"Our drive is our passion - Our caring is our strength"

Announcement

Highlands Ranch U14 Girls Volleyball team to lead the 45th AAU Nationals opening ceremony in honor of their teammate Zoe Anderson who passed away at the start of the season.

Our Spikes™ U14 team, also known as Zoe's Team, has been selected to lead and carry the torch at this coming Saturday opening ceremony of the AAU 45th Girls' Junior Nationals Volleyball championship in Orlando, FL. where this year 2670 national and a few international teams will compete.

Zoe's teammate and best friend, Leah will carry the torch in Zoe's memory.

The Spikes™ volleyball organization is extremely touched, grateful and honored by this thoughtful gesture from the AAU and the Walt Disney World® Resort.

Zoe's team

Leah Roseberry (1) Libero, 12 years old

Maggie Willis (3) Middle Blocker/Hitter, 14 years old

Caroline Wolf (4) Left and Right Side Hitter, 13 years old

Mckenna Maloney (5) Opp. Hitter, 14 years old

Molly Metanias (6) Opp.Hitter, 13 years old

Cameron Lindahl (7) Setter, 13 years old

Acelyn McGowan (9) Opp. Hitter, 13 years old

Gaby Page (10) Defensive Specialist, 14 years old

Hannah Giampietro (12) Defensive Specialist, 12 years old

Gabriella Placide (14) Right Side/Middle Hitter, 13 years old

Juliette Guglielmo (17) Setter, 13 years old

coach Pasky and coach Blase.

WEATHER: PRACTICES, Games and clinics running as scheduled

Dear Parents,

In the Spring of 2015, former Head Coach of the Australian Women’s National Team and decorated Division 1 US College Coach, coach Blase Czerniakowski, joined me and the JumpStart® Volleyball Academy to offer 3rd to 12th grade young athletes, from true beginners to almost accomplished players, an effective, high quality and high tempo volleyball program with a real competitive edge. A program that runs non-stop, all year long, in an 8 or 10 weeks session format, with practices scheduled away from school activities and the all important homework.

Born from genuine passion for the game our Academy has one main objective: to help its young members make the best MS & HS school team possible, at a fraction of "club" costs whilst staying in the competitive arena.

JumpStart® Volleyball Academy operates under a very unique and exciting philosophy. We strongly believe that the game itself should be first and foremost enjoyable and not as so often seen at beginner or early Level 1: frustrating even infuriating to players, coaches or spectators alike. For that reason we have created the MTT™ concept which works alongside the Spikes™ Color Headbands ranking where focus is placed solely on helping new and not so new players acquire and develop the necessary skills to play volleyball well before being involved in league or teams. Our MTT™concept stands for:  Move – Talk – Touch.

• Move:  we run our drills at a very elevated tempo, encouraging and helping even the most reserved and unsure player to join in and enjoy the physical aspect of the game.
• Talk: or as we call it the 3 C’s. Communication, Communication, Communication. This is probably the most important part of the game. Letting your teammates know of your position and intentions. Our drills demand that players express themselves vocally at all times leading to some very surprising but positive results.
• Touch: bump, set, spike, toss, serve, hit. Development of volleyball skills is directly linked to the number of touches on a ball that a player makes within a 90 minutes practice session. Because of our high tempo and small size practice groups the player’s touch ratio is simply unmatched.

Years of experience coaching at all levels but especially beginners and level 1/2 have taught us that 6 on 6 league game play is mostly counter-productive and slows the learning process dramatically.

On the other hand our MTT™ concept put the same players in fast and exciting 2 on 2, 3 on 3 and maximum 4 on 4 game play environment with many variations. More space on the court, fewer players to communicate with, more ball touches and most importantly very little hesitation time resulting in less so common and frustrating  “mine or yours? Oooops too late” instances. We also encourage our experienced and established players to join in these games, serving both as mentors and tutors. Didn’t we all learn so much faster by trying to copy and match our peers? Coaches bring technique and structure to drills but there is no better and exciting learning substitute than watching and playing with the "stronger" or “older” girls.

Finally, when the time comes to first enter our Elite team and later our Spikes™ team environment, players, coaches and parents alike acknowledge the fact that team practices are actually true team practices with very little of that precious time spent on individuals’ tune ups.

In the upcoming 2018/19 season, our travelling Spikes™teams will compete only in a few local tournaments and privately organized scrimmages  against club teams. These will serve as preparation to the 46th AAU Girls' Junior Nationals, the world largest girl's Junior tournament with in excess of 2400 teams competing and with over 600 college coaches and scouts in attendance. This 2 weeks event is held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports and the Orange County Convention Center Orlando,FL the second half of June.

The JVA (Junior Volleyball Association) and AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) are at this time our Academy sole affiliations, and because of our deeply rooted philosophy the height of a player will NEVER be prioritize over talent, work ethics and attitude.

Except for the JumpStart® Elite, the non-travelling and the travelling Spikes™ teams, there are no tryouts to enter the academy, but spots are very limited. JumpStart® Volleyball Academy will always strive to be second to none in terms of practice quality, time and value.

I invite you to compare our coach's credentials, practice time per $ spent, our actual teams' past and actual seasons videos/results, to read the "on the record" parents and players testimonials on the above testimonials tab but more importantly to watch your child's red cheeks and smiley faces after an hour and a half of practice. I am confident that you will find our Academy to be your first and most likely your one and only Volleyball home.

If you wish to see your young athlete experience our academy first hand? Don't hesitate! Come along for a free practice session. Just email me for availability/booking: pasky@jumpstartvba.com

Kindest regards,

Coach Pasky

Spikes™llc CEO and Head of the JumpStart® Volleyball Academy

These fine organizations make what we do possible. Please show your support to these amazing sponsors and thank them for their commitment to our academy. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Email coach Pasky to receive your sponsorship proposal package: pasky@jumpstartvba.com