A handful of girls on the Varsity volleyball team are spending their off-season playing club volleyball under a coach with collegiate coaching experience.

Mayfield head coach Rosella Glodkowski volunteers her time to observe this coach. She said, “What I hope to gain by observing [Edinboro University head coach Missy Soboleski] is to see what [her] main focuses are on fundamental skills and what [she] focuses on for strategy during games and how to improve my knowledge of the game.”

From a coach’s standpoint during the off-season, Glodkowski recognizes that the work should not only be put in by the athletes, but also by the coach herself as the betterment of the team is a priority that can turn out as a result. She said, “I would definitely recommend high school coaches to shadow different clubs if they have the opportunity. Someone is always doing something different or better than what you’re doing and I believe it’s up to us as coaches to be able to take the time to learn, be humble about what you’re doing and not think that you know it all, because there is always area of improvement if you are willing to learn.”

Abby McCartney, a varsity player for four years, agrees with her coach. She said, “I think that there is never enough that you can learn about a sport and especially how to coach that sport to younger children so I think that it is really good that she does that.”

Coach G., as some of the girls refer to Glodkowski, continues to work outside of school with some of the girls on her school team. She also said, “Some things that I can take back to our high school for our team are the pace of practice, breaking down more of the skills fundamentally of footwork, arm swing, timing, and how to effectively communicate certain skills better.”

Glodkowski’s effort often goes into preparation for the upcoming school season. She said, “I plan to continue to review notes that I’ve taken throughout the season of watching [Soboleski lead] a team and applying the essentials that I feel are the most impacting for a program one skill at a time and then incorporating the strategies into the offensive and defensive skills.”

McCartney supports her coach shadowing another team and coach. She said, “Us players love to see that Coach G. obviously puts in a lot of work by coming to all the [club] practices.”

On this, Glodkowski said, “I also think it’s healthy to be able to see what your players are doing in the off-season so that there is always that continuous communication so that it is not forgotten by the time the following season rolls around for them to be able to perform.”

Glodkowski also stresses the importance of volleyball as a game and how it relates to her own personal growth as a coach. Following some of her volunteer experiences, she said, “What motivates me to continue to volunteer for volleyball is the passion and the drive to always want to get better at it and never stay stagnant but always wanting to be able to do more and be better.”

Also, in a volleyball sense, she acknowledged that the year round athletes can gain more as opposed to strictly school season players. “The more contact that they can have on the ball, the more they can hear what they need to improve the better they’ll be as long as they are willing to apply the different techniques,” she said.

Sarah Bernsdorff is another athlete that plays under Glodkowski and the club she visits. Bernsdorff said, “Girls serious about playing volleyball should probably workout a lot and play [Junior Olympics] volleyball in the off-season,” further explaining the advantages for year round athletes.

“Without Coach G.’s experiences with other coaches,” said Bernsdorff, “I think our practices might be run a little bit differently.”