Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Ep. 5 Unveiling Tidewater's Volleyball Legacy: From Family Passion to Community Impact
Discover the enduring legacy of the Tidewater Volleyball Association (TVA) as we sit down with Kris Wojieck-Stein, a driving force behind this Virginia Beach institution. Since 1965, TVA has nurtured a passionate volleyball community, transforming from a sanctuary for adult beach and court players into a dynamic hub for competitive junior teams. Kris opens up about her unique journey, sharing how volleyball has been a cornerstone for her family and a source of personal and professional fulfillment since she joined TVA in 2018. Listen as she recounts how her childhood passion for volleyball blossomed into a career that intertwines love for the sport with impactful community engagement.
Curious about volleyball programs that cater to all ages and skill levels? Enter Play TVA, a vibrant initiative dedicated to fostering a love for volleyball in every generation. From playful sessions for kids as young as four to competitive experiences for teens, Play TVA has something for everyone. Mark your calendars for an exciting open house at the Virginia Beach Sports Center on December 1st, where free 30-minute clinics for children will offer a fantastic introduction to the sport. Join us to uncover how Play TVA is shaping the future of volleyball in our community and find out how you can be a part of this energetic movement.
Tidewater Volleyball Association
Club 757
Kris Wojieck-Stein
2644 Dean Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
www.playtva.org
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2:Hi, this is Denise Taylor. Good Neighbor Podcast, Virginia Beach. I'm here with TVAs and Club 757s. Chris Wojcik-Stein. Am I saying your name right, hris? Yes, Okay, perfect. Thanks so much for being here today.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Denise for having me. So tell me a little bit about what TVA and Club 757 is, and then we'll talk about your history with volleyball is, and then we'll talk about your history with volleyball.
Speaker 3:Sure, absolutely so. Tidewater Volleyball Association has been a staple in the Hamptons Roads area since 1965. So next summer we will be celebrating our 60th anniversary as an organization and we've actually been in our building on 26414 Drive, for next year will be 30 years, so just showing the longevity of having volleyball as a part of our community in multiple different aspects. We started as an adult place to come and play volleyball on the beach and hardcore, and then adapted and added a juniors component in it as well. And then over the years we've acquired some clubs and have formed Club 757, which is the girls portion of competitive travel volleyball for those kids that are 18 and under. And that's a little history of TVA.
Speaker 2:And how long have you been in with the TVA organization?
Speaker 3:So I came on board in November of 2018. Okay, and it was a fun ride and then has been a fun ride. So when I came on board, we had four leases and we were in Portsmouth. We had a couple of leases on D Drive. We were in talks with the management team because the Virginia Beach Sports Center was on 19th Street, was being built and potentially moving our business into that location and COVID hit. So I was pregnant too.
Speaker 3:So a lot of crazy things when I first came on board, but you know everything that has led to where we are today.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Tell me a little bit about how this is a part of your entire family. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Our running joke in our house is I met my husband and took his job, took his name, kicked him back into the real world and Tidewater Volleyball has never been a better place to be. His story is he had two concussions in one year and ended up married and we ended up pregnant. So that's, that's a little history and fun on that, volleyball has always been a passion of ours. On that, volleyball has always been a passion of ours.
Speaker 3:We have definitely circled around each other over the years and more recently, I was a club director in Northern Virginia and he was the executive director of Tidewater Volleyball and one of the directors of Coastal Virginia Volleyball Club that was running their program out of Tidewater Volleyball and we just started doing a lot of working together.
Speaker 3:So the best way to describe that is we were some type of sister club, maybe not fully, but working together to try to better volleyball in the Virginia area.
Speaker 3:And after about of competing against each other, um, we, we decided that we should try out.
Speaker 3:Uh, trying to date, and uh, he will also say that he never wanted to date a volleyball chick and um, yeah, so you know, I I truly believe that God has a funny sense of humor. So don't say never, because that's usually where God is Aha, here we go, so. So he's been a lot of help in the transition with things and a lot of you know we've brought in a lot of former Tidewater Volleyball Association members that helped start the club or has been through the history of the club to be a part of our board, and so he serves, as you know, kind of our historian, saying that he grew up in this area and now coaches the 17s team with Club 757 as well. So it is truly a family business. My daughter put on a Club 757 shirt this week as we had assessments this past weekend for our regional teams, and she said look, it's a volleyball shirt and I'm part of a team, so she's realizing that volleyball is a very important part of our lives.
Speaker 2:Tell me personally where you were involved in volleyball and when did you start your volleyball career or interest.
Speaker 3:So I played in high school and grew up in a really small town and we we had a club team, so started traveling to JMU and Virginia Tech and, you know, even here in Virginia Beach, I actually remember playing in the Star of the Sea when on the oceanfront in you know, one of the tournaments that was hosted in Virginia Beach as a kid, and volleyball has always been a crucial part of my life, whether it was, you know, a very fun time, but maybe just an out to things going on in life as well, right, my outlet for things, and I knew I wanted to be in some kind of business.
