Spring 2012 - Lourdes College

gray wolves spiritMen’s volleyball teammakes historyMen’s volleyballhas the smallestpercentage ofathletes that getto compete incollege than any other sportin the country,” begins GregReitz, Head Coach of Men’s andWomen’s Volleyball. “We areable to recruit from across thecountry because of this. Thatbrings individuals to Lourdesthat otherwise would havenever considered it. I wouldsay we are playing a prettyimportant role in the growth ofour institution because of this.”Only three colleges oruniversities in the state of Ohiocompete at the varsity level formen’s volleyball. “Being oneof those institutions is prettyspecial,” adds Coach. “We areable to give a group of men theopportunity to continue playingthe game that they have grownto love.”Coach Reitz is well knownand respected in the sport ofvolleyball. “My first coaching jobwas as a boy’s club volleyballcoach,” he says. “From there, Iadded boy’s high school coachto my resume and then men’sjunior college coach. I have alsohad the opportunity to serveas a player/coach on severalteams over the yearsincluding my Athletesin Action team thatcompeted in Russiaand the Ukraine.”Operating asHead Coach forboth teams, hesays he doesnot coachdifferently forthe genders.“I havealways triedto coach myfemale playersthe same way.We run a similar style of play foreach team. I was coached bysome of the greatest minds inthe game and have emulatedthe coaching styles of manyof them to come up with astyle that is all my own. Myeducational background alsolends itself well for trainingtechnique so that is my primaryfocus regardless of gender. Thebiggest difference between thetwo sports is the height abovethe floor. The net is 8 incheshigher for the men’s game.”Although they began theinaugural season with asomewhat limited number ofplayers, Coach says the groupof players that he and AssistantCoach Mike Froehlich haveassembled is a strong one. “Weanticipate a very competitiveteam who is fun to watch onthe court. My hope is that theirpersonalities show through asthey compete and the resultingproduct is a great one.”Excited to expose northwestOhio to the sport of men’svolleyball, Coach Reitzconcludes, saying, “We lookforward to developing aprogram that is very competitiveand can foster the growth ofthe game in the region. I amconfident that once people see