Podcast · Sport

Coach Chijo Podcast

by Coach Chijo · English · Sport

Real conversations about coaching, volleyball, mindset and leadership

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 33 min
Latest: 13 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026 · 38 minNew

No Roads. Just Planes. High School Volleyball in Alaska | Ep. 22

What if you had to board a plane every time your high school volleyball team traveled to an away game? That's everyday life for volleyball players in Juneau, Alaska! Coach Chijo takes the podcast onto a boat in beautiful Southeast Alaska for a conversation with Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears head coach Arnold Ibias and players Bree Powers and Nellie Stowers. With only two teams in their conference and no roads connecting Juneau to other cities, traveling to compete is a major undertaking. The t...

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Earlier episodes 21 most recent

6 Oct 2026 · 37 min
Wait… Snow Volleyball Is a Real Thing? | Coach Betül Çetin | Ep. 21
Wait… snow volleyball is actually a real thing? Coach Chijo sits down with Coach Betül Çetin, an accomplished indoor, beach, and snow volleyball athlete from Türkiye who has competed internationally and now brings that experience to coaching. Coach Betül won bronze representing Türkiye at the 2012 U16 World Championship in indoor volleyball. In beach volleyball, she became the first female athlete from Türkiye to compete at the Youth Olympic Games when she represented her country at the 2014 ...
29 Sep 2026 · 6 min
You Have to Get Out of the Gym | Alaska Glacier Polar Plunge | Ep. 20
Sometimes you have to get out of the gym. After running five volleyball clinics in three days in Alaska, Coach Chijo heads into the Alaskan wilderness for a completely different kind of adventure. The trip includes hours in four-wheel-drive side-by-sides, glacier melt rivers, incredible scenery, and eventually a glacier. Then comes the big question: Is Coach Chijo actually going to jump into the freezing glacier water? This episode is a reminder for volleyball players and coaches to occasiona...
22 Sep 2026 · 20 min
Why High School Volleyball Is Different in Texas | Libby Pacheco | Ep. 19
Why is high school volleyball different in Texas? Coach Chijo sits down with Libby Pacheco from the Texas High School Coaches Association while attending the association's massive coaching convention in Houston. Libby explains why Texas takes high school athletics so seriously and how having coaches working on campus changes the relationship between coaches and athletes. They dive into Texas volleyball culture, why the level of competition is so high, the relationship between high school and ...
15 Sep 2026 · 33 min
How to Reduce Team Drama | Coach Blase | Ep. 18
How do you reduce drama on a volleyball team? This is Part 2 of my conversation with Coach Blase. In Part 1, The Playing Time Problem, we talked about fairness, equality, winning, development, and why playing time creates so much conflict between coaches, players, and parents. I ended that episode by asking Coach Blase what advice he would give young coaches struggling to handle playing-time issues. This episode begins with his answer. And that answer leads us into a much bigger discussion ab...
8 Sep 2026 · 38 min
The Playing Time Problem | Coach Blase | Ep. 17
Playing time. Few topics create more tension between coaches, players, and parents. In this episode, Coach Blase and I tackle one of the most difficult questions in youth volleyball: What does fair playing time actually mean? Coach Blase shares the story of a parent who used a stopwatch to compare her daughter's time on the court with another player's and even counted how many times each athlete touched the ball. That leads us into a much bigger conversation about equal vs. fair, winning vs. ...
1 Sep 2026 · 31 min
He Played for Iran, Now He’s Training His Daughter to Play in Italy | Coach Mehdi | Ep. 16
Coach Mehdi played volleyball for 25 years in Iran, including years in the Iranian national-team system. Now he's coaching in the United States and passing everything he learned on to the next generation, including his own daughter, Asal. In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, Mehdi takes us inside the life of an elite volleyball player. He talks about training three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, living in national-team camps, playing professionally, traveling in...
25 Aug 2026 · 14 min
How a First-Year High School Coach Changed the Culture | Coach Humble | Ep. 15
