Meraki Travel Teams
Learn more about trying out for our travel teams. The information below is relevant for both girls and boys teams,
Why Meraki?
There’s a lot to consider when you choose a home to develop your volleyball skills and to learn and grow as a person. There are many options out there.
We strive to be honest, upfront and focused on what we can do to offer you and your family an environment to dream bigger and become better. Better volleyball athletes, better teammates, and better people in our community.
The mission of Meraki Volleyball to help our community members be the best supporters, teammates and athletes they can be.
Let’s talk about how we do this!
Who
Mac Barron - Club Director and Master Coach
Mac will be our Master Coach this season, attending practice with all teams. While also furthering the education of our coaching staff. He attended the University of New Hampshire graduating with a Sports Studies B.S and a Minor in Psychology. Playing competitively since he was able to at the age of 12, and coaching as an assistant since the age of 16.
Meraki Volleyball Director 2017-Presant
NH D1 Freshman State Champion, 2021
NH D1 State Champion, 2020 & 2021
Goffstown Girls Varsity Coach, 2017-2019
Jacksonville University Assistant 2016-2017
Dover Boys Varsity Coach, 2015-2017
AVCA Coaches4Coaches Recipient, 2016
Our Coaches
Our staff is committed to the care and development of your athlete. Collectively our coaches have decades of experience and success in the professional, collegiate, high school, and club realms. They are gifted in technical training, especially with the art of teaching. At the end of the day, it’s not what the coach knows…it’s what their players have learned.
As a LOVB club, our staff will be under the continual guidance of Jamie Morrison, our national technical advisor, who will provide resources to train and enhance our coaches skills. While our Club Director Mac Barron, handles the day to day training and administrative responsibilities.
About LOVB
We are a League One Volleyball club, where LOVB uniquely combines top ranked competitive programs with “whole athlete” development, college recruiting support, and a future US Professional League - to change the game for female and male athletes of all ages.
Meraki with LOVB provides a community. Not just a local community of volleyball players, coaches, parents, and fans, but also a national community.
Our community wants to inspire and provide opportunities for involvement at all ages. This community will inspire youth for their first opportunity to pick up a ball, all the way to play professionally here, in the US. This community will encourage the love for the game to continue into adult years, with the ability to play with old teammates from club on adult pick up teams. This community provides a structure to excel as a coach, and give back to those who are just beginning their volleyball journey.
A community focused on growth. As a member we will help you grow, and we hope that you will help us do the same.
Together, we are one. We will change the game and empower new generations of athletes.
How
Tested Skills / Systems
Our program doesn’t just train you to play the game, we teach you to understand the game at the highest levels. We will train you using the same strategies and techniques that are being used at some of the highest levels of the sport. We will do this through having shared systems and breaking down skills into segments to teach them. Our program will constantly be growing and improving our strategies year to year through the help of …
Jenny McDowell
Recently retired after 27 years of coaching at Emory University, where she led the team to 26 consecutive NCAA DIII tournaments, 21 Sweet 16s, 5 trips to the national championship, and the NCAA title in 2008 and 2018. She finished her Emory career with 826 victories and a winning percentage of 0.819 (4th highest in DIII history). Jenny also coached for 5 years at the University of Georgia, her alma mater and is the only volleyball player at Georgia to have her number retired!
Courtney Thompson
Was the team captain of the women's volleyball team at the University of Washington for 4 years and led the Huskies to a NCAA Division 1 National Championship in 2005. After college, Courtney played on the USA Volleyball team, winning gold at the World Championships in Italy in 2014, Olympic silver medal in London in 2012, and an Olympic bronze medal in Rio in 2016. Courtney also served as the team captain from 2013-2016. Courtney works with clients around the country helping them understand how to train their mind in the same way they approach their craft.
Mental Training
Meraki has partnered with Neurofuel, a company created by college coaches at the highest levels. They built an application for what they felt development-wise was most neglected at the club level, mental training. The application will allow players to not only work on the most basic mental skills like goal setting, but it also has position-specific visualizations to help players improve even faster.
“I know I play my best matches when I am confident, prepared and mentally strong. I have learned over my many years of competition that having the right mindset has advanced my game to its highest level. NeuroFuel is a great way for younger volleyball players to get a jumpstart on learning how to be confident, move on from mistakes and bring mental toughness to their game and to their life.”
Jordan Larson - Olympic Gold Medalist
Physical Training
Regardless of the level that our players participate in we make sure that they are physically ready for tournament play. We do this through intensive drills and games, to make sure that the players know what it’s like to be in difficult gaming situations. Our program includes plyometrics training to make sure our players are preventing injuries, increasing strength and mobility.
Recruiting Assistance
Our program wants to make sure that players can realize their dreams of playing beyond high school, and maybe even college. With assistance from Lauren Hanson our national recruiting coordinator through LOVB. Lauren is a high level recruiting operative with an inside understanding of the industry and it’s trends, which gives our athletes a leg up when it comes to recruiting.
Her comprehensive knowledge and experience in the volleyball recruiting process is extremely valuable to our staff and athletes. Throughout her career, Lauren has spent several years as a club and high school coach while also placing over 450 athletes at the collegiate level as a recruiting coordinator.
Technology
Balltime is the first platform that uses AI to analyze your volleyball footage, automatically break down plays and remove downtime, saving you hours of tedious editing.
Where
Bedford, NH
Centrally located in the middle of the state, this is an ideal location. This year we will have 3 full practice courts and 1 indoor lesson court!
We have partnered with the NH Sportsplex, a premier indoor sport facility with over 170,000 sq. ft. We are centrally located in Southern NH on the Bedford/Merrimack/Manchester town lines (off Technology Drive/South River Rd). The facility is looking to grow as we do, we are adding more courts this summer!
Team Tryouts
To join our program you need to tryout, take a look an our tryout pages to learn all about the specifics for the teams each year. Including schedule, pricing, coaches, and whats included.