Badger Region announces Coach, Club Director of the Year; Meritorious winners named
Thursday, May 21st, 2020
The Badger Region participates in the AVCA Region Affiliate Partner Program (RAPP) to provide resources and recognition for our members, and with that comes the perks of sharing in the AVCA awards program. This is the second year of the Badger Region awards program, which highlights Badger Region Coaches and a Club Director of the Year for their accomplishments and impact made on their teams, within their clubs, and the greater volleyball community.
Despite much of the 2020 season being lost, two new awards were created, the Net Works award and the Innovation Award. The Net Works Award is being given to coaches/club directors who have demonstrated selfless acts this year and shown leadership at their club, community, and beyond. The Innovation Award recognizes coaches/club directors who have found creative ways to connect with their teams/clubs during the shutdown of activity.
Nominations were received throughout the month of April and then reviewed by an awards selection committee consisting of one staff member and four Badger Region board members. Winners names have been shared with the AVCA for consideration for National Level awards and publication.
We are proud of not only all the winners mentioned below, but everyone who was nominated this season! Congratulations!
Club Director of the Year
Josh Price (Juniors Volleyball Clubs)
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“A family man first, Josh Price continues to give outside of his family in so many ways. Giving his time to the betterment of others is just what Josh Price does. Josh is a father, a husband, a coach, and a mentor, and friend for every coach, athlete, and parent alike in our organization.
“Although most people know him as ‘Coach Josh,’ his role within JVC comes with tremendous responsibility and his sage advice is sought out for every move our organization makes. If you have ever seen Josh coach you know what his demeanor is like and he brings that same levelheaded approach to help make critical decision for hundreds of athletes every year. Methodical, considerate, empathetic, firm and fair are a few of the character traits Josh brings to the Directorship of JVC. He shares responsibility for the direct development of our coaches and assisting in the development of our newly appointed directors, he’s directly responsible for all of our on-court programs too. He could step into any role in the directorship and often does.
“One would wonder where Josh finds time for more leadership in his life after all of the things mentioned above … but he does. Last year he took Wilmot High School’s volleyball team to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in in 20 years! He isn’t just coaching there, he’s changing the culture and he is very familiar with that process in his role as a Director of JVC. Imagine balancing 600-800 different personalities every year and that doesn’t even include the work he has to do answering to our customer, the parents.
“He’s a friend to all, he’s an amazing father and husband, puts others first in every aspect of his life and still comes to the leadership table with the ability to help make the decisions to make our club stronger. Everything Josh does is around helping people, almost every day, and he does it with a laugh and a smile on his face.”
Girls 14U Coach
Alex Moe (Wisconsin Juniors 12-1s)
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“Coach Alex Moe’s contagious passion and love for the game of volleyball and coaching makes him an obvious choice for one of the Badger Region’s Coach of the Year Awards. Moe is a leader in our gym, not always with strong words but definitely always with his actions. The 12-1’s team was tops on the court at the 12’s level before COVID-19 took this promising season from Alex and his team. Their team took first at a Juniors Freeze Fest, Winter Classic, Junior’s President’s Day Tournament, and took second at Rockin’ Rockford! A definite testament to the work they all put in under his charge.
“Assistant Coach Kyleigh Block says ‘Coach Alex challenges his team allows them to work through failure and struggles, and is their BIGGEST cheerleader when they struggle then grasp a skill. Quite honestly, I thought coaching 12s would only be teaching them skill, but he goes above and beyond to teach them to also be good leaders on and off the court.’ Afterall isn’t that what coaching is? Helping people reach their full potential when they had no idea as to what that would look like, on and off the court? It is and that’s what Coach A. Moe does!
“During COVID-19 Alex has continued to develop his team with video chats, challenges, and focusing on how to get through this rather than why it’s so bad. Great Coaches know and teach to “control the controllable” and that’s what Coach Moe is doing. He’s done videos of him completing the challenges, group chats with athletes and parents keeping them informed and positive, and has helped our entire club with his positive energy and forward-looking outlook.
“ He continues to develop what I call ‘The 3 Self’s’: Self Esteem, Self Confidence, and Self Love.” His commitment during what could very well be the most difficult and different time in these young ladies lives one thing has been consistent, Coach Moe!
“Alex sets himself apart from others coaches by attending a high percentage of positional nights even when his team isn’t practicing. The importance of this is that it is imperative, and he knows it, that he start teaching the correct fundamentals early on. Coach Moe make his knowledge and development a priority and it shows with his team. His on and off court self-development is what every Director should expect from every one of their coaches.
