FOUNDER

Coach Sam enters his 21st year coaching volleyball across all ages and skill levels. His wealth of experience teaching and playing the game gives him unique insight and perspective into player’s growth and development. Coach Sam believes in a player-centric approach to the game. The physicality, athleticism, and background of each athlete is different and his coaching is derived from the understanding of his player’s differences – this context enables him to tailor his coaching to the player and create a culture that puts players first.

Prior to starting Virginia Volleyball Academy in 2017, Coach Sam was the head coach for a variety of programs in the DMV area including COT, Volleyball MD, Dulles (Grit), and VA Juniors. Having coaching experience from the U12 to U18 level, he helped coach several players to various NCAA indoor and beach programs. From 2011-2014, he was also a coach with CHRVA’s high-performance programs well.

Additionally, Coach Sam has experience coaching at the collegiate level. He was an assistant coach for George Mason University’s Men’s Volleyball (D1) in the 2015 and 2016 season. In his first season, the team went on to finish 2nd in the EIVA conference. In his second season with the Patriots, the team won the EIVA conference and placed 5th at the NCAA Men’s D1 Volleyball Championships.

In 2023, Coach Sam was the Assistant Coach for Marymount University’s Women’s Volleyball (D3). The team won their conference championship that season to advance to the NCAA tournament.

At the high school level, he was the girls varsity volleyball head coach for Bethesda-Chevy Chase high school from 2015-2018. Within a year of leading the program, the Barons broke a three year streak of losing records with an outstanding 14-7 season. The 7 win increase was the biggest in MCPS in 2016. Each subsequent season since has broken the school win record. In 2018, his high school team was undefeated in conference play, and won the division title. In 2019, Coach Sam stepped away from the high school program to spend more time with his family.

After 3 years of varsity volleyball at Thomas S. Wootton High School, Sam began his coaching career his Freshman year of college. While at Thomas S. Wootton, he won the County Championship (2002) and also played club at Maryland Volleyball Program for four years. Sam has had success playing in the USAV Men’s circuit, including being named MVP in 2011 and a 3rd place finish at nationals in 2015. Sam still plays competitively with USAV and enjoys playing 9man volleyball and sand/grass doubles over the summer.

Coach Sam is IMPACT, Safesport, PCA, and BCAP 1 Certified

Coach Sam lives in Gaithersburg, MD with his wife Rita, daughters Chloe (5) and Kira (1), and dog Lexi. His goal is to create a club where his daughters can grow to learn and love the game by making meaningful connections with the people in it.