What can an experienced coach learn from someone in their first year coaching high school volleyball? Quite a lot. Coach Chijo met Coach Cameron Humble at the Texas High School Coaches Association Convention in Houston. After learning that she had just completed her first season as the head volleyball coach at Orangefield High School, he wanted to know how she approached the job. Coach Humble shares how she worked to change the culture of her program by giving players ownership, expecting upp...
18 Aug 2026 · 6 min
Stella Asks: What Should I Know Before High School Volleyball? | Coach Vicky & Riley | Ep. 14
Stella is heading into her freshman year and has a lot of questions about what high school volleyball is really going to be like. So she asks Coach Vicky and Riley. How do you handle walking into a gym with older players? How confident should a freshman be? What should you do at tryouts? What happens if you don't make the team you wanted? And how do you show coaches that you're coachable? Coach Vicky and Riley give Stella advice from their own experiences, including why communication matters,...
11 Aug 2026 · 57 min
What Volleyball Is Really Like in China | Coach Bai Yun | Ep. 13
What is volleyball really like in China? In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, I sit down with Coach Bai Yun, a former Chinese National Team player and founder of the largest volleyball club in Beijing. With more than 3,000 athletes, 18 coaches, and 12 training locations, she shares what it's really like to develop volleyball players in China. We compare the differences between volleyball in China and the United States, discuss coaching philosophies, player development, discipline, trai...
4 Aug 2026 · 39 min
Isabella Asks Coach Chijo the Questions Every Volleyball Player Wants Answered | Part 2 | Ep. 12
What happens when Super Helper Isabella keeps asking the questions every volleyball player wishes they could ask their coach? In Part 2, Isabella dives even deeper into the coaching decisions that players think about every tournament. Coach Chijo explains exactly how he determines playing time, why attitude matters just as much as skill, and how players can earn opportunities long before match day. They also discuss handling pressure, creative coaching strategies, adapting during matches, and...
28 Jul 2026 · 40 min
Isabella Asks Coach Chijo the Questions Every Volleyball Player Wants Answered | Part 1 | Ep. 11
Super Helper Isabella turns the tables and interviews Coach Chijo with the questions volleyball players have always wanted answered. From tryout tips and tournament warm-ups to choosing captains and understanding why coaches make substitutions, Coach Chijo shares honest insights from more than 30 years of coaching. This is Part 1 of a special two-part interview series. What do coaches really look for during tryouts? Why do coaches substitute players? How are team captains actually chosen? In ...
21 Jul 2026 · 31 min
My Last 24 Hours with John Kessel Changed Everything | Ep. 10
What happens when you spend an entire day learning from one of volleyball's greatest minds? In this solo episode, I share the biggest coaching and teaching lessons I learned after spending 24 hours with legendary volleyball educator John Kessel. Some of these ideas challenged almost everything I've believed about coaching, private lessons, drills, and player development. I found myself questioning many of the methods I've used for years. We dive into why so many players are practicing for pra...
14 Jul 2026 · 25 min
Why Volleyball Festival Feels Like Family | Bryan Kelly | Ep. 9
Why Volleyball Festival Feels Like Family | Bryan Kelly What makes Volleyball Festival so much more than just another volleyball tournament? Coach Chijo sits down with Bryan Kelly, President of Volleyball Festival, during Volleyball Festival in Phoenix to learn why thousands of players and families return year after year. Bryan shares the story behind the tournament's family culture, the traditions that have been passed down for more than four decades, and why creating lifelong memories matte...
7 Jul 2026 · 19 min
What Parents Wish Coaches Knew About Coaching Volleyball | Dina Snook - Ep. 8
What do parents really want from coaches? In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, Coach Chijo sits down with Dina Snook, former volleyball player, volleyball parent, and Coach Chijo Operations Manager, to discuss the coach-parent-player relationship from a perspective many coaches rarely hear. Dina shares her experiences raising athletes through years of club and college volleyball, what parents notice from the sidelines, and how coaches can build stronger relationships with both players ...
30 Jun 2026 · 36 min
Who Gets to Play? Diversity, Access & the Future of Volleyball | Coach Johnitta Clemons - Ep. 7
