Ozark Volleyball School - Joplin
Held on the Campus of Missouri Southern University
Click picture above for Directions
VOLLEYBALL CLASSES
Monday Nights - Winter/Spring
(Note: If you cannot make Mondays, contact us to arrange for alternate arrangements)
ALL AGES
Starting in January
AthletePLUS Sport Performance Enhancement
Cost
1 Session: $20
4 Sessions: $60 ($15 per session)
12 Sessions: $150 ($12.50 per session)
24 Sessions: $250 ($10.42 per session)
For more information contact: Nicole Cirillo at cirillo-n@mssu.edu
Lead Instructor: Chris Willis - Head Volleyball Coach Missouri Southern University
Chris Willis was named the fifth head volleyball coach in Missouri Southern history on June 25, 2004. Now in his second year as Lions head coach, he came to MSSU after a five-year stint as an assistant volleyball coach at NCAA Division I Southwest Missouri State.
Despite little time to recruit for the 2004 season, Willis coached the Lions to the MIAA Postseason Tournament after the team finished 14-18 overall and tied for sixth in the conference.
From 1999 through the 2003 season, Willis helped the SMS Bears to an impressive 122-40 record as an assistant on Melissa Stokes' staff. While at SMS, Willis served as the volleyball program's liaison with the speed, strength and conditioning program and also handled the coaching of the outside hitters and setters. The Bears posted 20 or more victories in each of Willis' five seasons, including 27-win campaigns in 2000 and 2003.
In all, Willis has nine years of experience as an assistant coach in the NCAA Division I ranks. Before joining the SMS staff, he served as assistant coach for two years at Northern Arizona University. While at the Flagstaff, Ariz., institution, Willis was responsible for the development of outside hitters, scouting, game management and assisted with recruiting. The Lumberjacks finished 19-10 in 1997, Willis' first season, and 18-11 in 1998.
He also worked as an assistant for two seasons at Davidson (N.C.) College, where he coached setters and coordinated the strength & conditioning program.
Willis earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1991 from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He received his master's degree in human performance & sport study from the University of Tennessee in 1994. Willis also played on men's volleyball club teams at both Baylor and Tennessee.
After graduating from Tennessee, the Kirkwood, Mo., native served one season as head coach at Harris-Stowe State College in St. Louis in 1994.
Willis has had two volleyball stints with Athletes in Action. In 1992, he was a player on a team that toured Central America. In the summer of 2002, he was the coach on a men's team that visited Cameroon.
Willis has worked several volleyball camps since 1995, including clinics at the University of Tennessee, Washington (Mo.) University, University of North Carolina, Davidson, Northern Arizona and SMS. He was also head coach of the USA Volleyball Juniors from 1995-2001 and was an assistant coach at Kirkwood High School in the spring of 1992.
Lead Instructor: Nicole Shoger - Assistant Volleyball Coach - Missouri Southern University
Nicole Cirillo, a former four-year collegiate volleyball letterwinner, serves on head coach Chris Willis' staff as an assistant coach with the Missouri Southern women's volleyball squad. She's in her second year with the Lions.
Cirillo, who played the 2002 and 2003 seasons at the University of Central Arkansas, assists the MSSU team in a variety of areas, including working directly with the Lions' middle blockers.
Before joining the MSSU staff, Cirillo had already gathered some coaching experience. She gave private volleyball lessons in Conway, Ark. to 14- and 15-year-old players with an emphasis on middle blocking and setting. She also was head coach for 14-year-old girls on the Conway Volleyball Club in 2004. Cirillo previously served as head coach for 16-year-old girls on the Southwest Illinois Volleyball Club in Belleville, Ill.
A native of Edwardsville, Ill., Cirillo was first-team all-conference and all-metro player at Edwardsville High School, earning player of the year honors on the all-area team and leading EHS to regional and sectional championships. She was an honorable mention All-America and a first-team all-region selection at Southwestern Illinois College, where she played the first two years of her collegiate career before transferring to UCA.
At Central Arkansas, Cirillo played in 173 games and logged 409 kills, 125 blocks (27 solo) and 62 service aces. In 2003, she helped the Sugar Bears to their first Gulf South Conference Tournament appearance since 1998. Shoger, a team captain, was also named to the GSC Academic Honor Roll.
Cirillo earned her bachelor's degree in management information systems from UCA in 2004.
