What's in a Name?

By Chris Beerman

The excitement of making the jump to the club world was quickly met with the task of figuring out my first moves and getting organized.  The most interesting, and in some ways difficult aspect to this career change, was working out of a home office for the first time in my adult life.  No longer was I waking up, driving into the office at a university, working all day, then heading into the gym around 3pm to train my team. That had been my life for 20 years and for the first couple weeks that sudden change was a huge and scary adjustment.  In addition, I also needed to convert one of the rooms in my house into working office space and buy new office equipment.  Once the office a.k.a my dining room (who really uses that room anyway?!) was set-up and I settled into a new daily working routine,  I felt much more prepared to go to work and tackle the initial tasks of the start-up. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this venture was that I was in the middle of club season coaching for a different club!  I was very upfront and respectful with the club director and with the other club directors in town and made sure they knew this was not some kind of hostile takeover.  I wanted to offer an Elite level club and hoped we could all respect each other’s situation.  I did however want to begin the process of developing the club as soon as possible, so I made a very long to-do list and with the help and wisdom of the Munciana guys, set out to begin laying the foundation for the club. 

At the top of the list and seemingly a simple thing, but yet very important, was naming the club.  The name of your club is something you cannot change once it’s announced, so getting it right the first time is paramount.  Being a subsidiary branch of Munciana, some form of the name Munciana was considered, but in the end I wanted the club name to represent what I believe our mission and philosophy represented.  I believed that Lexington had tons of potential, but needed to be united in our club cause.  Uniting became a recurring theme for me and hence, "Lexington United Volleyball" became the name.  The letters "LUV" also ironically had great personal meaning for me because one of my main philosophies and teaching points as a coach is love for the game, teaching kids to respect the soul and history of the sport and appreciate how it’s played.  It takes a tremendous amount of technical skill, cooperation, discipline and mental toughness to play this game at a high level, and the players need to embrace that fact and “LUV the Game”! 

Once the name and philosophy was in place, I set out to lay the foundation.  Some questions I asked were: What kind of programs will we offer? Where will we practice? Who will our coaches be? What kind of pricing will be established? How will I begin the process of spreading the word about the club?  Munciana is famous for being an all-encompassing club model, offering a variety of volleyball programs and we wanted to share those same ideals with the Central Kentucky region.  I decided we would have an Elite team program as the foundation, with a Regional 10 and 11 year old program, and a grassroots program for 6-9 year olds.  In addition we would offer in-house camps, satellite camps, clinics, tournaments, private lessons and recruiting education. 

Before the next step however, I needed to have a way to disseminate information to the masses.  The great thing about our modern culture in regards to a start-up like LUV is the inexpensive social media and website opportunities.  I created a Facebook page and used free online software to create a website, and with those outlets, as well as mass email blasts to coaches, I was able to post immediate club information to everyone and on a massive scale.  I was off and running, but now I needed to get to work on answering the where, who, what, and how of my long to-do list to make sure we would be a successful and viable club in year one.

From the beginning...

By Chris Beerman


My name is Chris Beerman and in late February of this year, I received a call from Tim Kuzma, the business manager with Munciana Volleyball Club inquiring if I’d be interested in a club expansion concept that their ownership group was considering.  I had just completed my 3^rd year as Assistant Coach at University of Kentucky and my 20^th year overall as a collegiate coach.  My time at Kentucky was very successful and a lot of fun.  The ability to work with my friend Craig Skinner at a great institution and coach incredibly gifted athletes made for a dream coaching situation.  But after 20 years, my head and my heart told me I was ready for a new challenge. 

I have never been a fan of “easy”.  Instead, I prefer to challenge myself.  I’ve always felt that an individual grows grow so much more as a person by taking the hard road and pushing yourself to be better.  Since I played at Ball State and my wife, Marybeth, was an alumnus of Munciana, I have been longtime friends with Mike Lingenfelter and Wes Lyon and greatly respect their success and the excellence Munciana represents in training volleyball players on and off the court.  The proposal was for Munciana to expand its’ club to Kentucky, and they targeted me to direct the start-up and run the club in Lexington.  Why Lexington?  Well, Mike Lingenfelter grew up there and Tim’s daughter played at Eastern Kentucky University right down the road in Richmond, so both were very familiar with the area and felt a new, all-encompassing club could work in this city.  Why me? Wes, Mike and Tim felt that after three years of coaching in the Lexington, I had the right mixture of local knowledge, coaching experience and respect within the community.  They were also very familiar with my personality and felt I would be on a mission to make the club a success from day one, matching their competitive goals.

I always believe things happen for a reason and this opportunity just felt right for many reasons. I would be able to direct a club and promote my philosophies in coaching, training, developing, and mentoring young people.  I would also be able to coach the coaches and establish a more organized grassroots method of introducing the great sport of volleyball to the youth and their parents in Central Kentucky.   In addition, I would be able to continue to coach and be around for my daughter Kendall, who is currently a freshman, and my son, Jackson who is in the 7^th grade.  Spending time with my children and watching them compete in their respective sports through their teenage years is very important to me and something that was becoming more and more difficult for me to achieve as a collegiate coach. 

Obviously the hardest part of a life decision like this is putting an end to what had been my career throughout my entire adult life.  I have so many wonderful memories of winning championships, working with incredible, young adults, competing every day to make my program better, and establishing meaningful, lifelong relationships.  The other factor that was critically important in this decision was whether I would be able to financially support my family.  I was taking a leap into the unknown. Fortunately, I have never been motivated by money, and after examining the situation my wife and I felt we were positioned to make this career move work.  I also knew the club’s success or failure would hinge on my expertise and work ethic, and I felt confident that my competitive nature would lead me through this venture as it had in my previous career.  You’re either standing still or moving forward, so after much consultation with my wife, family and coaching colleagues, I decided to become a full-time club director in the city of Lexington, KY.  I was excited and nervous, but completely energized and ready to learn.

A Prelude to the Blog

By Junior Volleyball Association


This blog is entirely designed to share the personal experience of Chris Beerman in his first year as Club Director of Lexington United Volleyball. LUV (Lexington United Volleyball) is currently in it's first year of operation. 

Prior to entering the realm of club volleyball, Chris was a 20 year DI collegiate coach, most recently an Assistant Coach at Kentucky, and prior to that he was the Head Coach at University of Pittsburgh and James Madison University.  

In collaboration with Munciana volleyball, LUV (Lexington United Volleyball) will be an all-encompassing volleyball club for girls in the Lexington, KY area. It will provide team volleyball opportunities for all ages (4-18) and competitive levels as well as lessons, camps, tournaments and college recruiting education.

Through a series of posts, Chris will depict his experience as Club Director of a brand new volleyball club in hopes that it may educate others looking to do the same, while sparking dialogue to share ideas, challenges, and successes along the way.

Chris shares the same vision as Junior Volleyball Association which is to promote the growth of youth and junior volleyball.  This blog is one channel that JVA hopes will serve as a resource to all club directors, aspiring club directors, and passionate educators in youth and junior volleyball.  To view more resources and education provided by JVA click here.