By Blake Hudson
Rome, Ga. —Most athletes hear the team concept preached to them by coaches at every level. Berry Volleyball preaches the same, but with a significant twist, and it is this twist that garnered the attention of all-star team promoter Ron Smith, director of Sanford, Fla.-based USA Sports Tours & Events and the organizer of an all-star volleyball team tour to Brazil.
In summer 2014, Smith put together a team of Division III volleyball all-stars, just as he does also in soccer and basketball, and took them to Brazil. One player in particular caught his attention: Berry standout Stephanie Quinn.
 |
|
Mika Robinson, Hannah Kate Thompson, and Caitlyn Jansen after placing 2nd at a tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo courtesy of Mika Robinson |
“After seeing the quality of player Quinn was for us, but even more how exceptional of a person she is, that made me look more into Berry,” said Smith, who spent 22 years coaching and in administration in Division I. “I study the success of programs and good players come from good programs.”
Acting on his experience with Quinn, for the summer 2015 team, Smith turned to Berry Volleyball coach Mika Robinson, the 2013 Southern Athletic Association volleyball coach of the year, to be head coach in Brazil.
“She has been successful throughout her career and has helped make Berry College Volleyball a nationally recognized program,” Smith said. “Her ability to recruit and develop some of the best players is one reason she and Berry have been so successful.”
What Smith recognizes is no accident. Robinson said she is not here just to win games, which she does, but to develop her players as great people.
“We’ve really preached the ‘Messiah method,’ Robinson said, referring to a holistic approach to player development and leadership pioneered by Division III soccer powerhouse Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa. “We don’t simply recruit great volleyball players, we look for a good fit with with we’re trying to do, which is all about servant leadership.”
Robinson led the all-star tour June 7-16, beginning in Orlando, Fla. and finishing in Rio de Janeiro.
Adjusting to a new environment
Robinson said she was excited to coach the team, accepting Smith’s offer almost immediately.
“It was obviously a tremendous honor, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said
After a few practices in Orlando and a whirlwind tour in Brazil, Robinson said she became more appreciative of her team here at Berry. The new coaching environment presented Robinson with many challenges, such as organizing and unifying a team in such a short amount of time.
“I am very much a planner as a coach, so this was a big adjustment for me,” said Robinson, in her eighth season as coach at Berry. “We had to make a lot of adjustments as a team. It really gave me a new appreciation for my own team, especially in regards to discipline.”
Luckily, Robinson had some familiar faces with her in Brazil. She tapped sophomore setter Hannah Kate Thomson to join the team, and she also added, Caitlyn Jansen, her assistant coach at Berry, to her coaching staff for the Brazil tour.
“Having to take initiative on a team of girls I didn’t know made me really appreciate my own team,” Thompson said. “Seeing how disciplined our team is compared to the one I played for this summer made me thankful for where I get to play.”
Playing the Pros
Though they were excited to get back Berry, both Thompson and Robinson said they are appreciative of the experience they got in Brazil.
“We were playing professional players who were in their prime competitively,” Robinson said. “Our players were challenged in ways they never have before.”
Thompson said the tour was like playing the best Division III teams day after day after day.
“Just getting that many touches at such a high level of play has really boosted my confidence this year,” she said.
Would Thompson return to repeat the experience? Surprisingly, she says, “No.”
“Of course I would love to go back, but I don’t think I would,” she said “I have already gotten to experience it. If I went back, a setter who has never been would not get the opportunity to go. I wouldn’t want to take that away from anyone.”
This concern for the welfare of others lies at the center of the Messiah Method, and it exemplifies the Berry way as taught by Robinson.
“The development of [my players’] character and just them developing into incredible young women over the course of their four years is something that’s very rewarding,” Robinson said.