Who gets the opportunity to play volleyball? In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, Coach Chijo sits down with Coach Johnitta Clemons, Director of Volleyball at Game Day Sports Academy (GSA) in Bakersfield, California, for a powerful conversation about diversity, accessibility, and the future of volleyball. Coach Clemons shares how GSA has built one of the most diverse volleyball communities in California and discusses the barriers many families face when trying to access club volleyball...
23 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
More Than Volleyball: Coaching on Navajo Nation | Coach Kristen - Ep. 6
In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, Coach Chijo sits down with Coach Kristen, Director of Tuba City Volleyball, Head Coach at Tuba City High School, physical therapist, wife, mother, and community leader on Navajo Nation. Coach Kristen shares her journey from helping Tuba City High School win its first-ever Arizona state championship in 2012 to now leading the next generation of athletes in her community. The conversation explores the realities of growing up and playing sports on the ...
16 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
Coach Blase: From the Australian National Team to 12U Volleyball (And Why He Hates Pepper) - Ep 5
Coach Blase has coached volleyball for nearly 50 years, including serving as Head Coach of the Australian Women's National Team. Today, he's coaching 12U and 15U athletes and helping develop the next generation of players. In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, we discuss what great coaching really looks like, why player development starts with self-awareness, and how coaches can create environments where athletes learn, grow, and enjoy the game. Coach Blase shares stories from his coach...
7 Jun 2026 · 27 min
How Top Court Events Runs Up to 50 Volleyball Tournaments a Year?! | Chris Hames – Ep. 4
How do you run up to 50 volleyball tournaments a year across the country? In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, I sit down with Chris Hames from Top Court Events while we were in Las Vegas at the Emperor’s Cup Volleyball Tournament. Top Court generously hosted me at the event so I could meet followers, sign autographs, and take photos with players and families throughout the weekend. Chris shares what happens behind the scenes to organize major volleyball tournaments and the pressure th...
31 May 2026 · 10 min
What Players Wish Coaches Knew – Isabella's Perspective as a 16U Player - Ep. 3
What Players Wish Coaches Knew | Isabella’s Perspective as a 16U Player What do players actually wish coaches understood? In this episode of the Coach Chijo Podcast, Isabella shares her perspective as a 16U club volleyball player and talks honestly about communication, confidence, mistakes, pressure, and what truly makes a coach impactful. We talk about: • How different athletes respond differently to coaching • What players are thinking after mistakes • Why communication style matters so muc...
24 May 2026 · 58 min
The Truth About Being Volleyball Influencers | Coach Donny x Coach Chijo – Ep. 2
What does it really take to build a volleyball brand online? In this episode, Coach Donny and Coach Chijo sit down in Las Vegas during tournament weekend to talk about the reality behind content creation, social media growth, editing, filming, staff, pressure, burnout, and the work people never see behind the scenes. We also talk about the sacrifices that come with constant travel, including missing family and balancing real life while trying to grow a brand and help people through volleyball...
E1 · 17 May 2026 · 21 min
How We Built the Coach Chijo Brand in Just One Year – Ep. 1
One year ago, Monica and I were basically just “playing coach.” Now we’re traveling across the country running volleyball clinics, building the Coach Chijo brand, meeting thousands of athletes, and recording our very first podcast episode. In this episode, we talk about: • how everything started • what the early days looked like • building a brand from scratch • lessons we’ve learned along the way • what actually helps athletes become better players • and s...

About Coach Chijo Podcast

Real conversations about coaching, volleyball, mindset and leadership

Coach Chijo Podcast is a English sport podcast from Coach Chijo. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Coach Chijo
Language: English
Category: Sport
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 33 min
Latest episode: 13 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1896738410

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