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Mark P., Los Altos Hills, CA Volleyball Coach

Mark P.

Volleyball

SILVER

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Over 30 years of experience coaching volleyball, including coaching four-time Olympic Medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings while she was a junior, both in club and in high school. View all coaching experience

This coach is unavailable to take clients at this time.

Training Locations
  • San Jose State University (CA)

  • 28 years

  • Qualified Private Coach
    Passed Coach Course

  • Adults, Kids, Teenagers

  • Libero, Middle Blocker, Opposite, Outside Hitter, Setter

  • Serve Receive, Blocking, Digging, Hitting, Jumping, Serving, Setting, Spiking

Credentials

  • San Jose State University (CA)

  • 28 years

  • Qualified Private Coach
    Passed Coach Course

Services

  • Adults, Kids, Teenagers

  • Libero, Middle Blocker, Opposite, Outside Hitter, Setter

  • Serve Receive, Blocking, Digging, Hitting, Jumping, Serving, Setting, Spiking

More About Coach Mark

I have over 30 years of volleyball coaching experience developing girls 18 & Under for Jr. Olympic / Jr. National level competition. I have coached national club teams to win many regional and national titles and have graduated many athletes that have received college scholarships. Highest finish achieved was a Silver Medal in the Jr. Olympic National Championships placing 2nd in the United States, and my most famous athlete was three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh. I have been the President of the Santa Cruz Bay Club Volleyball Club for 8 years and coached in the original Bay Club that John Dunning of Stanford University started in the early 1980's. My coaching career has included middle school teams through High School and Club.

2nd Place Finish in the United States - Junior Olympic National Championships (Open Division)
1st Place Finish - Colorado Crossroads Tournament (Open Division)
1st Place Finish - Northern California (Open Division)
1st Place Finish - Bay View Classic Tournament (Open Division)
Founder and President - Santa Cruz Bay Club Volleyball Club
2nd Place Finish - Northern California 2017 (Qualified for National Bid - Ranked Top 40 in U.S.)
2nd Place Finish - Colorado Crossroads 2018
3rd Place Finish - Pacific Northwest Qualifier 2018
2018: Three bid awards in same season, American Division, USA Division and OPEN Division - Team finished 22nd in U.S.
2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons ended abruptly due to Covid 19 Last full season was the 2018/2019 season
1st Place Finish - Sacred Heart Prep - Atherton, CA

Sessions usually begin with an interview of the athlete to understand which skill or skills she would like to work on. I also like to know the athletes history in the sport, successes, challenges, and specific areas she would like to improve upon. I offer a comprehensive training curriculum that includes a fundamental review of all skills from basic application through advanced. I can provide a customized approach to each training session by working on those skills the athlete feels are most important to her. Each session will incorporate fundamental skill development with a positive coaching approach to allow the athlete to feel confident about her development and confident about herself. In addition, the mental aspects of the sport will be incorporated in every session as I believe strongly that both a physically and mentally strong athlete has the best chances for success. Detailed fundamental approach will be used along with a progression training methodology making sure the athlete truly understands and accomplishes eash phase of a particular skill.

Action Photos

Client Reviews

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Coach Mark is amazing! His approach to coaching is what we’ve been missing. He broke down each fundamental in a way that really grabbed my aspiring setter’s attention. He explained and demonstrated how each adjustment effects the outcome from stance, to holding the ball, hand and ball placement, posture and isolation (freezing) the motion, etc. He observed and then addressed changes to get a better result. He spoke to her with respect, patience and helped to build her confidence by acknowledging when she did well, never speaking down to her. He asked questions of her and included her in identifying needed corrections through the various drills. We had no preconceived expectations going in, but left feeling completely satisfied and excited about booking more sessions. Coach Mark is the best! I highly recommend him to parents of young athletes that are interested in upping their volleyball skills.

Coach Mark was friendly and quick to assess my daughter's strength and weaknesses after meeting with him the first visit. He not only helped her gain the skills she needed, be he also increased her confidence to take on a club team that she previously was not ready for. Not only did she make the team, she has now made the JV team of her high school as a freshman. We have Coach Mark to thank for working one-on-one with her and it's been wonderful to watch her grow.

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Coach Mark is such an excellent coach! My daughter has been working with him for nearly two years and absolutely loves it. She always looks forward to her sessions with him and comes away feeling a sense of accomplishment along with an understanding of where she can continue to focus and improve as a player. Coach Mark has the great ability to teach, train, and push his student athletes while being incredibly positive and supportive at all times. I cannot recommend him enough!

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My daughter just had her first session with Mark and is more motivated than ever. He helped her with fundamentals and I can already see improvements in her serve and her confidence. She's only played rec and for school but no one has shown her these things before. She can't wait to practice with Mark again - we are definitely signing up for additional sessions if he can fit us in.

Our first session was very informative. We are excited to hve Mark training our daughter , Asia. My daughter stated she can't wait to continue her next session.

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My son went to Mark to get power into his hitting. Mark was great in breaking down the components of power and how my son was doing each. He then work with him on improving each. Mark's analytical approach suits my son perfectly.
After just two lessons, he's gotten more power. We will definitely be go back regularly.

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We love Mark's coaching. He tunes my daughter's fundamentals so she has a strong base to keep building skills on and to perform in competition. During the sessions, he is very focused on every little detail (e.g., little arm swings, feet pointing wrong way, direction of hand in follow-up, etc.) and tunes/adjusts as needed. He incorporates gamification (e.g., scoring for passing accuracy) during the session to make it fun yet still challenging and educational.

We've seen greater confidence, better performance, and significant reduction in "bad habits". On top of that, my daughter enthusiastically looks forward to her lessons with Mark.

