Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:00:00):
The big thing with coaching and, you know, being the leader and the director is just knowing that, you know, you're not for these kids. You, you're not just their coach, you know, however you're carrying yourself, whatever you're saying, whatever your body language looks like, like they're watching you, you know, and you have to kind of almost think of yourself as, you know, the role model for them because they, they're eager to learn the sport and they're listening to every word you're saying. So why not take that with everything else about yourself in front of them, you know, because they are watching. And if they'll, they'll see like, oh, my coach, like he'll or she does that. She slumps her shoulders when she makes mistakes. No. Will turn and start yelling at herself and start yelling at her partner. So why can't I do that kind of thing, you know? Right.
Mark Burik (00:00:52):
Hey everybody, and welcome to the Better at Beach Volleyball Podcast. My name is Mark Burik, and today we have a really cool guest, and I think a lot of you coaches, club directors and people who are thinking about starting your own beach volleyball club are really going to love what we're going to talk about. Because our guest today, Heidi Lynn eus Boatwright, is she just started her first junior's beach volleyball club. So she had what some of you might not have when you're starting a club, but she had a very, a big audience to start because Synergy is also a really strong and well run indoor volleyball club. So she had the audience, but they wanted to add a beach volleyball club. So if you are interested or thinking about starting a club, or you just want to hear about somebody else's experience in having that club built, what they're looking for, how they're running the business and sign up and coaching side of it, this episode is going to be great for you.
(00:01:57):
So we're going to get started in just a minute. I just wanna make a few announcements. Remember, our camps are rocking and rolling October, November, December, January, February. We are also scheduling all of our clinic weekends for the winter of 2022 and the spring of 2023. So if you wanna bring us to your facility club or even your backyard, hit on over to bitter beach.com/clinics. If you wanna spend seven days with us at a resort playing volleyball all day long, having fun, learning, partying, meeting new friends, and connecting with people around the world, then you wanna head over to bitter beach.com/camps. Uh, if you love this episode, when we're done, go ahead and like it, give it a rating, share it with somebody who you're thinking about starting that club with, or who you know is in the same situation. And if you want a free drill book, we have a free beach volleyball drill book. It's our 36 favorite drills, okay? And you're gonna go to better beach.com/free beach volleyball drill book. Okay. Free beach volleyball drill book, and you can find that and get our 36 favorite drills. That's it. We hope you enjoy that. All those links are gonna be included in the show notes. So without further ado, Heidi. Hello. Hello.
(00:03:20):
How you doing? Good. What did you do today?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:03:22):
Oh, what's your daylight
Mark Burik (00:03:23):
Today? It's 11:00 AM
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:03:25):
It's, uh, I woke up pretty early riser and try to get some quiet time before my kids wake up. Uh, we do homeschool, so before the hustle and bustle of things, um, I like to get my quiet time in, get my peace and quiet while I drink my coffee. It just consisted of feeding the kids. My son had an online class, a math class, and then just doing odds and ends and getting ready for the school year. We actually, um, haven't officially started, started school. We don't start school till next week, but the online classes for my son has started. So just trying to gear up and get ready for the school year. And then also we have our Fall beach program, um, registering, um, going, so I'm trying to get all that registration going and getting ready for this Sunday's practice.
Mark Burik (00:04:15):
Okay. Yes. So your full-time mom, full-time teacher, and now a full-time beach volleyball club director? Yeah, that's, I , I don't know how crazy you might be trying to wake up early to get to get some time before that, you know, but I'm now more than ever, I'm actually embracing exactly that. I'm looking at my hours and I'm saying if I have two hours to myself in the morning, my whole day is just somehow better. I can attack things without any disturbances, without any worries, and I, and I can actually get up and breathe. And by the time I get to my first activity, I feel like, okay, I'm not rushing anymore. And then all my activities feel better. Exactly. So I'm actually waking up way before I used to and way before I have to. Yeah. It's just making all the tasks so much easier and more energetic, which is weird.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:05:08):
Absolutely. I definitely agree with you, especially with, you know, those of, um, you that have kids. And like I said, it's just the co the hustle and bustle of in the mornings and before that happens, you wanna just have, get ready to conquer the world kind of attitude with that good cup of coffee and be ready to, all right, what do my kids need today? You know, and , um, it definitely, it's, it definitely helps cuz those days when I do wake up late and I feel like I have not gotten that peace and quiet, it's just, okay, yes, I can do that. Yes. Okay, what do you need? What, you know, it's just
Mark Burik (00:05:41):
, right? It's always, everything feels back to back rushed when you don't have that little chunk of time before anything else.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:05:49):
Just that little chunk of time makes a huge difference, for sure. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:05:53):
, how early do you wake up before the rest of your household?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:05:56):
By like five 30 at least. My husband wakes up way early. He wakes up at like four 30, so he's up already. And then if I can go back to sleep when his alarm goes off, then I'll be up by, I have my alarm set at five 30
Mark Burik (00:06:09):
. And when, when your kids wake up, like when do your,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:06:11):
We have a rule. They, they're usually early risers as well, but we have established a rule where if they are up before seven, they gotta stay in the room till seven, read a book or do something and let mom and dad have their coffee time before they are able to step out of that room. ,
Mark Burik (00:06:27):
I like that. I like, yeah, I like setting rules, setting boundaries, and then you're, I mean, you're gonna be better parents for it because I don't know, for me, at any time I feel rushed. I feel like I just don't do a good job at whatever I'm doing.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:06:40):
Yeah. I think with anything for sure. And it's just high stress and then that energy rubs off on the kids and then it's just chaos.
Mark Burik (00:06:49):
. Yeah. I like your coffee time. And it's, it's funny cuz right now, maybe right now, so my brother just moved out to Hawaii. Um, he was a fireman for 20 years in, in New York City, and him and his wife started a coffee company, a coffee roasting company. So they roast their own comp, uh, coffee in Hawaii and they have me, I signed up, I I pay full price, you know, I'm like, it's my brother, of course I'm gonna support this business. And so he says me the exact amount of coffee that I need for my month every month. And, uh, he makes all different flavors and he roasts it uses different beans. So he's like, tell me every time, tell me like what you like and what you don't like about the flavor. And he's now gonna make for our company a volley brew or like a bet beach brew.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:07:33):
That's
Mark Burik (00:07:34):
Awesome. Yeah. It's gonna have like higher caffeine content. Uhhuh so that for people who like wanna fire themselves up before practice Yeah. Or before a performance, it's gonna be centered around that and it's gonna have a, a little bit of a lighter flavor because most people are beachy. Yeah. So kind of excited about that. And, and if anybody wants fantastic coffee, it doesn't support me, but it supports my brother. And he's a great guy. He's a hero. He was at nine 11, he's a firefighter. It's a great company and, and he'll treat you right. So if you want to check it out and get coffee at your doorstep, go to tradition coffee roasters.com.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:08:08):
What island are they on?
