MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN) — Eric Wanner never played volleyball, but you’d never know it by watching him coach.

“It’s great, right? When we see them execute what we practice," Wanner said.

Wanner is one of more than 80 volunteers in Mt. Juliet's Tri-Star Volleyball league.  

“The most rewarding thing is when I’m out at a restaurant, and you see a player from a team three years ago, and they come up and they give you a big bear hug, and they’re like, 'Oh my God, coach! It's so great to see you,'" Wanner said.

Chip Bailey started the program three years ago with only 100 girls. It’s quickly grown to 350 players and counting. 

“When we moved here, I came to the community center and I thought, 'Well, I’m an old volleyball coach. I’ll just get a team, and we’ll coach volleyball,'" Bailey said. "I said, 'What do you got in Wilson County for volleyball?' And they said, 'Nothing.'”

Unlike other leagues, Tri-Star divides girls by skill level, not age.

“I can tell you if you put brand-new beginners in a 14U team, they may be 14 years old, but they are not ready to play at that level," Bailey said. "If you throw them in at that, they’re going to struggle, and they’re going to quit. We’re not in the business of getting girls to quit volleyball.” 

Holding serve on that promise has become difficult.

"I wish we didn’t have to turn girls away," Bailey said. "Every season, we turn girls away because we just don’t have the gym space.”

With the recent success of the U.S. Olympic team and the rise of the college game, volleyball has spiked in popularity. Tri-Star has started working with the community to keep kids in the game.

“More gyms, more girls, more volunteers, more parents in the gym, building community," Bailey said. "I want a thousand girls still playing volleyball.”

Volleyball is won between the lines.

“I’ve tried so many sports, and this is the only one that's actually stuck," player Channing Wanner told News 2.

At Tri-Star, it's what happens beyond the lines that’s just as important.

“What we do on the court, teaching them to be athletes, that’s all great, but at the end of the day, I want to see a young woman who is timid at the beginning of year come out of her shell and open up with her teammates and really grow individually there," Wanner said.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/on-tour-middle-tn/tri-star-volleyball/