Would recommend Mark without reservation.

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What an amazing coach! I came in with the goal of hitting better - I play men's grass. Coach mark dissected the body mechanics and in decades of playing was the only one to notice my approach was left handed. I am seeing great improvements after just one session, and can't wait for the next.

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Coach Mark has helped me so much over the season. Not only teaching me great volleyball techniques but also inspiring me as a person too! I would recommend Coach Mark to anyone who wants to learn volleyball beginning at any level!

Katelyn enjoyed her first volleyball session with Mark! He helped her on her hitting, especially hitting from the middle!! She is looking forward to future sessions with a Mark!!

Great session.

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Coach Mark brings out the best in players not only by improving their game and making them better athletes, he elevates their mental attitude making them unstoppable! You couldn't ask for a more motivating and knowledgeable coach.

Mark worked with my kids over multiple sessions. They found him easy to work with and very knowledgable. His comments were very helpful and made it easy to understand what was required during the drill. He also made it easy for them to think about their form on their own while they were playing. Coach Mark is excellent coach! I highly recommend him.

My 14 year old daughter loved her first session with Mark. He tailored her workout after just a brief chat with her and it was everything we were looking for. Mark is very knowledgeable and my daughter left the session happy, excited and amazed at how much she learned. She can't wait to get back out on the court with Coach Mark.

Coach Mark develops players through strong skill training, clear communications about on-court strategy and a consistently positive and encouraging feedback style. He does a nice job flexing to the needs of athletes by age, position, skill level, etc. As a parent, I really appreciate the thorough post-training write ups and my daughter always leaves sessions even more in love with the sport!

Coach Mark is a fantastic coach! He is very positive and encouraging and from the moment you start training you can feel yourself improving. I left my lesson with a big smile on my face and am really looking forward to my next lesson!

Coach Mark was awesome! Within minutes he analyzed my swing, identified areas of improvement and gave me concrete steps to work on by explaining the mechanics. His explanations, drills and teaching mechanisms were very effective. By the end of our session I could see that I could hit the ball with a lot more power and have it go into the court despite the height of the net. I'm looking forward to continuing working with Coach Mark and improving my game!

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Coach Mark was an awesome coach! He taught me everything I wanted to know in such a short amount of time. I already feel like my game has changed because of this! I had a great session!

Really helped my daughter improve on her volleyball mechanics.

very organized train.

Coach Mark is FANTASTIC! He is SUPER at breaking down the steps, and helping you excel in your position. Coach Mark is positive and encouraging - he believes in you! My daughters LOVED everything about him. :-)

Coach Mark was great! He really breaks down your swing and focused on the mechanics and fundamentals. He gives you much repetition while using the right mechanics. I would recommend using coach mark to become a great player.

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Coach Mark was amazing. I'm a second year player and I wanted to get some help with my serve and hitting. He really helped me improve my game. I will use Coach Mark again in the future and I highly recommend him.

Coach Mark was fantastic with my daughter. He showed her a few different ways to correct her technique and the improvements were immediate. We wish we had found Mark sooner!

Coach Mark is the best coach we ever had. He helped our daughter improve on her volleyball skills particularly on her serving. Our daughter will definitely continue on training with coach Mark.

Mark was fantastic with my daughter. She left her first lesson completely filled with confidence and feeling incredibly capable and excited. Mark has a wonderful way of encouraging players to do their best- he is kind and to the point and effective. We can't wait for the next lesson.

Coach Mark was great. After just one lesson, we got specific, clear advice on improvements we could make to improve my daughter's setting and serving Skills. Mark was also very patient and super nice. We highly recommend him, and would love to continue working with him.

Coach Mark has been so incredible with our daughter, Emma. She had never played volleyball and wanted to play on her eighth grade school team. Throughout the summer Mark's positive and encouraging coaching methods have her passing accurately and hitting with point scoring potential and most importantly enjoying the sport and her progress. The mechanics he has taught her are sticking and she is set to have a great year.

Our daughter looks for to every session with Coach Mark. She is inspired and encouraged to pursue her new concentration in volleyball.

Great. Mark was knowledgeable and patient. I would definitely train with Mark again.

Mark is an outstanding coach! My daughter needed to work on some fundamentals and he came highly recommended. Mark was extremely thorough in his assessment of her skill level, quickly identifying her strengths and weaknesses. He then broke down step by step, what was needed to help her get to the next level, and coached her through the movements until she had them down. He had a way of explaining and demonstrating things that helped my daughter understand and also visualize what she needed to do. She left her session with Mark feeling so much more confident, both in her natural ability, as well as in the new tools that she had been given. The detailed and informative written summary that he provided afterward was a huge bonus. He has a wonderfully supportive coaching style and is an excellent communicator. He's also a super nice guy! I would highly recommend Mark to anyone looking for a highly qualified and effective coach.

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My grand daughter, Jordan, had just finished training with coach Mark for three two-hour sessions. After the first session, my granddaughter had learned some volleyball basics which she didn't learn from her school and felt confident, which she didn't have before. The succeeding sessions made Jordan more confident and felt comfortable with coach Mark. I believe that Jordan will be a different player when she comes back to her school team. Thanks to coach Mark not only for his positive approach to training, but also his father-to-daughter treatment of Jordan. I strongly recommend coach Mark to those who have children to wish to improve their volleyball skills.

Coach Mark is a hero!! He broke down the fundamentals of the sport which gave my daughter the confidence to practice, practice and persevere. Coach Mark is puntucal and communicates in a timely manner. He is a good listener, patient and explains everything. He set some goals and gave homework after the first session. He is an ideal coach.

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