Mark Burik (00:08:10):
They're on Oahu. They're in, I think in Kailua. Nice. Awesome. Um, they they loved that move. They're so, I bet so happy. Yeah.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:08:17):
New York too. Hawaii. It's just . It's a big, just a lifestyle, right. Lifestyle team. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:08:23):
, you legitimately feel like you're in Jurassic Park, like just driving on the Hawaii or on the highway, you're just like, what the
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:08:29):
Heck? What's going on? I mean, that's where they filmed it. So Yeah. Yeah. Out there. So
Mark Burik (00:08:34):
You wake up about an hour and a half, right. Be before your kids. You collect your mind. Do do you do any business or tasks for the, for the club during that time? Or is that just a time, literally for you to sit and inhale and exhale
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:08:48):
? Um, no. Both inhale and exhale. And if there are emails and like you said, tasks or things I need to get done for the business, yes. Those are usually the times that I will tackle them. But then obviously throughout the day, like I'll get replies or things like that from the people who aren't up yet . So during the day, you know, I'm still tackling all that as well, but from that morning, I like to get as much as I can done to be able to get, stay focused, um, on my kids for their homeschooling time and then get back to it a little bit maybe in the evening.
Mark Burik (00:09:26):
I'd like to, I, if you don't mind, I'd like to go to the very beginning of Synergy and their decision to start a beach club because I know that there's so many, I have friends in, in Long Island and all of a sudden, you know, I moved out to California to pursue beach full-time and I just started seeing little beach volleyball clubs pop up piece by piece. And some of them had similar to, I think, and, and you can correct me if I'm wrong to, to what you had, where they, some clubs started on their own, but some clubs started with a built-in volleyball audience from indoor mm-hmm. . And they felt like they were losing players to beach volleyball clubs. And they're like, Hey, we coach volleyball, we should keep them. But then you get a lot of indoor coaches attempting to teach beach volleyball
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:10:09):
Mm-hmm. .
Mark Burik (00:10:09):
Right. And hey, I'm all for going for it, you know, and saying, you know what, if the kids are on the beach and they're touching a ball, it's gonna be good for them. But at some point you have to bring in some coach or beach volleyball expert to get those coaches working. Because some of the things that I I see being taught, I'm like, oh, you're gonna get annihilated when you go to California and Florida. Oh
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:10:30):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, just from the northern California to the southern California caliber of beach volleyball is, you know, is a big difference already. And, but yeah, you're right with Synergy. I did have the audience already and I was lucky enough to, there was a big merge. There was Moxie Beach out here who was run by Kevin McCulloch and
Mark Burik (00:10:50):
Oh, Kevin, I, I gotta get him on the podcast. We've battled.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:10:54):
He was wild.
Mark Burik (00:10:55):
And Allie. Yep.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:10:56):
And Allie. So they made a big move. And so he was looking to merge Moxie Beach with Synergy and, but, and then he knew, he found out that I was in the area and so he is like, Hey Heidi, this is what I'm doing. I need someone to take over Moxie Beach, blah blah, blah. And, um, we decided to do that. So I am, we merged the Moxie Beach with Synergy
Mark Burik (00:11:19):
And Well, how were you, what, what was your role with Synergy at that time?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:11:23):
I was not, I was not in any role with Synergy at all. Um, it was,
Mark Burik (00:11:27):
And Kevin just wanted you to take over his beach club or he wanted you to merge it with something?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:11:32):
Well, he was planning to merge it already. Okay. With Synergy. And they were all just looking, they needed a beach, uh, beach director, beach volleyball coach. And then he heard that. Yeah, that's when he heard that I was in the area and he hit me up and I was like, yeah, let's do this. That's awesome. And you know, synergy is such a, synergy Forces is a big indoor program out in Sacramento. And like I said, I already had the audience and just lucky enough to have all the admin and the people behind the scenes to do all that. So all the, all the numbers and all that stuff is really worked with them. You know, they're doing that where I am doing all the coaching and giving them tips or giving them things like, this is how beaches run, this is how things work on the beach, rather than the indoor and trying to differentiate it for them, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (00:12:23):
. Okay, so Kevin's got a beach club. Synergy's got, uh, Moxie Synergy has an indoor club. He's planning on merging Moxie into their butt. Kevin had to move away, is that right? And so he wanted somebody to take his program over as it merging. Like he needed a caretaker for the girls that, that he built up. Is that kind of Yeah,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:12:43):
You wanna, you know, you get so attached to your players, you don't wanna leave them hanging and you wanna leave them with another person who he, you know, that he knows that he can rely on and knows the game. And so luckily that was me that he, uh, contacted. And for the most part, we do have a lot of, um, some Moxy girls and then now it's becoming a lot of other players transitioning from indoor or even trying it out, trying to beach game. And because it's such a new program. And we, like I said, synergy Forces is all indoor. So we had a lot of summer clinics, so there were a lot of indoor players trying out for the beach. Right. Figuring out, okay, is this something that I like or, it was a lot of indoor players in the beginning. Okay. And so now as we are transitioning into our fall program, it's still a little bit of indoor, but more of the more experienced beach players. Does that make any sense?
Mark Burik (00:13:39):
Yeah, absolutely. Synergy. Does it have its own building, its own facility as far as an indoor or is it one of those clubs that kind of uses rents? Different gyms?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:13:48):
I know it's called The Grounds and it's out in Roseville. It's um, Sacramento. And honestly I have not, I have not set foot in it yet, but I mean, I hear it's spectacular. I hear it's huge. And a, a lot of the tournaments, the big tournaments are held there and that's where all the other practices are held as well.
Mark Burik (00:14:04):
What's the process of, for those, for people who are somewhere anywhere and they wanna start a club, but they're like, man, I like beach volleyball, but there's only one court there in that park. There's that one court that like old Mr. Jones let us use in his backyard. Yeah. Uh, where are you guys practicing with your club?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:14:23):
We were in for the summer, we were over at Sierra College. Okay. Who, they have four courts and they have um, a beach volleyball program as well. But now because of fall, you know, they'll be using it. And so now we are transferred over to a place called Harry Crab Park, which has four courts available as well. And I know there are a few other clubs out there that use that park. And so it's just trying to find time and to reserve the courts and making sure we have them for the sessions.
Mark Burik (00:14:51):
Okay. Did you land on those? Were you already using those or did you have to contact the college and say, Hey, we'd like to rent this and then contact what, I guess like the city parks department Yeah. On today we'd like to rent this.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:15:04):
Yeah. And I believe Synergy has used Sy Sierra College Courts and Harry Crab and Kevin as well has used them. So I had that network where they already knew Synergy and Kevin and think to help with that process.
