- December 4, 2025
New Mainland High volleyball coach Stephen Young held his first open gym on Monday, July 7, and 17 players participated.
“I did not expect that many,” Young said later that evening. “I think that was a great number to gauge the interest. Volleyball is such a quickly growing popular sport.”
Young’s enthusiasm for the sport should attract greater numbers. The 2006 DeLand High grad played baseball for the Bulldogs and played baseball, football and basketball during the two years he attended Deltona Trinity Christian as a sophomore and junior. His wife Katie did play volleyball in high school. After their 13-year-old daughter began playing the sport four or five years ago, Young began helping out at Rise Elite Volleyball Club. Last year, he became a head coach, leading a Rise Elite 14U team to a 7-4 record, a year after the team went 1-9, he said.
“I fell in love with volleyball strategy,” Young said.
And he found similarities with volleyball and the sport he knew best.
“Throwing a baseball is almost the same as hitting a volleyball,” Young said. “It’s the same mechanics. It’s easy for me to teach hitting and serving, it’s almost identical mechanics to throwing a baseball.”
Young’s life revolves around sports. Since 2011, he’s been writing about sports for RotoGrinder.com, focusing on betting and fantasy analysis for NASCAR, baseball and football. He also hosts a podcast for the website.
“I’m big on the analytics side,” he said. “I can break down film with the best of them, which is something that really helped me with coaching as well. We do it with my club team. My daughter loves breaking down film with me.”
His No. 1 requirement for his players is something that also translates from baseball and other sports.
“My biggest thing is effort,” he said. “If you have effort, you’re coachable, you can do anything. Hard work pays off.”
Young would like to see club players join his Buccaneers’ team.
“Club volleyball is fantastic,” he said. “It really challenges players. The talent is incredible in club volleyball right now, especially in Florida.”
Young is hosting tryouts for the Mainland volleyball team on July 28-29 with open gyms continuing on July 10, 15, 16, 22 and 23 from 10 a.m. to noon.
“I think we have lot of talent,” he said after the first day. “I’m genuinely excited about the season and the future.”
