How the US Volleyball Community Keeps the Ball Flying

The jerseys arrived first. At a school in Nairobi, Kenya, players pulled on customised kit and got back to work: serving, passing and defending on their own court, under their own coaches. The story stitched into that kit begins half a world away, in Austin, Texas.

It says a lot about what the US volleyball community has been building this year. Coaches, college players, professionals and partners, all finding their own way into one movement. This is what that looks like, in their words and ours.

One conversation in Austin

Jerritt Elliott has led the Texas Longhorns for more than two decades. This year he opened a different kind of door.

Elliott introduced Alpha School to the movement. Alpha School stepped up as a partner and adopted eight schools in Kenya through Adopt a Team. Customised kit followed. So did a visit.

In May 2026, the AVCA Ambassador Tour brought 15 participants to Nairobi, hosted by Bring It Promotions, local project leader Trailblazers Elite Foundation and LKTBF. The photos from that trip tell the real story.

For the players it is simple and huge. New kit. A packed court. A program that keeps its own standards and writes its own story. For Alpha School it is a partnership with faces and names attached, not a logo on a banner.

Alpha School invests. Trailblazers Elite Foundation leads on the ground. We are honoured to play our part alongside them.

Coaches who build people first

Ask a great coach what they produce and you rarely hear about stat lines. You hear about character. Leadership. Young people who leave the gym stronger than they arrived.

That belief powers the 1% Movement: athletes, coaches and brands committing 1% of their time, revenue or resources to grow the game where access is hardest.

The coaches movement launches in the USA with 14 confirmed founding members. Dani Busboom Kelly at Nebraska. Kevin Hambly at Stanford. Matt Ulmer at Kansas. Keegan Cook at Minnesota. JJ Van Niel at Arizona State. Charita Stubbs at Arizona. Erin Lindsey at Santa Clara and many more will be announced soon!

For a university or club program, the commitment is small and the meaning is big. One percent. A slice of time, a clinic, a share of a camp. The shape is yours to choose.

Their reasoning matches what coaches everywhere already know. We develop the next generation of athletes and the next generation of humans. Stronger players. Stronger people. A better world for all.

Voices from the Outreach Tour

Manaia Ogbechie and Virginia Adriano play college volleyball at the University of Nebraska. Antonina Serafinowska competes for Arizona State. All three joined our first open Outreach Tour, thirteen participants travelling to Tanzania in May 2026, and came home with stories worth hearing in their own words.

Their stories sit alongside voices from professional athletes across the globe, including USA national team stars Jordan Thompson and Chiaka Ogbogu.

The Outreach Tour blends volleyball, travel and community impact. Participants train, play and connect with clubs and schools that are building their own volleyball future. Every player who joins comes back as a bridge between two communities.

For athletic departments, these are the athletes everyone wants to develop: players with perspective. Their teammates hear the stories. Their coaches hear them too. The game gets bigger.

Pros carrying the ball

On pro volleyball courts across the USA, impact ambassadors connect the professional game to the movement: Logan Tom, Jordan Thompson, Ryan White, Viola Tonello, Kimberly Drewniok, Allison Jacobs and Iga Wasilewska are just a handful of the names involved.

The commitment runs deeper than titles. Ryan White now serves as Head of the GURU Project, Viola Tonello as Head of the Outreach Tour and Logan Tom as Director of Connections. All three are Fingerprints, our volunteers, shaping the work from the inside.

Their reach matters. When a professional athlete tells this story, young players listen. So do the adults who run the game.

Through Ace with Impact, aces served in partner leagues, including the Japanese and Italian pro leagues, trigger investment in Adopt a Team. Elite volleyball powering grassroots volleyball, point by point.

Partners who play their part

Partnership looks different for every organisation. Slunks adopted a team, then dropped a limited edition shorts run in a unique African design: 100 pairs at 100 dollars each, sold out within one minute. The same pairs went to the kids on their adopted team and to every 1% Movement member.

Bring It Promotions adopted a school in Tanzania, and founder and CEO Tim Kelly explains why in a testimonial worth any coach's time. They also co-hosted the AVCA Ambassador Tour in Nairobi.

Alpha School chose depth: eight schools, customised kit and a growing relationship with the communities behind them.

Three partners. Three routes in. One shared standard: communities lead, partners build alongside them.

What the US volleyball community is building

Momentum, measured in people. Fourteen founding coaches in the 1% Movement. More than fifteen schools adopted through US-driven partnerships. Twenty-eight Outreach Tour participants across the first open tour to Tanzania and the AVCA Ambassador Tour to Nairobi and many more programs and brands interested to join.

Fundraising follows trust, never the other way round. What we are building with American coaches, athletic directors and club leaders is a working relationship. Shared standards. Shared stories. Shared courts.

Some will join the 1% Movement. Some will adopt a team. Some will simply pass this article to a colleague. All three grow the game.

Coaching produces great players and great people. That work should never stop at the gym door. The US volleyball community is proving it does not have to.

Your first touch

The ball is already flying across the USA. Here is where you can take your touch:

• Join the 1% Movement. Commit 1% of your resources to grow the game worldwide.

• Adopt a Team. Connect your program, club or business to a team with a name, a place and a story.

• Bring an event to your calendar. Ace with Impact and Outreach Tour events turn competition into connection.

If this article reached you as an email attachment, that was deliberate. It travels the way the movement travels: coach to coach, teammate to teammate.

Not sure which route fits your program? Connect directly with our US Operations Director Jessica Celigoy at jessica@lktbf.org and start the conversation. We will keep the ball flying together.