Mark Burik (00:15:19):
Okay. So you don't have your own built home, but you have the, the places where you train
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:15:24):
No . Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:15:25):
Yeah. That
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:15:26):
Would, that would be great. Right. really
Mark Burik (00:15:28):
Nice. But then, I don't know, I think the finances end up going heavily towards, you know, you can choose to be a, a juniors club, but when you go for like adult fours and Sixes leagues, it's, there's a lot of opportunity there. And I agree ,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:15:43):
I see that a lot, you know, especially out in Texas and other states that how they run these beach facilities, beach volleyball, court facilities and all these leagues that they run, I'm like, man, that sounds so fun.
Mark Burik (00:15:54):
. That's so fun In Salt Lake City, the, the sandbar there. Wow. I mean it's every night there's hundreds of people in their facility and it's just four sixes and they even still run twos, which to me, I mean for beach volleyball makes sense, please. Right. Keep doing that. But like financially, you're thinking like, well I could get four or five people per team, or I could get six to eight people per team. Right. That might, might make more sense there, but these are all lessons and conversations that I have to have cuz I'm, uh, planning on building my own facility, uh, in Chattanooga. So I'm looking forward. Ooh.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:16:28):
Uh,
Mark Burik (00:16:28):
Yeah, they don't have a facility there. They have like a hungry outdoor crowd. So I've seen a lot of beach volleyball facilities around the world. I've seen the ones that are really successful. I see the ones that struggle and I, I know the differences I'm looking forward to to starting that next, next chapter.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:16:44):
That's amazing. Isn't Chattanooga the school out there, do they not have a facility out there? They
Mark Burik (00:16:50):
Do, they do. Okay. But, um, I'm all about, uh, , this is gonna sound, I'm all about control
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:16:58):
,
Mark Burik (00:16:59):
So Yeah. I'm, uh, started my own company cuz I'm not very good at at answering to too many people.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:17:06):
That's why most people do it. Right. Yeah. Company. That's awesome. Well, that's
Mark Burik (00:17:11):
All right. So if you were to start that from, from scratch, then I guess you would, what do you have to do? You have to look up the parks department permitting section and then say, Hey, this is what we're doing. And then they need insurance. Right? They need to know that you're a business.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:17:24):
Yeah. Business. They gotta go through all the insurance and, and then just liabilities and all that stuff. Waivers, their parents and players and all that stuff. Yeah. Same with the college and I guess anywhere that's not yours, right?
Mark Burik (00:17:40):
. Yeah. It's funny because I think a lot of people who are considering starting a club considering, uh, you know, even a beach volleyball or indoor, they're probably thinking will, I don't have have courts. Right? That's gotta go through so many people's minds. And, and I've seen really successful clubs in Oslo, like Oslo Volley mm-hmm. in Norway. This is a, this is a pro team that I played for. So we had like our big gym, it was rented from a giant school and then all of the like adult wreck and juniors clubs, we were, we were renting from churches, schools calling everybody. And it was all different. It's not easy cuz you're always practicing like you're here, you're practicing downtown on Tuesday and you're practicing like north of the city on Thursday, but hey, if you can find a place to rent, then there you go. You get to do what you want to do. And then if you build that up and you find that it's successful, all right, now let's get proof of concept and then if you wanna get your own facility, go ahead.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:18:33):
Exactly. Yeah, I guess that's the challenge, right? Is finding that consistent, uh, court rental and or even the, the rental fees that are, that will work for your budget that you're trying to do. Right. Because sometimes, you know, depending on the court rental fees, it's, it can go up and down on how many players you're gonna have or what you're charging and all that. .
Mark Burik (00:18:53):
Yeah. Okay. So you have an indoor club and you, and now the powerful indoor club is starting a beach club or or taking over a beach club. How much friction is there? Cuz I bet there are indoor coaches that love beach and they're like, yes, I coach indoor, but oh my God, if I could just coach, like start the beach volleyball program, but how do I approach the director? How do I approach the owner and say that I want to take a bunch of the girls from indoor, you know, and maybe they get too interested in beach and they, and they lose interest in indoor. What does that process go? Like? How are, how are you getting along with, I guess I'll say the indoor side of the club?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:19:29):
Well, I would, well that's a funny question. I feel like I, I am in good, uh, standings with them so far just because it is still brand new. Right. And we, the players that I do have are still playing indoor. I don't have fully committed just beach players yet.
Mark Burik (00:19:51):
Okay. So you haven't stolen any I have like full out yet,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:19:55):
No, not yet. And but I do have players who, you know, have expressed that I'm not playing indoor or, um, I wanna go beach full-time. And so it'll come. I'm sure it'll come and it's just, I mean, I, I would think as a coach it would suck to lose like a really good player, you know, on your team. But at the same time as a coach, you gotta feel, okay, I gotta do what's, what they're, what they think is best for them. Um, if that makes them happy, you know, then go for it. I think as long as a coach is just, you know, looking out for the players and making sure the players are making the right decision for themselves and are genuinely happy for what the players are doing, then this shouldn't cause too much friction.
Mark Burik (00:20:41):
. Yeah, I, it's so hard. That's a tough question because you can care for an athlete or a young person in a couple different ways, right? You can care for them in saying, Hey, they have a real shot in export and they're progressing this way. Right? And then they express for a little bit, maybe quickly, maybe all at once or maybe gradually that they're kind of, they're falling in love with another sport. And then you can support them in two ways. One of them is supporting them and saying like, Hey, I think I know what's best for you. Like, I can see it objectively here it is, you know, you, you wanna stick with indoor, trust me, you got a real shot here and beach is brand new and there's a lot of competition coming about. Or you can support them in what they like, what they're enjoying, you know, what in that moment is gonna make them happier. But you have to know as a parent that sometimes that temporary happiness is not really what's best or, or what, what they really think it's going to be.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:21:38):
Right. It's, it's a hard jump. And I, uh, in the past, not just not with this club, but in the past, you know, the older players, you know, they played club for so long and they've put in so much time into club and parents put in so much money for, um, indoor club and then come their junior year, you know, they fall in love with beach and, and they wanna stop playing indoor, you know, and as a parent you're like, wait, what with, uh, all this time and money that we put in into indoor club, like, what are we gonna do? And all this. And it's just, it is hard. And I think for, in my experience, uh, seeing the parents and the players, how they communicate is just, okay, well what opportunities do you have right now for indoor? What opportunities do you have for on the beach?
(00:22:29):
And what opportunities might come up, you know, on the beach if we do pursue this? And is it what you want? Right. As far as say they wanna play for a school? Is it the schools that you wanna play for? Is it beach that you just wanna do? You know? And I think it's just a lot of communication and a lot of figuring out for the young. And of course you wanna make sure that it's, it's the athlete's choice, right? And it's their choice and it's just because once they choose that, then that's their motivation and they push themselves on the beach or they'll push themselves in the indoor.