Girls 16U Coach
Allison Silveira-Haworth (360 Volleyball Academy 16-1s)
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“Allison Silveira-Haworth has been involved in volleyball for decades as a high School player, club player, collegiate player (University of Oklahoma), club coach, high school coach and NCAA official scorer. Her knowledge of the game is excellent, and yet she continues to always look for new opportunities to learn. As a coach, Allison is outstanding at the art of push and pull. She pulls kids in with her sincere and caring attitude, and with that buy in she pushes and motivates kids to go beyond where they thought they could. Allison is a leader in our club and is always willing to help coaches who are less experienced. This season, her team is 9-3 in Badger Region Power League and has consistently been in the gold bracket in all of their tournaments.
“Finally, Allison is a person of high moral character who holds herself to the highest of standards on and off the court. Her players see her as a great role model, someone they know has their best interest at heart, and that it is always about players and not about coach. Allison’s dedication to education (she holds a PhD in meteorology), family (she is married with three kids), and the sport of volleyball truly makes her an outstanding candidate for this honor.”
Girls 18U Coach
BJ Le Roy (Spiketown USA 53073-17s)
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“BJ’s Le Roy’s primary goal for the girls was always to instill a love of the game and they just happened to become some pretty incredible players along the way. He has also talks to all of our coaches so much about the game — about coaching, about strategies. When we had to take a couple weeks off because of snow storms this year, he helped put together a coaches-only meeting to discuss practice strategies and have open discussion about the game we all love. That is dedication for not only his team but for club as well.
“He’s given a lot to these girls. I hate the way the season has come to a halt for them. They had something pretty incredible going and the Region Championships were going to be fun to watch them shine.”
Boys Coach
Alec Birz (Southport VBC B16-Blue)
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“Alec understands what it means to be the leader of a boys team and coach them from the ground up. Last year, he worked with the the Southport B15-Blue team, which finished third at Badger Region Championships and middle of the pack at the Club level of BJNCs. He moved up with the team this year and helped them earn a USA Bid to BJNCs (and his team was ranked third in the the Region heading into Badger Region Champs). Alec is the first person in the gym and the last to leave. He makes an extra effort to stay late with athletes to make sure that they each get the attention they deserve. (This comes as part of his character, as Alec is a special education teacher in Kenosha Unified School District.)
Alec’s team bonding events (a rarity in the boys world) are hysterical and bring everyone — including parents — together on his team.
“During the COVID-19 crisis, Alec (to date) has called me three times to check in and see how my family and I were doing, and to ask if we needed him to do anything for the club.
“Alec Birz has taken on additional tasks within the club such as assisting with scheduling, billing/finances and being a member of the coaches advisory panel that Southport uses to bounce ideas off responsible coaches before rolling them out to the staff as a whole. He is also an advocate of additional learning opportunities and has taken to using things such as journals and video playback to help his players improve. He then shares these learning opportunities with other coaches in the club, as he is looked up to by not only his players but by other coaches within our organization.”
Net Works and Innovation awards
Net Works Award No. 1: Kevin Scopoline (Madison Elite)
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“One week before tryouts, another local club in Madison decided to not offer volleyball for boys this season. Kevin Scopoline wanted to make sure that all boys that wanted to play were given an opportunity to tryout. This included a free tune-up clinic prior to tryouts. He then obtained enough space and staff to hold tryouts anticipating a large turnout. After a great turnout, he secured enough coaches and court time in order to field seven boys teams. This was in addition to 19 girls teams. This enabled 69 boys to play, many of which would not have been able to play.
“To ensure the boys had a good experience, Kevin allocated time for his director of player development, former Olympian and college coach, Rod Wilde, to work with the boy’s teams. Even with a shortened season the teams had a great deal of success. There were two gold championships, five silver championships and one bronze championship.
“Kevin has always believed in having the best coaches as possible. When Badger Region hosted a CAP certification in early December, Kevin reached out to his coaches to see who was interested and available. He then paid for nine of his coaches to attend. This was in addition to him renewing his own CAP certification.”
Net Works Award No. 2: Casey Price (Juniors Volleyball Club)
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“Casey Price is a great leader. Casey loves coaching youth volleyball. She is positive, enthusiastic, supportive, knowledgeable, patient and a clear communicator. She brings fun and energy to the practices and tournaments. I feel comfortable coming to her and asking for advice.
“During the Covid 19 suspension Casey, who is also a director at Junior Volleyball Clubs has been the lead in putting together a Zoom meeting every Thursday night for all of the members of JVC that would still be in season, including one with Olympian Kerry Walsh-Jennings. She coordinates all of the speakers and presenters and then runs the zoom meeting. It has kept our JVC members engaged throughout this time.
“Casey is our youth development director as well. She works tirelessly in our community working with grade schools to bring camps and clinics to their site. One of her biggest events of the year is our FREE youth clinic where we have had 200 plus kids that have never played vball come to the gym for the first time.
