Lisa joined the JVA Staff in December 2013. She has a solid volleyball background at all levels. After completing her volleyball career at Purdue University, she served as the Student Assistant Coach followed by three seasons as the Assistant Volleyball Coach at Samford University where her responsibilities included recruiting, aiding in day to day team training, managing community service functions, and coordination of camps. In 2011 she helped guide the program to its first NCAA appearance.
Message of the Week
Message of the Week
I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!
Labor Day is a good reminder that there is a lot more to life than work. It is a day to recognize and celebrate the contributions of American workers, but it also gives us a pretty good excuse to step away for a minute, take a breath, and spend some time with the people who matter most.
And I actually did that this weekend. My family and I made our way up to Michigan and spent a few days on the lake. Just some time with my family, being outside, relaxing and decompressing a little bit. It was needed.
Of course, with all the volleyball going on right now, there was still plenty of opportunity to be a college volleyball fan.
I’ll admit, I’m a huge White Sox fan (and yes, somehow we are leading our division as we slowly make our way toward the end of the regular season), but how about college volleyball being played at Wrigley Field this weekend?
Nebraska fans continue to prove they are truly one of a kind. The amount of people who showed up for volleyball was incredible, and seeing that kind of energy surrounding our sport was pretty special. There were certainly some weather challenges along the way, and I couldn’t agree more with Dani Busboom Kelly’s comments after their match was canceled because the court had become too dangerous to play on: volleyball is an indoor sport!
But jokes aside, what an incredible moment for our sport.
I’ll be honest, I personally could have done without the dance-off. 😂 But that is probably just the opinion of an old-school volleyball player who would have much rather seen more of the history of the game, the old interviews and stories from the people who helped build volleyball into what it is today.
But watching all of it also made me stop and think about how far our sport has come. And then, of course, I came back from a few days away and was reminded pretty quickly that JVA is moving right along, too.
Our indoor event registration opened last week, and World Challenge and SummerFest both sold out in under 5 minutes.
As someone who remembers when we were trying to convince clubs to take a chance on JVA, moments like that are pretty incredible. It is humbling to see clubs have that much confidence in our events and in the experience we are working to create for their athletes, coaches and families.
It is also a pretty powerful reminder of what happens when a sport continues to grow. We have more people watching. More opportunities for athletes. More investment. More attention at the collegiate level. More fans. And moments like volleyball at Wrigley Field introduce our sport to people who may not have otherwise watched a volleyball match (or tried to).
The players competing in gyms across the country today are the ones who will continue pushing our sport forward tomorrow. Our job is to keep creating opportunities for them, and to keep creating fans.
Fans who fall in love with the game or who understand its history. Fans who show up in packed gyms. Fans who become coaches, officials, club directors, parents, sponsors, advocates for volleyball. Or those who just simply like to watch it.
Because the more people who care about volleyball, the more possibilities we create for the next generation.
So no matter how you spent Labor Day weekend I hope you found a little time to step away and enjoy it.
I know I did. And now, apparently, it’s time to get back to work. There’s a lot of volleyball to continue to build.
With a lot of gratitude,
Lisa
I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!
Labor Day is a good reminder that there is a lot more to life than work. It is a day to recognize and celebrate the contributions of American workers, but it also gives us a pretty good excuse to step away for a minute, take a breath, and spend some time with the people who matter most.
And I actually did that this weekend. My family and I made our way up to Michigan and spent a few days on the lake. Just some time with my family, being outside, relaxing and decompressing a little bit. It was needed.
Of course, with all the volleyball going on right now, there was still plenty of opportunity to be a college volleyball fan.
I’ll admit, I’m a huge White Sox fan (and yes, somehow we are leading our division as we slowly make our way toward the end of the regular season), but how about college volleyball being played at Wrigley Field this weekend?
Nebraska fans continue to prove they are truly one of a kind. The amount of people who showed up for volleyball was incredible, and seeing that kind of energy surrounding our sport was pretty special. There were certainly some weather challenges along the way, and I couldn’t agree more with Dani Busboom Kelly’s comments after their match was canceled because the court had become too dangerous to play on: volleyball is an indoor sport!
But jokes aside, what an incredible moment for our sport.
I’ll be honest, I personally could have done without the dance-off. 😂 But that is probably just the opinion of an old-school volleyball player who would have much rather seen more of the history of the game, the old interviews and stories from the people who helped build volleyball into what it is today.
But watching all of it also made me stop and think about how far our sport has come. And then, of course, I came back from a few days away and was reminded pretty quickly that JVA is moving right along, too.
Our indoor event registration opened last week, and World Challenge and SummerFest both sold out in under 5 minutes.
As someone who remembers when we were trying to convince clubs to take a chance on JVA, moments like that are pretty incredible. It is humbling to see clubs have that much confidence in our events and in the experience we are working to create for their athletes, coaches and families.
It is also a pretty powerful reminder of what happens when a sport continues to grow. We have more people watching. More opportunities for athletes. More investment. More attention at the collegiate level. More fans. And moments like volleyball at Wrigley Field introduce our sport to people who may not have otherwise watched a volleyball match (or tried to).
The players competing in gyms across the country today are the ones who will continue pushing our sport forward tomorrow. Our job is to keep creating opportunities for them, and to keep creating fans.
Fans who fall in love with the game or who understand its history. Fans who show up in packed gyms. Fans who become coaches, officials, club directors, parents, sponsors, advocates for volleyball. Or those who just simply like to watch it.
Because the more people who care about volleyball, the more possibilities we create for the next generation.
So no matter how you spent Labor Day weekend I hope you found a little time to step away and enjoy it.
I know I did. And now, apparently, it’s time to get back to work. There’s a lot of volleyball to continue to build.
With a lot of gratitude,
Lisa