Mark Burik (00:23:04):
And of course there's some, there's some sway. I mean, I don't know how people are gonna react to this, to this mindset, but you can guide them to a choice that becomes theirs, you know? And that, that happens every day. Oh, yeah. Uh, where you're saying like, it would be nice, I didn't think about what, what you just said, where you can diagram and say, okay, you know, here's what you want to go to school for mm-hmm. , right? Like your education and, and here are the locations where the schools that you think you can get into and you want to go to. So let's start writing down, you know, who's got indoor, who's got beach, at what level does that match your level? And then say, look like you wanna go to school for engineering and none of those schools have a beach program.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:23:45):
Exactly. So
Mark Burik (00:23:47):
Do you wanna play
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:23:47):
Or what, because beach volleyball is such a, a really growing at a rapid pace. There's so much more colleges now that starting their new program, but are cross-training, so are are looking for indoor and beach players. So, okay. So maybe that's something you can do too. Maybe you can play both in, in this college, you know, and there's just, there's so many avenues I feel like because beach volleyball has opened up that these girls have opportunities now. More opportunities to take,
Mark Burik (00:24:17):
It's interesting to think about beach volleyball in college because I started playing beach volleyball in college, but completely under my own control. There was no team, there was no uniforms, there was no anything. Right. Like every weekend, at least spring, summer, fall, you have those, you have the ability to play a tournament on your own. Mm-hmm. , you can find a coach, but then you could say that about any sport, right? You could say, dude, you could go play baseball anytime you want. There's an old man softball league, you know, like down, like you don't need to play in college. But there, there is some, I don't know, honor, pride, appreciation that comes with representing your school and being a part of that program.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:24:54):
Oh, totally, totally. Absolutely. Yeah. I played for, uh, university of Hawaii Indoor, they didn't have a beach program when I played. And I can just, if there was a beach program then God, that would be a, that would be amazing. . I'm so still prideful of the bows and represent the bows all the time. So Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:25:13):
And you feel connected to, you know, even to the current team, you're like, you know, I'm connected to that. That's kind of like my legacy. Even if you ne you haven't met anyone on the current team, it's, it's important.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:25:21):
Absolutely.
Mark Burik (00:25:22):
Okay. So you haven't you haven't stolen any players yet, yet, so you haven't yet made any of the coaches mad. Maybe now they're just worried.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:25:32):
Probably .
Mark Burik (00:25:33):
Yeah, I know these, I mean, these are tough questions. They're, they're gonna come up and this
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:25:37):
Is, they'll
Mark Burik (00:25:38):
Come up, this is a conversation that I hear a lot from, from indoor clubs. Like, none of my kids wanna play indoor anymore. Yeah. You know, or of course, and we can get into this, the, oh, they're gonna play beach and they're gonna get terrible habits.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:25:49):
No .
Mark Burik (00:25:52):
Okay, so you're on my side, . It's like, you mean they're gonna get, um, 14 times as many touches on volleyball and I actually learn how to read and move more athletically and do all of the skills at once. Oh, you are worried about their hands being a split second slower than an indoors hands. That's what you're actually worried about
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:26:14):
. Or you're worried oh, you're worried that they'll not overhand serve, receive, because they, you know, don't do that on the beach night, man.
Mark Burik (00:26:22):
It's, and what's the problem with that anyway? Like, if you, if you can pass nails with your platform full-time, why do you even need overhand serving in, in indoor?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:26:31):
I know. Ugh, I'm so glad you're on the same page. But yeah, , yeah, it, it's crazy how, uh, some coaches, some indoor coaches can think like that, but I mean, in every aspect of the game game, your court awareness, your ball control, your speed, your jump, and it's just, you know, it's crazy. It will just put, put you up in a level on that indoor game so much
Mark Burik (00:26:53):
And think about the strength, the mental and emotional strength that they're gonna develop because they now can be cud on, they can be targeted for an entire match and receive every ball and they have to learn how to survive that emotionally and psychologically. There's, you can't get subbed out. Nope. You know, so you can't be like, oh, thank you coach for saving me because that girl was targeting me. You know, you can't be like rotated out of, out of a serve received. No, they can't set anybody else. Yeah. To me there's a huge strength building and you know, it doesn't build confidence in that moment, but it teaches, it teaches you adversity when you're being targeted and you still gotta sit there and fight through it.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:27:33):
It def Yeah, exactly. And you, it's still gotta fight through it and figuring it out for yourself. Like, okay, you may not fight through it that game, you may suck the entire game. Right. But then it's, again, it's figuring out for yourself, okay, what, how do I get myself out of this rut? What do I need to do? And, and then the next game, like you'll be able to figure out little things that'll help you and maybe you won't be in that rut for so long. You know what I mean? And or you can get yourself out of that rut way quicker than you did before. And it's just, it's knowing yourself, being more self-aware and what you can do for yourself to help you get out of that. And I think it's definitely such a big character building, um, for, for the players. And I think it's huge and being, being advocates for yourself on the court, you know, instead of looking at your coach or something or, you know
Mark Burik (00:28:30):
Mm-hmm. , you know, it's, it's interesting cuz cuz you can parent in a, in a couple of ways. You can coach in a couple of ways where you're constantly trying to protect, protect, protect. But I don't know, when I'm a parent, I, I hope I let my kids struggle a lot. I, you know, I wanna see them go through stuff. I wanna see them not be able to untie a knot and just sit there and watch , you know, without untying a knot for them. Like, Hey, you wanna play with that? You gotta figure it out.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:28:55):
Yeah. No, I definitely agree with that. I think that has a lot, uh, to do. Not just volleyball, like you said, just in life in general. Those kids are gonna struggle with a lot of things and as a parent it's, you know, you gotta find that balance on when you do step in or when you have to step back and let them figure it out.
Mark Burik (00:29:11):
What was the hardest part of your first year running a club director? What were the things that you really want to get rid of or mistakes that you made? Um, or, or just was super difficult but you know, that that's gonna exist forever? .
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:29:25):
Yeah, I think for the first this year for our summer clinics, I mean I had, we had numbers and we had coaches, but we did not have enough beach coaches, you know what I mean? So there were some synergy indoor coaches that wanted to help and learn the beach volleyball game and help coach. And I don't think, I did not give enough time to those coaches in instructing and making sure that, you know, they're using the same lingo or the same, um, just the same techniques that I would, that are taught on the beach versus indoor. Cuz there were just different conflicts on things that they were saying or where I would have to step in and kind of steer it the other way. And I think I would, if I had indoor coaches come again, then I would, uh, do with just, uh, a day with them or two on clinics, you know, like a coaching clinic with them for sure.
Mark Burik (00:30:27):
We spend a lot of time, uh, with that with coaches cuz seeing a lot of clubs, seeing a lot of, uh, the way people operate, coached in a lot of clubs and teams, and I 100% know that a major difference in successful clubs and not so successful clubs is the fact that they actually have one person whose job it is to create the curriculum and ensure that people are, are sticking to that. Yeah. Because some of the clubs that I see just kind of flounder along one year they'll be successful one year they're not. Right. Is all of the coaches have completely different practice plans are, are given completely different keys mm-hmm. year to year, their kids like learn a, a big chunk from, from one coach, and then the next year they go to a same, a different coach in the same club and they're learning a completely different set of words, vocabulary, everything.