Speaker 3:My family had a Christian bookstore growing up, so I was, you know, the kid that was on the register working in customer service, and I got asked one time to do a pageant in high school, which was it will be completely transparent here that's not really my jam, but I found it as a different avenue to to grow up and learn and be able to talk in front of people and and do other things, and so it was a really great experience, and my online question on stage question at the time was what do you want to do as a career? And I said I want to be an international business carrying a briefcase, talking on the phone all the time, and so, luckily, I have been able. I maybe international business isn't quite the definition of where, where, where I am now, but I'm definitely learning and building and using those tools and graduated with my MBA and have just found a home in volleyball and where I feel that volleyball gave so much to me. Now I'm giving back to volleyball in our community of volleyball.
Speaker 2:With so many businesses I meet, I hear that common theme, that passion, passion, marrying, that like that our our intellectual side, so that passion of your business, and then you know what really influenced your life, which was volleyball, and I love that. Um, tell me a little more about what you do for fun outside of this organization, because truly what you're doing is so much fun, but what do you and and Will and your family, what do you guys do to relax?
Speaker 3:Unwind.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I definitely think that there is a time in our family life where we both state no more volleyball, and somehow we always come around to volleyball again.
Speaker 3:But, we enjoy very much spending time with our daughter. She's four and she loves to be outdoors, she loves the ocean, she loves the water, she loves staying in a hotel. I think I have set myself up for failure on that one, or misery. So we're currently into Busch Gardens and Disney and characters characters more than rides, right. So those little things that we can have family time together and enjoy our time in the community is really treasurable to me. We just did a fall festival, right, we were out in Suffolk doing the peanut festival and just again, little fun family events, um and just, but also just showing the support that we have for our community.
Speaker 2:Where's your favorite place in Virginia beach to go as a family? Do you guys have a favorite we?
Speaker 3:live closer um, um to shore. So we are very much. You know, if we can, we can take our, our bikes or kayaks or um that kind of uh, fun outdoor activity and just go sit on the beach for the day where the waves aren't so crazy for her it's, it's really our escape to everything. So, chicks, beach, shore, drive up there. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, so don't come find me.
Speaker 2:Okay and just spend a little time bragging about some of the people who've come out of the organization. I know you guys train as young as what age?
Speaker 3:young is what age. So we we try to start at four. Four is a little complicated for volleyball. They don't come out. You know, kids naturally don't pick up a ball at four and start passing, setting and hitting like they kick a ball for soccer. But we try to encourage motor development. So we have, we there's. There's been some four-year-olds out of our program, okay.
Speaker 2:And then girls and guys coming out of the program who've gone on to do some pretty amazing things, not only in Virginia but outside of our area. Could you share a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. Danielle Hart immediately comes to mind from our area. She's a recent graduate of University of Wisconsin and was on the national team, and right now she's. She has taken a break from the national team and she's sharing her story. She she was concussed at least three times in a year and has developed some other medical issues because of it, and she's just sharing her story of what it took to be on the national team but also in that transition of life where she is and still trying to get back on the court as well. So we hope to have her back in the spring sharing her story with our community.
Speaker 3:Abby Bottomley had a wonderful career at High Point and then went on because of COVID, was able to move on to Creighton and be in the Sweet 16. She's a great one and now is in Charleston running her accounting business. And just one more on the girl side there is a lady, a young lady, named Corey. She graduated a couple of years ago from Virginia Tech and she earned her scholarship because of all the off court stuff that she did. She was a team leader, she was a hustler, she really just became what a great teammate was and earned her scholarship for those types of things versus just her skills.
Speaker 3:But she's on a lot of boards in Hawaii, as Hawaii's pharmaceutical background is the word that I'm going to use is is not quite on par of where the rest of the United States are. So she's fighting for a lot of pharmaceutical rights for for the island and just doing great things in her world. And then on the guy side, you know Cole Bogner, who is back in town, a graduate with Penn State, and Brett Rosenmeier. Both were on the national team. Brett is still fighting for a national team position Hopefully we see him in the Olympics in LA and Brett Rosenmeier is back in the area and he had a wonderful career at the University of Hawaii and he's, you know, giving back to his community and in the gym and it's great to have those guys around, for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate you being on the show and what your family has done for my daughter and our family. You know just, she transitioned from being a gymnast to volleyball. We didn't know what that would entail and TVA has been just an amazing organization to be a part of, to experience volleyball for the first time, so we appreciate it. Chris, thank you so much for being on the show today and for your involvement in the Virginia beach community.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having me before we end, tell us your website and um any other information for for people interested in volleyball and getting involved in that community in volleyball and getting involved in that community.
Speaker 3:Sure, our website is play, the word P, l A Y and then TVA for tidewatervolleyballassociationorg. So play TVA. org. We have things from adults, from being a fun level of play all the way to a competitive level of play, and, as I mentioned earlier, we have programs that start at four for your kids and then go all the way to 18, whether that be a camp, clinic or a competitive team, and you'll see us out in the community. We're actually a part of the, an open house with the Virginia beach sports center on December 1st. Okay, so if you want to come out and get a little bit more information from us, we will have it, and we're doing clinics. It starts at 11, the 30 minute clinics for your kids, and they're free. So please come out and join us then. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Chris, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpvirginiabeach. com. That's gnpvirginiabeach. com, or call 757-797-8852.