Innovation Award: Emma Kane (Wisconsin Blaze)
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“Wisconsin Blaze (which has 12 teams) had its most successful season to date with eight tournament championships, eight second place finishes, two third place finishes and three silver bracket championships. Emma’s leadership with 18 coaches and over 120 athletes was critical to our on-court success. However, her leadership and positive energy during the pandemic were truly remarkable. She engaged with coaches and encouraged them to host Zoom/Facetime meetings with their teams. She also created the Blaze Volleyball – Work from Home initiative on our website (http://www.wisconsinblaze.com/teams/volleyball/). This webpage featured information from the VolleyON campaign and the Art of Coaching Home Drills & Skills Tracker Sheet as well as a compilation of our own skills videos and training tips. She even delivered volleyballs to athletes that did not have their own at home to use during the quarantine. Emma focused on engaging our volleyball athletes to keep them motivated and connected at a time of social distancing through our website, social media and Zoom/FaceTime calls with their coaches.
“She is passionate about coach development and creating a “team” environment among coaches. In addition to the coach meetings for Blaze that she plans and leads, she ensures our coaches complete the necessary coach training and SafeSport requirements.
“In addition, Emma was instrumental in starting the Wisconsin Blaze Boys Volleyball program in the 2019-20 season with two boys teams. Emma also created and coordinated the Blaze Beach Volleyball league to give our community’s volleyball athletes another avenue to develop their all-around skills. She also coordinates and coaches our Blaze Volleyball Youth Skills Training program including one on one, small group and large group sessions. This training program is active at the Blaze Sports & Fitness facility year-round. Finally, with Emma’s leadership our program hosted our first ever club volleyball tournaments.
“Finally, Emma is thorough, organized, caring and extremely knowledgeable. She approaches every conversation and project with the utmost care and professionalism. Emma not only expects excellence for the Blaze organization, but most importantly wants excellence for our families, the community and for the love of the game.”
Meritorious awards
The Badger Region has named its recipients of the Robert L. Lindsay Meritorious Service Awards. Those honored with this year’s award include Dave Bayer (Milwaukee Sting), Teague Pritchard (USAV official), Shane Reid (MSOE men’s volleyball) and Eddie Zelhofer (WVC, adult player)
The award recognizes those individuals who have contributed greatly to the sport of volleyball on a regional level. The USAV Meritorious Service Award is in recognition for “contributing outstanding participation, motivation and other services in the promotion of volleyball.”
Individuals who are given the Meritorious Service Award are eligible for other awards from USA Volleyball, including the prestigious “Friar Award.” The award is named after Robert L. Lindsay, the eighth president of USA Volleyball (1980-1984) and a former regional commissioner.
Meritorious 1
Dave Bayer
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Dave Bayer is the Operations Director and Girls Program Director for Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club. Bayer has been instrumental in the success and growth of programming for Sting and the Milwaukee Sting Center. The MSC hosts a myriad of events including but not limited to camps, clinics, tournaments, high school summer leagues, Special Olympics, Badger Region Qualifiers/BRPL/BRYFVL. In addition, he is always looking for ways to make the Milwaukee Sting coaches better and improve the volleyball landscape in the region.
Meritorious 2
Teague Prichard
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Since he began as an official, Teague Prichard has been a student of the referee position and has advanced his USAV rating to Regional and Junior National. He also officiates NCAA women’s and NCAA men’s volleyball at the Division III level. He has actively recruited and mentored volleyball referees in the Madison and surrounding, areas. Pritchard has also acted as a Referee Rater at many of the Badger Region Championships.
Meritorious 3
Shane Reid
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Shane Reid has been a staple in Badger Region for many years as a player, coach, high performance coach and even national champion. Now the head men’s coach at MSOE, Shane has done a yearly boy’s clinic for the Badger Region and gets his college players to see the joy in working with young athletes. Reid oversaw numerous Badger Region High Performance teams over the past decade. In addition, his West Allis Lightning 18s team won the National Championship in 2012. He has a great demeanor on and off the court and has presented at the Boys Coaches Clinic two times.
Meritorious 4
Eddie Zelhofer
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Eddie Zelhofer has been involved with Wisconsin area volleyball since becoming a member of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh men’s club volleyball team in the mid-1990s. Now a web developer and marketing director, Zelhofer is a member of the Wisconsin Volleyball Conference advisory board and is one of the tournament directors for the massive Waupaca Boatride Outdoor Volleyball Tournament. Zelhofer has participated in numerous USA Volleyball Adult Open National Championships, finishing as high as second place with the Wisconsin Great Lakes team. He was also an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh men’s teams that won the NCVF Championships throughout the last 15 years. Zelhofer is always quick to volunteers his computer savvy abilities and general tournament knowledge to anyone who is in need. He is a great liaison to the Badger Region adult volleyball community that we are proud to have worked with for many years.