(00:31:16):
So there's no actual progressive step-by-step learning mm-hmm. and to learn something, then you learn something new and you have to become accustomed to that. What we do at Better Beach is we, we say like, Hey, here's what you do for the first 25 minutes of your practice. It's laid out. It's from handshakes and high fives to first names, to pairing a new player with an experience player turning on the radio. We have a very specific playlist. Yeah. Like you, we have a process that says this is what we're doing. And then we give them the practice plans within those practice plans, making sure that they know the specific words and terms because then they actually have written assessments on them. Right. So I say, Hey coach, if a player's with you for two months and, and they're in the classes and they can't pass our level three assessment that's on you, that's not on them because it means you're not repeating this stuff enough. Yeah. Uh, but that, that was a big friction point in the beginning because you're taking people who already have experience coaching and playing and they have their own vocabulary. Yeah. To me is the boss is the director and you can, you can riff on this for a while as the director, it's, it's your job to make sure that everybody's on your page or the clubs page not doing their own thing and going rogue.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:32:33):
Exactly. Yeah. No, I, I definitely agree with that. I think, you know, we, I had the, the practice plans and things laid out for them and I think also it's hard to find, you know, someone who's similar with your coaching style as well. You know, um, you can't, you know, everyone has different ways of, you know, uh, I don't know. I guess coaching and coaching
Mark Burik (00:32:56):
Personalities.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:32:57):
Personalities, yeah. And, you know, I'm huge on making sure the kids, the kids that you know, are, have good, are gaining confidence. Mm-hmm. , you know, that's my main thing is make sure that we're not staying or doing things that are making them feel dumb or are making them have any sort of self-doubt. You know, and it's just the constant, um, positive, positive talk, positive reinforcement. And it's the give them something, a positive feedback and then give that, uh, correction, you know, make sure you're giving them, Hey, you're doing this really well, but let's see if we can try it this way. You know? And it's just the way you talk to them, how you word things can really get
Mark Burik (00:33:43):
Perceived. I mean, , it's funny to say that like so many people are so self unaware. Like you might think that you're coming off as funny when a lot of other people just look at it as snide. You know, like, yes, your buddies have laughed at you for the last 20 years, but then everybody knew, or even young people or like Yeah. , you know, so it's, it's important for somebody, you have to approach this in a nicer way. You have to be either a little bit more joking, way less sarcastic. I think sarcasm, I struggled in having to get rid of that being from New York. It was my first language. But as a coach, you know, near impossible. You, you, you see the immediate shutdown and if you're not aware of what somebody looks like after you say something, it doesn't go, you know, if they roll their eyes and they turn. So, um,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:34:29):
I agree. It's, um, I think for me, the big thing with coaching and you know, being the leader and the director is just knowing that, you know, you're not for these kids. You, you're not just their coach, you know, however you're carrying yourself, whatever you're saying, whatever your body language looks like, like they're watching you, you know, and you have to kind of almost think of yourself as, you know, the role model for them because they're, they're eager to learn the sport and they're listening to every word you're saying. So why not take that with everything else about yourself in front of them, you know, because they are watching. And if they'll, they'll see like, oh, my coach, like he'll or she does that. She slumps her shoulders when she makes mistakes. No. Will turn and, and start yelling at herself and start yelling at her partner. So why can't I do that kind of thing? You know? Right.
Mark Burik (00:35:22):
Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah. They'll, they're monkey see, monkey do for sure.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:35:25):
. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:35:26):
Yeah. I also think that that's crucial in development weekday the coach is the weather on the court. You know, like this can be a really rainy, cloudy, cold, crappy day. Mm-hmm. because you showed up with, you know, straight lips and you didn't give high fives before the practice. You didn't make sure you knew everybody's first name. You didn't pair up the people who should be paired up, you know, to, to keep that emotional balance on the court. Mm-hmm. if that coach and, and I got that from gold medal squared, like the coach creates the weather in the gym.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:35:57):
I like that. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:35:58):
Right. So you, you have to know when you walk into the gym, your vibe is going to be injected immediately into the girls vibe.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:36:07):
Yep. That will set the tone for sure. Yeah. It won't definitely set the tone for that practice. Yeah. Yep.
Mark Burik (00:36:14):
I used to get so mad, um, at, at some of my players because I was like, why aren't they succeeding at this? You know, I do an overcomplicated drill that was way beyond their comprehension in terms of rotations and failure. And I set like a hundred in a row, you know, like litmus test. And I was like, you're not getting it. Instead of I picked the wrong drill.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:36:33):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:36:34):
I picked the wrong goal, I picked the wrong drill. And now like I've set them up to be filled to fail. So I've set them up to be frustrated and then I get frustrated because they're not succeeding and then they're frustrated and they're not succeeding cuz they're frustrated. And that's a bad circle. We coach our, our coaches a lot to say, Hey, when things aren't going right, rotations aren't going right. You say, time out, not you guys aren't getting this. Yeah. Oof. Forget that. That is, our coaches get like two chances to say that . And then, uh, if we hear about it, it's, it becomes a serious talk. But it's not, you guys aren't getting this, uh, you're just not getting it. Cuz then you, you give failure to everybody. It's time out. I'd rather do something else. Everybody take water. Hey, I found something I'd, I'd rather work on.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:37:20):
Exactly. And
Mark Burik (00:37:22):
Then you could flip it instead of saying, you're not getting it now. Everybody feels like a jerk on the court, you know, and they're yelled at and now you've uh, quote unquote dumbed down a drill for them and they know that mm-hmm. instead of, Hey, oh you know what, sorry guys, I'd rather do this. Mm-hmm. like, okay, coach is being crazy. Flip poppy again, but
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:37:43):
. Exactly. Or, or even just admitting you know, that, uh, you know what I, this drill like I didn't realize was too advanced. Or not even too advanced, just
Mark Burik (00:37:55):
I would caution,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:37:56):
Don't advance this, this drill isn't working right now. Let's try this drill and then we could try the drill a little bit later. Kind of, kind of thing. But I mean, just you admitting your, your mistakes too in front of them is they'll get a kick outta that
Mark Burik (00:38:12):
A hundred percent . You know, and that, that allows them to call time out and, and whatever problems they run into and be like, I might have chose the wrong thing, but it's okay cuz all I do is call time out. Restart it.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:38:21):
Yeah. You learn from it, right? Yeah, exactly. .
