Dave Zelenock, the head coach of women’s volleyball at The Citadel, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 feet podcast going over the whirlwind of a past season for his team, his start in the coaching field, some exciting travel adventures he has had, and ones expected to happen sometime in the near future.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How this past season went for The Citadel Volleyball team (0:21)

• How Coach Zelenock got into coaching (2:27)

• Dave’s favorite travel experience (4:00)

• Dave’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (6:25)

• Dave’s next adventure (9:55)

A Whirlwind of A Season for The Citadel’s Volleyball Team

Courtney: Hi guys, welcome back, it's Courtney. Today I'm sitting down with coach Dave Zelenock. He's head coach for women's volleyball, and we're just excited to sit down and chat with you. Thanks so much for joining us, Dave. We're excited to chat and get to know you a little bit better.

Dave Zelenock: Thanks for having me.

Courtney: Yeah. We'll dive in and just let's have you tell us about the highs and lows of your past season?

Dave Zelenock: Sure. One of the biggest highs is we had seven freshmen. When you have seven freshmen join a team and they overwhelm the culture of the team and they bring a lot of energy. Most classes are three or four people. We had seven people. We came in really high energy, a lot of excitement, all that stuff. That really lasted throughout the year. The freshmen fueled us all year. The lows of the year, obviously losses aren't great, but being the school that we are and the way things go here, it's unavoidable. We're not really a university that's built to have super consistent things because our kids go through stuff during the year that a normal school, they don't go through. Challenge Week, Ring Week, all these things that dominate our kids' life in season, for a week here a week there. We take losses that sometimes we don't think we should. We think we could have pulled that out, but our kids did 500 pushups that day and they can't feel their arms, so they can't really swing too hard when they can't lift their arms up, stuff like that.

That's always a bummer to lose a match that you feel like your best could have beat them, but you weren't really able to put your best out there. That's one of the hard things about this job.

Courtney: Yeah. That's awesome that you had that energy coming in with those freshmen and it's fun that you have so many freshmen that you'll be able to work with as they progress in their schooling and with the sport, you'll be able to work with them and mold that team.

Dave Zelenock: Yeah. Of those seven, four of them were starters pretty much all year. The fifth one was in and out throughout the year based on health. So, five of the seven played significant time. We started a libero, an opposite and two middles, and those were all freshmen. Then we had an out side that, like I said, she was in and out throughout the year. They did really well for freshmen competing at the divisional level. To be out there that much, it's only going to help us in the future.

The Start of It All fo Coach Dave Zelenock

Courtney: How did you become the head coach? What brought you to being a head coach for women's volleyball?

Dave Zelenock: I was an assistant for, I think, nine years before I made a head coaching move. I was at a different school for about five years. Then when I got here... The Citadel has always been an interesting place for me. My family's very military, so I'm adjacent to it. A little sister in the Army, cousins, uncles, all that stuff. So at a young age, I was actually really interested in the Citadel, but they didn't have volleyball. It became something like, all right I'm not going to really. Then I looked back at them later in high school and some of my injuries from sports led me away from ending up coming here. But then 20 years later I ended up here. I worked my way up from Division Two. Volunteering Division Two, doing well, Division One, I got to coach at my alma mater, Central Michigan, and then from there, Tennessee Tech, and then the Citadel.

Coach Dave Zelenock’s Adventures Abroad

Courtney: I know with sports, a lot of times it comes with a lot of travel and being able to play with a university and being able to coach at a university. I know you guys do a lot of travel around the states. Because we're a travel company, what would you say your most memorable international travel experience has been in your life?

Dave Zelenock: Well, I didn't get to go anywhere international with my team yet. That's something, hopefully we can get on the books soon. But myself personally, I played in one of those Bring It foreign tours, things like that. I don't remember the company honestly, but it was so long ago. We went to Rome, England... I can't even remember everywhere we were. My passport is somewhere around here. We got to play against some high-level teams, some people a lot older than us. We were all 18 and 19 year old guys and we were playing 30 year old guys with face tattoos. All right, if we lose they might hurt us. So it was an interesting trip for sure. The volleyball was fine, but getting to see different cultures, different foods, everything was really a cool experience. A lot of those people, because there was a women's team with us, a lot of those guys and girls I'm still friends with and talk to all the time. They're all over the country. So it's really cool to have this connection from 15, 20 years ago with all these people.

Courtney: Yeah, that's so cool. I think that when you travel as a team together and, like you said, there was a woman's team there as well, you guys create bonds that are a lot stronger because you've traveled together. There's something about travel that just brings people together which is really cool.

Dave Zelenock: Yeah, and a lot of these people, we haven't been even in the same state in a decade and we still see each other. Oh, this one had a kid and this one did this and we all say congrats. We check in on each other. We haven't seen each other in person in such a long time.

Courtney: Yeah, but you're still friends and you still have that bond created from that experience that you all shared together. That's really cool.

Dave Zelenock: Right.

