There was a buzz at the Side-Out booth this year for the 2017 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Convention. We went into Kansas City with a message of “The good things we build, build us”. This message stood out to us, especially for the convention, because coaches have a great opportunity to build a positive culture within their programs and a Dig Pink® event is one of the many things they could do to build that culture.
We had a big question to answer with this message. How do we talk to the coaches about this opportunity to build?
While searching for ideas, we came across the video below from SoulPancake on YouTube and thought it was perfect for the convention.
All we had to do was have two coaches jump in a pool full of plastic play balls and answer questions! We wanted coaches to have a chance to let loose and answer some questions about their coaching philosophies and what it means to them to be in a position to build the complete student-athlete.
Our first day in Kansas City was all about the preparation of the booth and getting the ball pit ready! You can view the setup of everything above.
We debuted our ball pit on day two of the convention and it was a huge hit! We had coaches lining up to get in and we received some great answers to our questions. Each day at the convention we were impressed by the coaches and the willingness to take each question seriously even though they were in a fun environment. There are many coaching stories out there and we heard some great ones.
In addition to the ball pit on Thursday, the coaching winners of the AVCA grand prize raffle were honored at the Coaches Honors Luncheon and represented all the teams and individuals that raised funds through Side-Out’s 2017 Dig Pink® rally.
And what better way to close out the day than with two AMAZING five-set semifinal matches?
Friday was a special day for everyone here at Side-Out because the winners of the Side-Out/AVCA National Dig Pink Award were announced at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet. The three honorees represent everything Dig Pink® means to us. It’s not only about wearing pink and playing volleyball. These students had an opportunity to make a tremendous impact on their team, school and community and embraced the challenge.
Our final day at the AVCA Convention featured more coaches interviews and being amazed by the Bring Your Own Parent (BYOP) Program. After packing up everything, we enjoyed another great NCAA volleyball final between Florida and Nebraska. We can’t think of a better way to close out a great time in Kansas City!
We will be working on the ball pit videos over the next couple weeks and we will have something produced for the new year!
As we return to our office this week, we want to give special thank yous to our friends at AVCA for another fantastic convention, all the coaches (about 50 total) that helped us with our ball pit and answered our coaching questions, and finally to everyone that stopped by to talk to us about Dig Pink®. It is always a high point for us to talk about the impact our sport has in the lives of so many people.