Mark Burik (00:38:24):
So do you think the answer, like if you could, you know, if you had the infinite time, but you know that you have part-time coaches, do you create a one hour meeting a week? Do you create a one hour practice a week where you actually run your coaches through the drills and you have a coach, one of your student coaches or somebody who works for you, be in charge of that? Or is it like 20 minute huddles before each practice day and say, this is what we're working on. This is the only thing you guys should comment on today because this is what we're working on. You shouldn't have 90 different pieces of feedback. The whole gym should hear three pieces of feedback this entire day. You know, what would be your favorite design for that? Or would it be like online courses? Like we, we send our courses to clubs and we say, this is how you coach in beach. What would your ideal, if you could create
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:39:13):
It be, I mean, ideally meaning that I, I would be there at least at infinite time that I would be there for these practices and for the sessions is I would like to meet before maybe the 20 minute, half an hour before this session. So it's fresh in their minds and I'm there and just letting them know, Hey, this is what I wanna work on. This is what we're focusing on. These are the three things and these are the goals that I want. And this is, you know, the lingo that I want to use and let's make sure that we're always smiling and that we're positive. You know, and it's just super fresh in their mind before they get going. And we start our session.
Mark Burik (00:39:52):
I like leaving a little time to say, at, at our camps we do this a lot cuz we have like 10 coaches at our camps mm-hmm. . So, so, so I'll, I'll look at everybody and go, how do you coach this? And I'll pick out what I think would fit with our program. Yeah. Or I'll get like some phrase from somebody who had one of our coaches who said like the silliest thing for kids, but he used it for adults too, when, when you're, uh, serving. He said hamburger, no french fries. That's how he said, don't hit the ball with your fingers when you're serving. And I was like, I've used that ever since. This has now been six years of me using hamburger, no french fries, you know, . And it's like, okay, like make sure your fingers aren't touching it. Cause you see a lot of people spike and they try to like grab it when they spike and there's no pop on it
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:40:35):
Using that
Mark Burik (00:40:37):
perfect. You know, and, and if I'm not there at that practice and I'm not engaged and watching my coaches and how they teach, I don't pick up a really valuable tool. And I don't get to add that to our future book because now that's written in all of our manuals. No. It's like, this is a great way to explain this concept.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:40:54):
I know infinite time. Right. If we could, uh, just be there all the time, I would, it would be great. And to have, I like that asking the coaches, you know, what you, how would you teach this? What, what kind of lingo do you have? Or what phrases do you use? And I will, I I will definitely use that. You know, right now we, for the summer we had those coaches and then now they're all off to colleges and playing. So they were young coaches. And so now for this fall program, it is, uh, just me running the program. So, and I mean, we're always looking for coaches. So anyone in the Sacramento area,
Mark Burik (00:41:27):
The Sacramento area, and if you're moving there and you wanna coach,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:41:31):
Hit me up
Mark Burik (00:41:33):
Like it.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:41:34):
Yep.
Mark Burik (00:41:35):
So do you think, now this is something that I had to learn, but do you think now that, that you're running in your practicing, are you going to be writing down everything you say so that you can like hand somebody a book and say, this is how we coach this? Or are you gonna rely on, on meetings or what
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:41:50):
For Well, for me, I already do that. I write things and I have my, you know, volleyball notebook and I have a, I have a practice plan. I run drills. I have a book of drills that I can look and refer back to and Cool. See, you know, what drills can work. And, and I think once we do, we reach that where we do have coaches and I think I would, I would have that time before the practice and sit down with them and, and be like, okay, this is what our practice plan looks like, you know, and use your little, use your tidbit. Okay. How would you coaches, what are some phrases or what do you think how, you know, how would you make this drill any better? You know, or something like that. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:42:31):
Yeah. I like that. Like, Hey, did you find a variation that you needed to do? Yeah. , um, how do you, it completely wasn't working or you had all the beginners so you couldn't like really implement this. Okay. How did you modify it?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:42:43):
Yeah, definitely. And, and you're constantly doing that right , you can have your straight practice plan and might have not enough players or might have the numbers or the drill is not working. So you have to modify a lot and be super flexible with your practice plan. . Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (00:43:03):
. Yeah. I, I think not enough code. I've heard this from a number of people. Um, and I used to think that I was that person too until I made myself start writing everything down. I used to think I can't replicate myself, you know, like the way that I coach, even though people enjoy it, we're, we're experiencing a lot of success and like reviews for, cuz we're doing adult classes and private lessons, right? So reviews are off the charts, but I can't explain to somebody how to take a drill that I had designed for intermediate players and then modify it when instead of 10, now I've got seven players, two beginners who have never played one intermediate and three open players. And how I was able to challenge them all on the same court appropriately. Right. Like, like there's no way I just figured it out.
(00:43:48):
It's organic. It's something that you need to, you need to do on your own. And no, that can't be, I have to figure out a way to show how somebody can do it. Because if I'm gonna be a true leader or a mentor right? I have to be able to explain this. Yeah. I can't just say, just figure it out. Cause then, then you're not a quality mentor. Yeah. So a lot of what I did, I, I think I forced myself to write down. And then when I had a drill written and I didn't do it, I wrote down how and why I modified, you know, like, okay, partnered beginner with advanced player for five minutes, but then made sure I was the one feeding the advanced player when they went, you know, so that they felt challenged. Yeah. But the beginner is also doing that. And then, then the beginner gets to get coached from a better player and they feel good. There's been a lot of writing
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:44:35):
. Yeah, no, that's a great idea. I like that too because I mean, you're, you know, like I said, throughout the practice, you're, you're constantly, uh, changing and being flexible and like you said, if you have different levels on one court and how do you cater to those levels, you know? And like you said, maybe me just hitting to that one advanced player or something, and even just writing it down on how you did it and for you to go back and, and look at that, I think is huge.
Mark Burik (00:45:00):
If I died and I needed somebody to run the same practice mm-hmm. , how would I get them to do it? How would you know? And you gotta like write down so incredibly clear Yeah. To be able to make it happen and it, it costs extra time, but then the success of the club or the business, it depends on that. It depends on repeatable, repeatable systems, I
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:45:20):
Think. Right. That's, it's the golden book, .
Mark Burik (00:45:24):
Hey, what's been the hardest part, uh, with parents? You know, you don't, you don't have to give names or specific examples, but, uh, that's one of the reasons that I truly stay out of junior's coaching. I don't want to deal with overzealous parents and get three sets of emails. Now I have to talk to the kid, then I have to talk to mom, then I have to talk to dad. Yeah. Right. And when I'm coaching adults, they make money. They say, this is how I'm choosing to spend my money because this is what I love. Right. And then if they have a problem, they come to me. Great. There's no like, well your daughter looked happy. I don't know why you are unhappy. , . Um, what's the toughest part about dealing with, with parents and, and how do you handle those problems?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:46:07):
Parents, you know, I think is a big, for the juniors level, especially the indoor right? There's a big difference with the indoor and the beach clubs. Um, I think parents when they transfer or they go to beach clubs or beach programs, um, for me, I just wanna make sure that parents know that the culture between indoor and beach is completely different. Right. And the beach culture is a lot more relaxed and way less intense. Parents, you know, at tournaments, they can't be yelling at their kids on the sidelines. Right. They can't, it's basically almost, I've heard one of these players, one of my players, uh, describe it. It's almost, uh, describing it to her parent, like, mom, it's like watching a tennis match. Okay. When you watch me on a sand court, it's like a tennis, tennis match. You can't say anything. And I'm like, oh, that's a good way to put it.
