Woodlands WAVE among elite volleyball clubs

THE WOODLANDS - Normally when you drive down a road and you spot a fast food restaurant then followed by a sports bar, you wouldn’t think to look twice about what might be in between. In this case on Rayford Road, the space in between just happens to house the premier club volleyball program in the greater Houston area right here in The Woodlands, and they’re called Woodlands WAVE.

Woodlands WAVE is the home of developmental and elite volleyball club teams for girls in ages from 7 years old through 18. Their facility is Disney World to a volleyball player, housing six volleyball courts to host tournaments, practice, and even private lessons in the start of the art facility.

“We are not just an elite program, but we are developmental, which is mainly our 7 to 11 year olds. We not only have the elite program, which is not just the best in The Woodlands, but we are all-around.” states Club Director Billy Riemer.

The developmental programs’ goals are more broad, but can be just as fulfilling to the program as Riemer states that they want to teach the girls “a little bit of volleyball and a lot about life lessons, then we are doing our job.” “The kids here are here to learn the game of volleyball and when they start to take it too seriously, we start to figure out different ways to show them that this is still a game and is not a job.”

Going into just their sixth season at Woodlands WAVE, Riemer, along with Assistant Club Directors Joe Lind and Susie Williams have built a program that offers girls the chance to not only develop their skills playing volleyball from a young age, but a chance to compete on a local and national level with the elite program teams during the summer. With the elite competition, come elite goals.

“Our goals are three fold, at the top we want to win Junior Nationals. From there we want to win qualifying tournaments (10-12 different national qualifiers in different locations) and from there a chance to earn a bid to USAV Junior Nationals. The next tier would be region, to where you can qualify for nationals within your region,” said Riemer.

“Another goal of our elite program is getting these kids scholarship opportunities to play in college or play at the next level,” said Lind. “At the high school level they receive great training, but great exposure at these national and local tournaments and finding a school that’s a good fit for them academically, socially and athletically, not necessarily Division I.”

In the last three years, Woodlands WAVE has graduated out at 100 percent. High school graduates with the WAVE have found each player a school to play for if they wanted to and as Riemer states, “there’s a school for every kid.” Some of the schools that their players have committed to USC, Houston Baptist, Texas State, UT-Arlington, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, and Nicholls State to name a few.

Riemer’s background has been playing volleyball since the age of 16 and has been coaching for the last 15 years. Riemer’s passion strives from helping the kids learn and develop, which led him to start Woodlands WAVE. Lind’s starting playing volleyball in high school and played more on a club team at North Dakota State University, from which he moved over to be the volunteer assistant coach for the women’s NCAA team at NDSU and most recently the Assistant Volleyball coach at Sam Houston State University prior to joining the WAVE. Williams has been playing since she was 14 years old, played at a junior college in her home state of Illinois and moved on to play for a Division II school in Pennsylvania. Williams brings a unique perspective to the WAVE in having coached club teams throughout different parts of the country and has brought that knowledge to hone her style with the WAVE. Williams is also the strength and conditioning coach is NSCA certified and she smiles when players on Twitter talk about her workouts.

For parents and players who might be interested in learning more about Woodlands WAVE, you can find more information on their programs on their website at woodlandswave.com.