“Be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
Penny Lucas-White, the head coach of volleyball at Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, took the time to be apart of this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast. She tells all about her experiences of coaching different teams leading up to Alabama State University, how the best leadership is made, as well as the impact that traveling and playing abroad can have on a team!
In this episode, we discuss:
How Coach White handles team injuries and unforeseen obstacles (0:15)
What Coach White learned as a United States National Team Athlete (6:30)
Why Coach White decided to become a coach after being an athlete (7:45)
Where champions are made (12:35)
How focusing on the classroom helps athletes be better (15:23)
The trips Coach White took her Air Force Academy team on (20:45)
What Coach White learned in the last year that will impact her next year (21:34)
Coach White’s advice to college athletes (23:48)
Coach White’s most recent travel adventure (25:27)
How Penny White Became a Volleyball Coach
Coach White: It's almost like a natural progression, in fact, pretty interesting. I think it was weird. I played for the United States, I played abroad and I played up until... I really played up into my thirties because I played professionally here in the States but when you just talk about being abroad and all of that and where coaching just naturally played out. I come back from Italy in 1991 and I get married and I'm down in Florida at the university of Florida with Mary Wise and I have been working her volleyball camp and lo and behold or across her desk comes a fax back then that, the university of Memphis, they were formally called Memphis State University, was looking for a head coach and she looked at me and said, "Penny, you can really be good at this". I'm like, "You really think so?" and so she's like, "Yeah, I really do."
And so I packed up my things, I told my husband, I said, "I got a job. I'm going to be the head coach at the university of Memphis." And I took the job and obviously did a great job in my five years there. It was just natural. So because I was not... I literally started out assistant coaching at Auburn, but that was kind of in between. When I wasn't abroad playing and I'd come home and that was just natural. I would be coaching and so I did but then I'd go back overseas and play and then I'll come back but to say when I got the university of Memphis job, I said okay, I'm just going to focus on staying in the States and I'm going to coach and I think I'm done because I coached there for five years.
Then I go to the United States air force Academy and I start coaching there and the professional, the major league volleyball comes along and I started back playing, I played for Chicago Breeze and I played for the Dallas but Bells I was able to keep my primary job and fly on the weekend... And I played for the Colorado Thunder. And I could fly on weekends and go compete and come back and still coach my team it was phenomenal.
Leadership Comes Down to Influence
Coach White: When you talk about leadership. Leadership, it comes down to influence. Nothing more, nothing less. It comes down to establishing good relationships. So for me, learning how important academics work for them and how if those cadets didn't cut it in the classroom, they weren't allowed to practice. I brought that same model here. I brought that model here. If you're not cutting it in the classroom, then you don't get the opportunity to practice because you are a student athlete. You are a student first. And I think that is that it's vital that that message be carried over and just be something that we hammer every day. So with that being said, I am the proud coach of postgraduate scholars. I'm the proud coach of kids. Let's just talk about the ones from here Alabama State. At the Academy. Oh, we have pilots, we have lawyers, we have doctors, we have judges, we have everything come in right here.
Coming here to the Alabama state university. I now have a pharmacist. I have a young lady that works for Google. We have a plethora of school teachers. We have young women that are in law school. We have a young woman that's an assistant athletic director slash volleyball coach. You name it. We have a plethora of everything, every walk of life. So that is so important, is that they have to be able to see life after sport and that's where the academics side come. I told my parents during the recruiting pieces, the only thing I can guarantee is that we'll have everything she needs to graduate. We'll have the support system, we'll have the structure, we'll have the study halls now it's left up to her to do the work, but we will never neglect them having the opportunity to excel in the classroom.
Gracie: Yeah, that's an awesome mission statement. I think having that ability to be able to promise that and be able to actually follow through as a university and as a coach is something that, I think most girls are looking for as they go to college is structure-
Coach White: Absolutely.
Gracie: A community, comfort, the ability to really grow and find themselves and I think that with the program that you have, you're definitely giving them the ability and like the green light to say, "Hey, this is your chance now..."
Alabama State Women’s Volleyball Team Fundraising for a Foreign Tour + Immersing Yourself in Cultures
Gracie: Have you guys done any foreign tours with Alabama State? Anything like that?
Coach White: We have not yet and that was one of the things I know, taking the job, that I had really discussed that I wanted to do. It's so funny you say that. This current group right now has made it up in their minds that they are committed to fundraising because it's something that they really want to do and I think it's so beneficial. One; for young women to travel abroad, two, for them to experience the level of international play and what it does. It really creates a synergy and a cohesiveness amongst the team when they come back and when they start their season anew in the fall they have something that have really brought them together and it's the team bonding overall that really occurs when they're on these foreign tours. So it is something that I do agree. I took my air force team on two foreign tours and it was so beneficial for the young women and I think it's something that you really want to expose your program to if you have the opportunity.
