Volleyball Coaching Wizards - Wizard Women

Six master volleyball coaching women with experience covering different levels, across multiple countries, and with varied backgrounds share their stories on the road to success. 

This book continues the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project of interviewing top coaches and sharing their insights and experiences with you, but with a new angle. Wizard Women is about women coaches, for women in coaching. While it features discussion of similar general coaching themes as the original series, it adds in discussion of the additional challenges women face in the coaching profession.

Erin Appleman – A US college coach at Yale, where she led her program to the first ever Ivy League team win in the NCAA tournament.

Audrey Cooper – A Scot who lead Team GB in the 2012 Olympics and has coached both professional and non-professional adult club teams.

Denise Corlett – A career US assistant coach at Stanford, where she contributed to multiple national championships.

Ann Schilling – A US high school and juniors coach with an incredible record of success.

Saskia Van Hintum – A Dutch coach who's worked across the levels from juniors to pro and national team indoors, and at the national team level on the beach.

Shannon Winzer - A Canadian who started at the adult club level and progressed to national team coaching.

What readers are saying

"This is a great book for coaches with all levels of experience and levels of play.  The women interviewed in the book talk about how they prepare and the challenges they have faced getting their programs started.  They are all very successful and built programs from the ground up while learning to successfully balance their family life.  I especially enjoyed the advice they give to beginning coaches.  It is amazing to me that no matter what level we coach we have some of the same challenges and obstacles but we all love our profession.  This was a great learning experience for me!!" - Jamie McDougal, high school coach

"As a female, high school volleyball coach, there are zero relatable books for our niche. Trust me, I've looked. There are numerous books for coaches of other sports, basketball, football, less books for volleyball coaching in general, but there's a huge shortage of reading material for women volleyball coaches specifically. Wizard Women fills that void. Sometimes as a coach and a leader all you need to feel better about a situation or a decision is for someone to say, yeah, I went through that too and made it out the other side. This book gives you six examples of women coaches that with their combined experience have been through it all. I found many examples, of ok, she's gone through that as well, or even ok, that's a great take on how to deal with a situation like that. Not just as a female coach, any coach could benefit from the shared wisdom in these pages." – Kassi Mortensen

Volleyball Coaching Wizards - Wizard Women is a book every female volleyball coach should have in their volleyball library, not only to read for themselves but to share with young female athletes interested in coaching. More female coaches need to hear about these very successful coaches from so many different levels. Each of these coaches share their passion, their process in continuing to grow in their field, their love of the game, their love for their athletes and being great mentors to other women in coaching. - Brenda Williams, retired college coach

"Volleyball Coaching Wizards - Wizard Women by Lauren Bertolacci and John Forman is a much needed book to help inspire more women to enter the coaching profession. As Lauren says in the book, 'I truly believe we can't be what we can't see' when referring to women in coaching. This book can serve to help rectify that problem as it showcases outstanding female coaches from around the world and a variety of levels, their individual journeys through volleyball and coaching, their evolution as coaches, and great advice for future coaches. If you are a current coach or thinking about coaching, this book will help you gain a better understanding of the profession and valuable advice moving forward." - Mark Oglesby, Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association AAA Coach of the Year 2021, 2022

What is Volleyball Coaching Wizards?

The Volleyball Coaching Wizards project is about identifying great coaches from all categories of volleyball and making their experience, insights, and expertise available to people all over the world. We interview coaches from across the globe, all age groups, both genders, all competitive levels, indoor and beach. They share with us their philosophies, their thought processes, and their methodologies. We then share that with you.

About the Authors

Lauren Bertolacci is currently the head coach for the Swiss professional women’s team Viteos NUC Volleyball, as well as being the head coach for the Swiss Women’s National Team. At NUC her teams have won three straight league championships and three straight Cup titles, and have competed in CEV competition as well. Before NUC, she was the head coach for the Volley Luzern men’s team. Prior to taking charge of Switzerland she assisted with the national teams of both Canada and her native Australia. Lauren’s coaching career follows a professional playing career, as well as national team experience.

John Forman is the author of the well-respected Coaching Volleyball blog (CoachingVB.com) and the co-developer of Volleyball Coaching Wizards with his partner Mark Lebedew. His coaching experience includes time in all three NCAA Divisions, as well as at the 2-year college level. He also coached in England at both the university (BUCS) and National League (NVL) Division I levels, and had a stint as head coach in Sweden’s top women’s league. Additionally, John was a Juniors club director and coach in the New England area for several years. He’s also had the good fortune of being a visiting at youth, collegiate, professional, and national teams in a number of different countries.