Courtney: You had mentioned that you would want to go on foreign tours with your teams and that's something that you guys are looking into still doing. That would be cool to able to have those bonding experiences with the girls that you're coaching, to see them bond together, with what travel brings with that.

Dave Zelenock: Yeah. Right now they get bonded through the way things are at the Citadel. They get bonded from getting up at four in the morning and running miles. That trial by fire is what bonds them, but it would be great for them to be able to have some happier memories that they can talk about instead of, oh my gosh, we survived those things. That is what our function of Citadel is to be that happier thing, athletics. But still, athletics is hard, it's competitive. There's injuries and arguments and all that stuff. But going on a foreign tour would be phenomenal for us to, like I said, have that different bonding.

Coach Dave Zelenock’s Advice to Athletes

Courtney: If you're an athlete wanting to play for a team in university, what would your advice be to that athlete?

Dave Zelenock: I can only speak to what I look for. I look for interesting people. Obviously, everyone has their metrics of what they want. If you could touch 10 feet and have a cannon for an arm, that's great. But if you're a jerk, it doesn't help me. We spend a lot of time together, close quarters and bus rides and all this stuff. If you're a grump and a curmudgeon, I just don't have much use for those people. I've had a couple blue chip athletes over the years and they were headaches. They were the things that you want. They're 6'4" outsides who touch 10 or whatever, but they just cause so much headache. I would rather take a kid who jumps half that if they're just a great kid who works super hard and they're fun to be around and interesting.

It's hard to tell a kid, "Hey, be more interesting," but develop yourself as a person. The volleyball will come. If you're a hardworking person who's fun to be around and easy going, I think that goes a lot further than, like I said, that grump, who's just... Yeah they can do this one thing really well, but other than that, no one wants to be around them. I think people are catching on a lot more now than it used to be what the money ball of things like, "Oh, she's worth this many kills." I think people are realizing the connections matter a lot more than the numbers and the metrics. We can get a lot more out of a good person. Obviously that's subjective, but for me, that's what I focus on. I talk to kids.

For our school, I try to scare them the first time I talk to him. I tell him all the bad things. I tell him some good stuff too, but I'm like, "Look, if I can tell you these things and you're still interested, well, all right. You're a little crazy, and that's cool." That's what I look for. I like kids who have a little bit of an edge to them. There's one kid who... I obviously won't say her name, but I told her no five times and she'd just go, "Hey, I'm going to play for you." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, sure." I told her no five times. She kept hammering me with it until she brow beat me into it. Fine, I'm going to watch this whole match and I'm going to sit here and watch it. She came and she ended up starting three of her four years. Just that personality, that tenacity, to keep coming after me, she was like, "No, I want to come there and play for you." I wasn't interested because as a player she wasn't there, but that personality is what made me actually fall in love and want to get that kid to come play for me.

Courtney: Yeah, that's awesome. That's really great advice. I feel like a lot of times we hear about that they need to be academically strong and all those other type of things, but it's nice to hear that you also are looking for good people. It's good advice for kids as they're developing and wanting to play for a university, that coaches are also looking for a good personality, that they should also develop their character.

Dave Zelenock: Yeah, and there's a lot of ways to do it. The resources are out there, you just got to look. Same with getting bigger, faster, stronger. Yeah, fine, look it up online. Do some setups or whatever. But the other stuff you've got to actually go out and experience life, whether that's travel or just do different things. We've got to get kids to not be so robotic and think this is the only way to do things.

Some Upcoming Exciting Adventures for Dave Zelenock

Courtney: My last question for you, I know there's a lot of crazy things happening in the world right now, but what's your next adventure and what are you most excited about for your next season?

Dave Zelenock: Oh, goodness. Getting them back. Our spring season got cut pretty abruptly. I'm not a big softie or anything, but I do miss having the players around. Hopefully they don't hear this, but yeah. It just feels weird not seeing them every day. Just being able to get together as a group, and there's all the inside jokes that we have. They just don't come through when we're doing FaceTime or Zoom calls. The jokes don't land when there's not a group around. I just miss having the team around. We bring back a lot of our starters from last year, so that's exciting. All those freshmen having a full season under their belt is great. They made some big improvements when we did have spring. I just think getting them back on campus is what I'm looking forward to.

Courtney: That's awesome. That's really great. It sounds like your team has a pretty good bond and that you have a good bond with the girls as a coach. That's awesome.

Dave Zelenock: We have our moments. I don't want to paint the prettiest picture. Of course, like any family, we argue. We put the fun in dysfunctional, I suppose. We definitely have a lot of fun together.

Courtney: That's so great. We're super excited to watch the next season that you guys get to play and see how your team goes with those freshmen that you've been able to have this season and how they'll do next season, and as your team grows, and as you mold that team. We're excited to watch you guys play and see the success that you'll have.

Dave Zelenock: Well, thanks. Hopefully, we make it out to you guys sometime.

The Citadel Volleyball:

• The Citadel Volleyball Team Twitter

Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

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