Gracie: Yeah, I totally agree. So we're like an adventure travel podcast. So we definitely like to hear the perspective of what you just said of how these girls are able to grow as a team and also individually with the traveling abroad as they're getting more immersed into culture, but also just the way it reflects on the court, in their game and how they communicate as a team. It's just unbelievable.
Coach White: Absolutely.
Gracie: These foreign tours.
Coach White: ... And especially if some of them have developed a second language that they're able to use while they are abroad. Me living in Italy, playing in Italy for three years. I speak Italian. So to take my girls over there and we had dinner and we are ordering and they're watching me just pull it back and forth with the... It was amazing.
Coach White’s Biggest Takeaways from the Season
Gracie: What are you excited for this year or what was the biggest takeaways that you're going to implement and this next season?
Coach White: I think the biggest takeaway that we can you know, you can take the different challenges that we face as a team and still finish the way that we desire as long as everybody's bought in? So we want to make sure that our girls support what it is they helped create. So we're going to support it, but we need for them to create the message. So I think when you're dealing with Generation Z, we talk about them creating the message. One; my young women have decided they want to raise their funds to go on a foreign tour. So they've already setting that up and organizing that. Number two, then they want to talk about; so what does the number conference championship or fifth in a row, what does that look like? Do you continue to do the same thing or is there something we have to do differently because the league has truly gotten stronger?
So what do we have to do differently to keep our edge? So getting them to create that message. I'm looking forward to it because the young women that have just graduated or that will be graduating are part of the group that won four in a row. So there is no one else left that have won four in a row. So now there's this new message that you have to say, "Well, does that look like for you? What did you like about the leadership last season? Where is it that you'd like to see change and how are you going to go about doing that?" And so those are conversations I enjoy having with my students athletes and those are the conversations we really need to be very specific about so we make sure we're all on the same page.
Gracie: Yeah, I know. I super love that. I love the open communication between the coaches and the team as it's a big collaboration and as you were saying with the Generation Z that's totally going to be something that resonates with them.
Coach White’s Advice to Athletes Wanting to Play at the Next Level
Gracie: My next question is if you're an athlete wanting to play for a team or university, what would your advice be?
Coach White: I think if you're an athlete that want to play at the next level, I think one and foremost you've got to make sure your academics are strong because I will tell you right now, the one thing coaches won't do is we're not going to look at a kid that's not strong academically. You know? Number two; if it's something that you really want to do, then the next thing you really need to make sure is that you're reaching out to these coaches. Have the highlight video, give them your club schedule, give them, if you're playing in a club and you're traveling visit schools while you're in their different cities because, now with technology you want to jump on the stick as soon as you can because you know the video tape era is out. You could send little clips. YouTube clips with technology, we can see a kid. I mean, just talking about it. Everything's right at our fingertips, but when we see a kid that's determined, that's strong academically and strong athletically that's a great way to start.
Gracie: Yeah, I love that. I definitely think that some athletes think that they've got it all and oh, the coaches will reach out to them, but I can definitely see the perspective of making the highlight videos, reaching out to coaches.
Coach White’s Next Adventure
Gracie: What’s your next adventure? Either with your team or in your personal life or either or both two?
Coach White: Well, let me tell you what I just did. I just came back off of a cruise. I flew over to Dubai. We flew to Dubai. Yeah, we went to Dubai. Me and some volleyball coaches, former volleyball players, former athletes. It was six women. We fly into Dubai, we spend the next eight days on a cruise. We go to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Qatar, you name it, we did it all. It was wonderful. I love traveling abroad. Last summer I went to Australia. I'll be going back to Australia. I'm a mother of three student-athletes. One college graduate. He played football at Oregon State. He's now working, has his first job, doing well. I have 21-year-old twins who are in school playing. The girls playing volleyball, the boys playing football. So I'm really an empty nester. So it's so exciting because I love to travel and so that's what I do.
Be Intentional About Your Growth
Coach White: One thing that I say that I think that hit home for my team, and I think this was the thing that got us across the finish line. We talk about being intentional about your growth and accidental growth and my team, there are some pillars we rest upon and one is fortitude. Having that fortitude to play, that strength of mind to handle adversity and pain with courage or being intentional. So we want to talk about an intentional student athlete; is their intention all about what they do? One; they rely on hard work. Two, they always insist on starting today and they completely take responsibility for their growth and I think even with us having the injuries, you could see the other young women working extremely hard to fill those voids.
They fight for good habits, they take risks but more than a thing they follow through and they never stop growing and that was one word that we really... If I say, "Hey guys, all balls up, everybody come in" and I said, "Guys, cheer it up. Go get a break" and you'll them say "Intentional" because they made each day about intentionally growing with or without players on the court that we normally would have had and that was the extra ingredient that got us across the finish line before our opponents.
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Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions
Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle