Philosophy
We are committed to ensuring that every Ignit Volleyball Club athlete has a positive experience that fuels their love of volleyball and competition. While we do provide our athletes with the highest caliber of volleyball training, it is equally important that athletes learn life lessons that will stay with them long after their volleyball career comes to an end. Our coaches are mentors, role models, and above all, teachers. We will teach our athletes to be disciplined, compete and train at full effort, be a positive and supportive teammate, be a problem solver, push beyond their comfort zone, and compete with confidence and enthusiasm. Ignit Volleyball Club is a family. Our older athletes work with and get to know our younger athletes and our teams support and cheer for each other whenever they
Volleyball Directors
Jana Van Der Kamp
Co-Director, Director of Operations
Ignit Volleyball Club – Year 1
Jana has been involved with club volleyball since 2006 and has coached teams at the 13U through 15U levels during her club career. She coached with the Johnston VBC for two seasons (2006-2008) and then moved to the Iowa Heart Volleyball Association, where she coached for five seasons (2009-2014) before becoming one of the club’s directors (2014-2016). During her time at Iowa Heart she coached a number of successful regional-level teams, and won championships at the Minneapolis President’s Day Tourney (Silver Division, 2011) and the 2016 Asics Junior National Championships played at Chicago’s Navy Pier (Silver Division, 15U). Besides working with junior players, Jana has also been involved with adult volleyball in the Des Moines area since 2007 with the DM Area Co-ed Adult Volleyball Club. She held various board positions as tournament director (2007-2012) and club vice-president and president (2010-2014). Jana graduated from Newton High School, where she was a multi-sport athlete. She is also alumni of Central College in Pella.
Coaches
14U Blue Head Coach (2nd Season)
Rachel grew up in Cedar Falls where she played high school volleyball for Cedar Falls High School and club for Six Pack VBC. After high school Rachel attended Iowa State University and played Rugby. Rachel has coached at both IPVA and Iowa Heart VBC before making her way Ignit where she is our 14U Blue head coach. Rachel is interested in weight lifting as well as body building. She is still an active as a competitive adult player, helping her women's team to a 2nd place finish at USAV Adult Nationals in 2015. She currently lives in West Des Moines with her husband and new born baby!
14U Green Head Coach (1st Season)
Mitchell has officiated high school volleyball for the last two years. While at Iowa State University, he competed and won many intramural volleyball tournaments before joining the Iowa State Men’s Volleyball Club. Mitchell actively plays multiple times per week with friends. While this is his first time in an official coaching capacity, Mitchell has spent a lot of time helping people of all ages learn new skills on and off the court.
16U Blue Assistant Coach (1st Season)
Tayler is in her first season with Ignit but she is no rookie to the coaching world. Prior to joining the Ignit family Tayler with DCVC where she coached 12-16U age athletes. She also coached high school volleyball for 5 years. Before coaching Tayler started her career as a Varsity Starter at DSM Roosevelt and since then has played Outside Hitter & Libero in her 15 year playing career.
16U Green Associate Head Coach (1st Season)
16U Blue Associate Head Coach (1st Season)
Morgan grew up in a suburb of Chicago, IL. She started playing volleyball at 12 years old and immediately fell in love with the game! Throughout her youth, she played as a right-side hitter for her high school team and Rolling Thunder volleyball club. Her team went and competed in nationals almost every year. After a devastating ankle injury her senior year, Morgan decided to forego playing volleyball in college and attended the University of Minnesota. After graduating in 2015, she decided to get back into playing volleyball and has since played for many co-ed recreational leagues. This previous summer, Morgan got married and relocated to West Des Moines so that her husband could attend medical school at Des Moines University. She looks forward to joining the Ignit Volleyball Club coaching family!