(00:47:02):
You know, like, uh, the kids are just more, uh, they are more out there to advocate for themselves rather than parents, you know, yelling at the refs, how was it? And that was out or touch, you know, how that indoor, uh, mentality can be. And I, I wanna, I make sure to establish that with the parents first. Okay. And, and so far it's been, it's been pretty good. I've, so far, I've, I've had great parents for this program and, uh, they've respected that and they, you know, and they'll ask me questions here and there on rules and things like that, but it's, for the most part, the parents have been good to me, mm-hmm. . Um, but I suspect, you know, the, the more I do, the longer I do this there, there'll be a lot more, more questions and or just a lot more, why isn't my daughter, you know, getting this or that. But the, the great thing about beach is that, you know, you can't sub them out. So mm-hmm. , there's no, there's no, my daughter's not getting playing time or my daughter got pulled out when she got made one mistake. Like, why did you do that? So
Mark Burik (00:48:08):
Yeah. But then it, then it turns into why is my daughter playing with that one? She should be playing with that one. And those conversations, they're not easy. You, you can't just say like, well it's because when I watch your kid play, she sucks and that one's really good. And the player she is with is really good. Yeah. Um, she needs to show me that she's winning, that she has stats, that she has energy, that she makes a person next to her better. And that's what I'll do. And it's, you know, if you could like write down all those things, like
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:48:39):
, you can, right. These
Mark Burik (00:48:40):
Are what I take into account when I select partners.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:48:43):
Yeah. And you, you almost have to, I mean, so, so far I've had parents ask me, you know, they wanna play with their friends, can they just play with their friends these tournaments? And uh, and the program that we're running for the fall is that I have a set group of girls and I will put them in teams and we have three set tournaments that we will play, uh, throughout the program. And I will select the teams for them who to, you know, uh, the girl and partner that they will play.
Mark Burik (00:49:09):
So you, you have a hundred percent control over, uh, who your kids play with, what, how they partner. Okay. Go
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:49:16):
Ahead. Yes. And, and I already have the questions from the parents. Well, she wants to play with her friends, you know, is she gonna be able to play with her friend and is she gonna be able to play with her? She, she vibes really well with them and, you know, and I've answered, you know, it's great and possibly they can play together. I have to see how they look at practice. If they gel well together, how their chemistry is, um, how they compliment each other. Maybe there might be another player on the team that will compliment better, you know, and, and it's also, we, we wanna make sure that she is able to play with multiple partners and not just one person, because that's gonna be huge So far that's the questions I've come up with. And it's, I know it's gonna come a lot more will come
Mark Burik (00:50:00):
, um, I forget which one, I forget if it was Dane Brock. Shoot. One of the big coaches that, that we had on the podcast. He said, the problem is we get to see these juniors who have played literally with the same player Yeah. For her entire four years of high school. And we, we take notes on that. We say, you know what, we've only seen her play with this person. We have no idea how she's gonna act with another player. So coaches, even though, okay, yeah. Like maybe you're winning and, and you're performing well. They actually want to see you play well with like their clips or, or their videos. They wanna see you play with different players. Wow. Because that's what a college program is. Mm-hmm. , now you've got what, uh, 12 to 18 players mm-hmm. that they have to mix you in somewhere. And if you've only learned to deal with one single personality for your entire volleyball career, you are not available for the next person.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:51:00):
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. That's, you gotta learn how to, you know, play with different players and know those personalities and how to deal with them and, and all that comes with yourself too. Right. The body language that you have towards your partner and just, it's so much, it's just a lot. It's so much more than be having to be able to play with multiple partners. I mean, cuz you, you know, once you're in college, you don't, you really don't have a say like, I wanna play with this person, you know, and coaches. And they're like, okay, I think you, you and you are gonna be paired up on this threes team. This is who you're gonna play with. I'm like, just gotta say, okay. And you gotta do, do your job. Do your job and play and win in the threes. Team.
Mark Burik (00:51:39):
tell you what, a lot on the avp, you don't have control over who you play with. , you know, sometimes just comes down the point. Sometimes you, you beg all the six, nine ERs to be like, Hey, can I play with you? And they all say no. And then you're like, Hmm, okay. , where do we go from here? , um, even federations, there are some, there's some national federations that they have full control over who their players play with. You know, USA still lets us do our thing and you sign up with who you sign up with. Right. But, um, there are even national federations that say like, no, I don't care. You're playing with them. And that's the end of the dis uh, conversation.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:52:14):
Yeah, that's true. That's very true. I got lucky. I, uh, played for the Philippines and um, I played with a partner who played on the AVP as well, and we got along great. And that was, that was a big plus .
Mark Burik (00:52:28):
Yeah. Great. Yeah. Cause you know, you, you might have been punching somebody in the chest for four years and they love it and fire them up and then the next person just absolutely loads physical contact, you know, . So like, why are you so angry? You know? And then like the way you've trained yourself to fire somebody up for four years is now completely shutting your partner off. Yeah. And now you've gotta go through that personal growth all over again.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:52:52):
Exactly. Yep. Been there. . Yep. .
Mark Burik (00:52:58):
Heidi, we only have a couple minutes left, but what I what I really want to ask is if you have any key pieces of advice or support for somebody who is starting their beach volleyball club or is just in a rut with theirs and they, and they don't quite know how to fix it from a coaching situation to parents to finding course all the problems that come with a beach program. Do you have any, do you have any advice for the ones that are struggling or, or hesitating to start or getting started and just overwhelmed?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:53:29):
Yeah, I think, I think it's, it's a process. It takes patience. You know, you can't expect it to just blow up right away or have 20 players right away in your club. Um, know that start off small first. Right. Start off small, establish that little core group and then that core group. I mean, we will talk and have social media, do your social media and it, um, word will get out. And
Mark Burik (00:53:57):
You think social media is important?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:53:58):
I do. I do. Okay. In this day and age, yes. Okay. I do. I think a lot of, uh,
Mark Burik (00:54:04):
What type of stuff do you wanna show? Like if somebody has, you know, they're, they're on Instagram, they can take a picture in a video. What should or could they show that's going to maybe generate more players next year?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:54:15):
Maybe just, you know, showing yourself coaching the camaraderie maybe that you have with the, with the girls. Um, maybe the atmosphere that you're holding. Um, maybe the fun that you're holding at the practices. Um, something that just shows, you know, the part that you wanna sell about your club. You know, that that's, that sets you apart from other clubs. Right.
