We had the pleasure of sitting down with Xavier University’s own Christy Pfeffenberger, the head coach of women’s volleyball, in this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast. Christy shares how she got her start in coaching, the different opportunities and experiences that student-athletes get, gives some advice that is useful and important for student-athletes to know, and gives an idea of what we can expect from the Xavier women’s volleyball team next season!

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Christy got started in volleyball (0:48)

• How Christy got into coaching (4:02)

• Travel adventures that Christy has experienced as a coach (8:12)

• How to turn wins and losses into positive learning experiences for the team (12:03)

• What you can expect from the Xavier volleyball team this next season (14:51)

• Advice Christy would share to athletes (18:18)

How Christy Transitioned from Playing to Coaching Volleyball

Kylie: How did that transition happen between playing volleyball and then making the move to coach? Was it always something you wanted to do? Did it just kind of fall in your lap or how did that come about?

Christy: I've always been surrounded by people who know a little bit better than me. I'm very thankful for that. I'm a teacher by education. I always wanted to be either an elementary ed or a physical education teacher. So that's what I graduated with and I was very fortunate that my college coach at the time kept telling me that I need to get into college coaching. I said, you're crazy. That's just ridiculous hours and a life that I don't want. And at the time, becoming a physical education teacher in the state of Ohio was pretty much slim to none opportunities. And if I wanted to go back to Indiana, I was just going to have to take more classes and another test. And to me at the time was the worst idea ever. So I decided why not try to get into coaching. My assistant at the time, who is my assistant coach got a head coaching job and asked me to come be his assistant.

And I figure, well, I'm young, why not? I get to travel around recruiting and get to go see my friends. I get to spend more time in the game that I love and then if I'm going to do it at any time, I might as well be now and I can't find a job in teaching. So that's pretty much how I got into coaching. I was very fortunate to be surrounded by people who, who believed in me, even though I didn't really see it myself. And then just different coaches along the way that knew me as a player kept reaching out to me to be their assistant coach. And like I said, I'm just very fortunate that people kept reaching out to me and helped me along the way that I was able to just travel the path to become a head coach.

Kylie: How Incredible. And did you just jump straight into coaching at Xavier or did you coach at some universities prior to that?

Christy: Yep. So I originally got my first coaching job at Youngstown State, it's up in Northeast Ohio. And then after that, the head coach at Xavier at the time who I competed against, tracked me down and hired me to be his assistant coach. And then we actually had a head coaching change at the time and I was fortunate enough to stay on as an assistant coach for the new head coach. And then I had an opportunity to go coach at Notre Dame, be an assistant coach up at Notre Dame, which I was very excited about.

Finally get into a bigger conference, a power five conference for dominant a university across the nation, which was very exciting. And then I had the wonderful opportunity to start a family and I started to realize that maybe coaching at a certain level and putting in so many hours with a family wasn't the right path that I wanted at the time. And I was very fortunate that the assistant coaching job at Xavier opened back up during that whole mental process. And my husband was able to get a job back here at Cincinnati and I just kind of walked back into my role of assistant coach.

Xavier Volleyball Travels to Puerto Rico

Kylie: We have a large travel audience that loves to hear from people in that space as well. I'd love to transition to some adventures that you've had in the past or this past year. I know we briefly spoke about a few of them, some of the cool travel experiences here, even in the United States that you've been able to have with your team. I'd love for you to maybe highlight one of the most memorable. 

Christy: I'm a big advocate that being a student-athlete at the collegiate level, whatever division that you're in, whatever level you're in, yes it's about championships. Yes, it's about winning and losing. But more importantly, it's about the experience that you get through being a student-athlete. I'm sure you can think back to the memories that you have that you never would have had those experiences if you weren't a student-athlete at BYU. So it's something as a coach I try to do for our players. And of course, it doesn't always work out where we can give them the opportunities, but I always try to get players that aren't from an hour or two from here, back home to their home crowd. And if I don't have that opportunity, then at least give them a trip. So two years ago, we actually had the opportunity, I took the team down to Puerto Rico where we had a player from, she's never played in front of her home crowd in four years at college.

And so her senior year we were able to get her to play back in her hometown, her home gym and in front of her people. So she was very, very thankful for that. And we got to experience her culture and Puerto Rico for a full five days I believe. And then this past year, we didn't really have anywhere or anybody to go visit and so I took the team out to Utah and got them a little bit more culture and experience of what the West is like and people out there. And we had a fantastic time.

What’s Next for the Xavier Volleyball Team

Kylie: In light of adventure, what are some adventures, things that you're most excited for next year or things that we can expect from the Xavier volleyball team?

Christy: That's a great question. I'm still trying to figure those out.

Kylie: And that's okay.

Christy: I think what's going to be fun to watch is the unity that this team's going to bring to the floor. We saw pieces of it this past season, but they were still feeling it out and feeling each other out in some lack of confidence in themselves that we're working really hard on that piece, this offseason of trusting the individual a little bit more of that sitting next to you and realizing that they're really in it for the same reasons you are. And that you're going to see it, it's going to be a fun show that we put on every match I think. And in a sense that we're just going to be out there having fun. And I want them to have fun and, and competing and working hard is fun and have the confidence to do so.

Have the confidence just to go hard, not knowing the outcome. And that's kind of where I want this group to go. And they're really buying into it and they're really, they're thriving on it right now. It's uncomfortable as ever, but they're thriving on it. And I think this next season will be fun in that sense that we're going to take some of the teams by surprise of just the way we go about the game and how different it's been. It's going to be so different from the previous two years, so if they are juniors or seniors, they're going to think we're a completely different team.

Coach Christy’s One Piece of Advice for Student-Athletes

Kylie: What would one piece of advice if you were to give to really anyone, maybe someone who's looking, who is a student-athlete or who wants to be a student-athlete or just someone in life. What would be one piece of advice that you'd leave with them?

Christy: It's probably two-fold. One I already talked about is just you got to work through the uncomfortable in order to grow. And that's even as a leader, you constantly, you don't know everything, even though you step into a new leadership role thinking I've prepared for this moment. You've got to keep growing. You've got to keep molding with those around you and working with them and not for them in that sense. And I think that was the biggest lesson I learned is I came through my experiences and I'm like, okay, this is the coach that I want to be. And I just, I worked towards that instead of being the communicator and the leader that my team needed.

Kylie: Yeah.

Christy: If that makes sense? Like I was trying to be the leader that I always wanted to be for me and my teams instead of the leader that my players actually needed. So I think that's a big piece of leadership is just how to get those around you to work at their best, how to maximize their ability. And that's what makes a great leader.

It's not a perfect picture. It's not ever set in stone. So I think that's a big lesson to learn and also just communicate. Just communicate, communicate, communicate and communicate some more. Because if you don't, you create stories that your players create stories. If you're a player, your coach creates stories. There's always this fear of where are they going to think of me. Well, what if they think better of you? You never know unless you ask. You never know unless you talk. You never know. And if they do belittle you because of those thoughts, then you're just in the wrong place and you need to get away from that person. But to have that self-respect to communicate, I think that's huge.

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Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle