Love for the game
No Borders Volleyball Club provides growth for young players
Stacey (Domer) Hustosky has been around volleyball the majority of her life.
The 2006 graduate of Connellsville Area High School continued her academic and volleyball careers at Slippery Rock University prior to returning to her alma mater to coach the team from 2010 to 2014.
Hustosky assisted Nancy Wheeler at Penn State Fayette the next four years before focusing on coaching the No Borders Volleyball Club, which she established in 2017 while working with Wheeler.
Hustosky created the club to provide her sister with an opportunity to continue to grow as a player outside of the high school practices and matches. After several lean years in terms of participation, Hustosky has seen the numbers grow and the players are receptive to coaching from herself and the staff at No Borders Volleyball Club.
“My sister was on the initial team in 2017, which only had 10 girls,” Hustosky said. “It was scary for the first couple of years, but the interest has grown. When I started the No Borders Volleyball Club, I was still at Penn State Fayette, and they had the Penn Highlands Club, but it folded during COVID.”
The club is for anyone in the area, and it starts at age three for boys and girls. Boys can participate until they are 12, but the club is limited to girls from the age of 13 to 18 due to USA Volleyball rules.
“We typically don’t get enough interest for the boys to have their own team, and due to USA Volleyball rules, they can only play together until they are 12 years of age,” Hustosky said. “We don’t really have any high school boys teams in our area, so that can be a challenge when attempting to fill out a team.
“We do offer summer clinics that are open to anyone. We even have some adults that come to our conditioning workouts. It’s great. Up until I had kids, I worked the clubs at Slippery Rock, and we had adult camps.”
Hustosky and her staff focus on player development more than wins and losses in the early going, but they do compete in tournaments that range from Pittsburgh to Atlantic City.
“Our No. 1 priority when the kids come to our club is for them to develop a love for the game,” Hustosky said. “A lot of kids get burnt out on the sport and don’t want to play in high school and college. We want to teach them the game and reassure them that wins and losses in these tournament matches won’t have an impact on their futures.
“We don’t have them play in tournaments until they are older, and for the kids in the 3-6 age group, we use balloons and beach balls before moving to the actual volleyballs.”
The club has a range of athletes from Fairmont, W.Va., to Washington, Fayette and Westmoreland counties. Greene County isn’t represented as much as the other counties, but Hustosky stated several players are from Carmichaels and other parts of the county.
“We are from all over the place, but we like to call ourselves a family-oriented group,” Hustosky said. “We work with the parents. They get a voice in helping, and all our kids tend to know each other.”
The club has a board that consists of Morgan Nutter, Jessica Logan, Alexis Petrosky, Kennedi Stockey and Alex Muccioli.
Every member on the board, which includes Hustosky as the club director, also coaches with the exception of Petrosky, who is the treasurer.
“We are very glad to have a treasurer,” Hustosky said. “I tried to do it at first without one, and that was so challenging. I couldn’t do this without the help of my coaches and board members.”
Information regarding the club can be obtained online at https://www.nobordersvbc.com/ and the club’s Facebook page.