Jason Tuggle and his wife, Morgan, started Country Fire Volleyball in 2015 in hopes of creating a place where a club was about more than volleyball. Their vision was to help mold young athletes into strong volleyball players, as well as instill young players with values beyond the court, including leading, serving (teammates and community), respect and building great relationships on and off the court. What began with one team in 2015, has grown to 10 teams, and well over 350 girls and boys in indoor and beach camps and clinics. The club motto is “Team first,” and it’s how the club bases its decisions from the club, coaching and team perspective.
Community Service is a big part of playing for Country Fire Volleyball. Every 6 weeks the club participates in a new community service project together as a club. The teams clean up 4 miles of highway four times per year to give back to the community, and develop athletes who care about the environment. On average the club picks up 200 bags of trash per year! In addition, Country Fire players make blankets and donate them to local Children’s Advocacy Programs for children in their care, as well as make valentines cards for local nursing home patients, so they know someone is thinking about them. The club coaches and players teach free clinics at the local elementary schools to introduce young players to the sport. Plus, the club has fun each year building a parade float in the local Liberty Hill parade, and this year they won 2nd place out of 70 floats!
Recently, Country Fire Volleyball has gone through a massive change as the result of the JVA Mentor Program. help from JVA and Kitty Kennedy as a mentor through the JVA Mentor Program. Jason and Morgan were matched up Kathy (Kitty) Kennedy, Former Co-Director of NKYVC.
“Kitty has many years of experience that we could build off of and we brainstormed together. Through weekly meetings, we discussed our program, things that went well and things that were challenging. We utilized her knowledge and built many programs with her help,” shared Jason.
The club was doing a lot of things right, but needed assistance in certain areas. Through the mentorship, Country Fire Volleyball has changed and added many new programs.
First, we added an Advanced Skills Academy, which offers a developmental program for players that need some experience before playing at the club level, or are multi-sport athletes that don’t have time for tournament weekends. The club added added over 40 players in the ASA program to help develop volleyball athletes.
Second, Country Fire added three new age groups: 3-4 year olds, PreK-1st grade, and 2nd through 4th grade to open the door for for boys and girls to experience volleyball at a younger age. Volleyball generally starts around 2nd to 4th grade in the club’s area, yet many other sports start younger, making volleyball a second thought. All of the club’s programs are “Fire” based so a player starts at Embers, then moves to Sparks, then on to Flames, then Blaze and finishes with the high school level called “Fire”.
“Our first Embers program was a 24-capacity program in November 2022. When it filled we opened a second program, and when that one filled, we opened a third program with 72 Embers at our first camp!” adds Jason.
The club also created and expanded its beach program, offering beach for the first time during the 2022-23 year. This included a place for their indoor players to learn beach, but also open the door to create a sustainable juniors beach program and adult beach program.
“There were several processes and procedures that were behind the scenes, but the mentorship really streamlined our processes throughout the year. The only thing I would change about our mentorship with Kitty was that it would be longer! She and the JVA Mentor Program were invaluable to our club and ultimately to the boys and girls coming through the Country Fire program,” says Jason.
Jason and Morgan’s love and eagerness to learn has spread to their coaching staff. Country Fire offers reimbursement for coaches clinics, conventions and ongoing training. Jason and Morgan meet monthly with the coaches to train on various subjects and advance their knowledge. They began a PODS (positional offense and defense systems) Practice to standardize their training at a high level. A PODS Coach oversees every practice to ensure the teams train as a club in an organized manner, as well as build practice plans with individual coaches to make sure the needs of the team are met. Coaching Director, Morgan Tuggle, was recently inducted into the hall of fame at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and through Country Fire’s PODS Program, each player in the gym gets to train under her training program.
“One of our very first players in 2015 just played in the D3 National Championship for Trinity University! And another player from that same club team played in college, and when she graduated she came back to coach for us full time,” says Jason.
With the help of JVA, Kennedy and some work from the club leadership, Country Fire Volleyball has expanded its members to younger and older players, and has opened opportunities for current players to build their skill set on and off the court. Plans are laid for future growth as Country Fire will add a fourth court to their facility and expand their beach facilities. In addition, the club plans to build their girls indoor program and eventually start a boys indoor program.
“We will continually add and grow our skills academy, offering opportunities for development and growth of all players. “
Country Fire Volleyball (Liberty Hill, Texas) is a member of the Junior Volleyball Association, an organization committed to enhancing the junior volleyball experience for club directors, coaches, players, and fans.
For more information about joining the JVA click HERE. For more information about JVA Awards click HERE. To nominate your club for JVA Club of the Month click HERE.
