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mokenamessenger.com sports the mokena messenger | August 15, 2019 | 37 Volleyball Ultimate under new ownership, but few changes expected JEFF VORVA, Contributing Editor There is a shakeup at the top of the Ultimate Volleyball Club food chain, but it appears that there may not be many changes beyond that. After 22 years owning the Frankfort and Mokena-based club with hundreds of area athletes, founder Erin Lorenz relinquished ownership to Joel Anderson earlier this month. “I want to thank all of our players, coaches and families – past and present – for helping to build Ultimate Volleyball Club from one team of 11-year-old players to a nationally recognized club of almost 60 teams,” Lorenz said in a statement. “After 22 years of tremendous successes and lasting memories, I am retiring. I am happy to say that Ultimate will continue and will be better than ever. Our coaches, staff, and practice facilities will remain the same ... for what promises to be a banner year.” Anderson, who also owns Chicago Elite and the Plainfield-based Club 1, said that he is an admirer of Lorenz and the program and is not looking to change the chemistry. “There will be no program changes,” Anderson said. “The only thing we may look at are the enhancements to the already great program that Erin built over the 22 years. We’re looking at developing in-house leagues and enhanced small-group training. Position training. Having an academy atmosphere. As far as the overall program goes, you can’t disrupt something that it already great.” Over the years, the boys teams have become national powers and this year, the 18 Gold team took 10th in the nation in the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships in Dallas in early July. Some of the players on that squad include Chris Dargan (Lincoln-Way West), David Flores (Lincoln-Way West), Ike Mahajan Joel Anderson is the new owner of Ultimate Volleyball Club, a highly successful club based in Frankfort and Mokena. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA (Lincoln-Way East), Wil McPhillips (Lincoln-Way East), Louden Moran (Lincoln-Way West), Benjamin Pluskota (Lincoln-Way West), Nicholas Studer (Lincoln- Way West) and Jack Yurkanin (Lincoln-Way Central). The girls 18 Gold team this season also had a plethora of area stars including Katie Barry (Lincoln-Way Central), Molly Skoda (Lincoln-Way East), Samantha Vorderer (Lincoln-Way Central), Nicki Bechtold (Lincoln-Way East), Nicole Dvorak (Lincoln- Way Central) and Brianna Knezz (Lincoln-Way West). Anderson, a north side of Chicago resident who will divide his time between his three clubs and coaching the boys team at St. Patrick High School, will be on the move quite a bit so he will rely heavily on Ultimate staff members to run the show. “I stay pretty busy,” he said. “I’m running around a lot. But I have some key staff members in place in the other two clubs and I’m sure it’s the same at Ultimate. I’m just getting to know the staff at Ultimate and getting those key things lined up. It’s not going to be like I have to be on the court all the time.” He said that after 28 years, this will be the first time he will not coach a club team. Meanwhile, he enjoys the fact that he is the boss of an established program that will be using the Hallmark Sports Club in Frankfort and the Velocity All Sport Athletic Training and Complex in Mokena. “It’s exciting because Ultimate has bigger facilities to work with and has a comprehensive staff,” he said. “It’s very experienced. Some of our other clubs, we were limited on space and that presents a challenge. When you are at Velocity and you have 60,000 square feet to work with, that’s a nice accompaniment to your program. Between Hallmark and Velocity, we have 12 courts at our disposal.” Anderson grew up in a small town in Iowa called Pocahontas. He said it was a town of 2,000 and he played every sport except volleyball because there was no boys program. He added that Pocahontas Area High School had a strong girls volleyball program and he became intrigued with the sport. He said he joined the University of Iowa club team as a setter to open his volleyball career. He has won several coaching awards including the Illinois High School Association and East Suburban Catholic Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2009, a season which found St. Patrick finish fourth in the state and 46th in ESPN’s national rankings. In 2018, he won the Junior Volleyball Association Junior Club Service award for his quarter century of coaching in the sport. “Since 2003, Joel and I have had a close friendship through club volleyball,” Lorenz said. “I like him, I trust him. I think he is a great volleyball mind and leader. His clubs have been highly successful for both boys and girls at the national level, with numerous national championships and hundreds of scholarships earned. I am thrilled and confident that Joel will take our teams and players to new heights.” Anderson was, however, the subject of an unflattering TV news story on CBS Chicago in 2016, which said he used gym time at Chicago Public Schools for his clubs for free while clubs in other sports paid fees to the CPS. Anderson said that he was given permission to use Payton High School, where he was the girls volleyball coach. “It was nine days of a summer camp we had at Payton,” he said. “The principal said, ‘You should use the gym.’ What wasn’t reported is that I supplemented the entire [Payton] program. They didn’t pay for balls and carts and nets or any of that. So the principal said, ‘Just use the gym.’ “Sometimes I think that when you find success people find a way to try to tear you down.” Speaking of success, what would happen if Chicago Elite or Volleyball 1 faces Ultimate for a tournament championship? Who would he root for? “I would flip a coin and watch from the sideline,” he said. This Week In Knights Varsity Athletics BOYS GOLF ■Aug. ■ 15 – Oswego Invite at Blackberry Oaks, 4 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 16 – LW West Invite at the Den at Fox Creek, 10 a.m. ■Aug. ■ 21 – vs. LW West, Sandburg and Homewood- Flossmoor at Silver Lake, 4:30 p.m. GIRLS GOLF ■Aug. ■ 15 – Barrington Invite at Bonnie Dundee, 9 a.m. ■Aug. ■ 17 – Homewood- Flossmoor Invite at Lincoln Oaks, 1 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 17 – Providence Midlothian Challenge at Midlothian Country Club, 2:30 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 20 – hosts Providence and Minooka at Sanctuary, 4 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 21 – hosts LW East and Lockport at Sanctuary, 4:30 p.m. Griffins Varsity Athletics BOYS GOLF ■Aug. ■ 16 – LW West Invite at the Den at Fox Creek, 10 a.m. ■Aug. ■ 19 – Plainfield North Invite at the Links of Carillon, 1 p.m. GIRLS GOLF ■Aug. ■ 15 – at Minooka at Heritage Bluffs, 4 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 17 – Homewood- Flossmoor Invite at Lincoln Oaks, 1 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 17 – Providence Midlothian Challenge at Midlothian Country Club, 2:30 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 20 – hosts LW West at Green Garden, 4:30 p.m. ■Aug. ■ 21 – vs. LW Central, Lockport at Sanctuary, 4:30 p.m.