Mark Burik (00:54:36):
Okay. So if you're like the grind work club, you take a video of the girls like doing sprints and vent over and tired with some inspirational music, like motivational music. Yeah. Yeah. If you're the, the friendly environment, you know, you, you show some of the fun like princess hunter bear games before the, because you, that's a bit right. You're gonna attract the people that you're showing that environment. You're gonna attract the people who wanna be in that environment. Exactly. For me, when my volleyball coach in high school was playing music in the gym Yeah. No other sports coach, head music anywhere. And I was like, that's cool. You know, like to practice with my beats on like, let's go . And that was crazy because that was a big part of me actually playing volleyball was just the fact that there was a radio in, in a practice, which is wild to think of now. It
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:55:20):
Be wild because what coach wants to yell over like music, you know, but still, it's, it's what it is. It's, you know, we do that and in the beach, I think most beach programs now all have that, all have the music and it's just the different energy that br it brings from the indoor to the beach and what kind of vibe or energy you're bringing to your program. You
Mark Burik (00:55:41):
Know, I'll add onto that little social media from just from the, the business stuff that I've learned. Always somehow invite somebody to contact you, you know, if you want to join the club, if you have questions about our trainings mm-hmm. , if you want to, you know, come and see a practice, DM me, click this link where it'll, you know, schedule an appointment. Something that, that yes, it shows. But people in social media, they don't understand this enough. You have to invite somebody to talk to you, almost like grab their hand and say, here is your phone. Yeah. Here is how you dial the phone to get my number, you know, . Yeah. Um, but those, those those calls that say we're looking for more players, we need eight more girls. Yeah. Right. Like, oh, you know what, maybe we'll we'll try it out. You know, I think that call to action becomes I important, especially on the social media stuff. So show the things that you wanna show. I act, I absolutely love that. Right. Show the parts of you that you wanna show and the people that you wanna attract will be attracted to that. And then from my side, I'm gonna say somewhere on that post or in the caption and on your profile, always say, DM us, message us, call us for X.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:56:56):
Yeah, I like that. And then make it super user friendly where they can just click and then they're there. You know what I mean? And not a lot of navigating through things, I think helps ,
Mark Burik (00:57:08):
Even if it's like a link that the, the page takes you to just a page that says, call or text us and there's no buttons or anything button. It's just like the, the big phone number that says call or text me. My name's Heidi. I'll be happy to hear
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:57:22):
From you. Yeah. I think that's huge. Yeah, for sure. , this is awesome.
Mark Burik (00:57:27):
Well, Heidi, thank you so much. Thanks for, uh, sharing your experience with all of us and, and everybody, and it's cool to see that you're whew. I mean, full-time teacher, full-time mom and, and full-time club director. That's, that's nuts. I think we're of the same heart. You sound like a workhorse.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:57:43):
. Well, it's, it's good work. You know, it's, it's fun for me and, um, you know, we coach because we love it. So Right. . Right .
Mark Burik (00:57:54):
Absolutely. Yep. All right, Heidi. Um, mark,
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:57:58):
Thanks for having
Mark Burik (00:57:59):
Talk. How does somebody get in touch with you if they're in Sacramento area, they wanna coach, um, maybe they wanna come run a clinic for your club. Nudge, nudge Bitter Beach, uh, , uh, how would they get in touch with you?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:58:11):
Um, well, I'll, through social media, we have our social media, um, page, which is, uh, synergy Beach. And then we have Synergy Force Volleyball Club, uh, our website, which you can, uh, find our website, our Synergy Beach website on there as well. And then all my contacts on there, on Instagram and on the website.
Mark Burik (00:58:32):
Amazing. Are you okay with people reaching out to you for maybe like, advice if they have a question on, on running a club or what it is?
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:58:39):
Absolutely. Advice on what you're gonna wear today? Sure. blue or red. Okay.
Mark Burik (00:58:47):
I love it. Love it. Here to serve, here to help.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:58:50):
Yes, absolutely.
Mark Burik (00:58:53):
All right, Heidi. Hey, thank you so much. Great talking to you. And, uh, good luck to see good luck with all, with all the fall activities and then help building it bigger and better next year. Yeah, it's exciting.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:59:03):
That's the goal. Grow the game, right?
Mark Burik (00:59:06):
Absolutely.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:59:07):
Absolutely. Thanks, mark.
Mark Burik (00:59:09):
All right. I have a good one.
Heidi Illustre-Boatright (00:59:10):
Bye. Bye,
Mark Burik (00:59:11):
Man. That was a cool interview. We, you know, we don't get a lot of, uh, club directors that we get to really talk with about how they're building the problems that they're experiencing. And the, the way that we're taking our company is we wanna be able to help directors and coaches design the training program and the protocols for their coaches and their teams. We have a very thick process, um, where we have our practice plans completely written out. We have our modifications all written out. If you guys are interested in looking at all of our practice plans, it's not all of 'em, but we have 53 full beach volleyball practice plans and 20 of them are equipped with videos. So you can actually see the drill and then do it. You can bring your phone to the gym, watch a beach volleyball drill, and then say, okay guys, this is what we're doing.
(01:00:00):
Line it up like this. If you wanna download that, it's better at beach.com/practice plans. If you wanna check out our practice plans, be happy to do that for you. But we're really looking, uh, to work with some beach volleyball clubs. We'd love to share what we've learned, uh, over a lifetime of coaching and, uh, creating businesses and creating clubs and healthy, healthy staff of coaches. We have manuals, we have processes, we have, you know, from minute zero until two and a half hours in, we have literally every minute planned out and what our coaches should be saying, doing. So if you're interested in having us maybe consult or mentor you or your club, I would love to work with you and help you make, you know, being a club director or coach easier and help you be more efficient and, and share some of the things that we've learned along the way.
(01:00:55):
So reach out, uh, my Instagram's Mark Burk and we can share with you all of our teaching tools as well as our practice plans, as well as our, our coaching manuals. And even if you want to have, you know, coach meetings with us on Zoom or something where we can get to, to talk through that with your entire staff as a consultant, would love to do that. I really enjoyed Heidi, and I think, I think you guys did too. She was so easy to talk to and she's got good head on her shoulders, you know, waking up early so that you're not rushed setting the weather on your court. I'm kind of on the lookout for Synergy Beach now, and I, I think she's gonna have a, a really good club. She's paying attention. So, uh, if you guys are in the Sacramento area, she said go ahead and reach out to her.
(01:01:37):
Go get a beach volleyball coaching job. No, why not? And see if you can help her. If you're interested in a little bit of, uh, extra social media tips, just let me know. Shoot me a message. And, uh, we've done a pretty good job with our social media and learned some things along the way and happy to share that advice too. This is a great talk, guys. Thanks for stopping by the Pack podcast. Thank you for your attention. And if you ever need anything, you know, we're here. You can email [email protected] or uh, you can shoot me a DM at Mark Burke and I'll be happy to hear from you. That's all from me. It's all from Better At Beach. We'll see you on the sand.