private/Group Instruction, indoor and outdoor. To build interest, they’ve created an email sign up on the website to get notified when registration opens.
“A successful pickleball venture requires a balanced approach that integrates superior facility management, a diverse range of program offerings, and dynamic community engagement. Optimizing facility usage by incorporating multi-sport programming during off-peak volleyball hours is essential. By continuously adapting to player needs, you can maximize both participation and revenue, ensuring that your facility not only meets the demands of pickleball enthusiasts, but also achieves sustained financial success,” shared Walker.
We look forward to the launch of this new program, and following the impact of Big City Volleyball.
Big City Volleyball (New York City, NY) is a member of the Junior Volleyball Association, a nonprofit organization that 100% focused on improving the junior volleyball experience for Club Directors, Coaches, athletes and fans.
