Lisa Knapp
Club Director and founder. The public face of Spirit — tryouts, families, and the day-to-day of a hometown club.
About
Built so talent could stay home.
A competitive travel volleyball club that’s open to every athlete that wants to work.
Mission
We are more than a club. We are family.
Our mission as a club is to offer a safe and fun atmosphere to promote the game of volleyball. We want to promote good sportsmanship, develop team players, and strengthen each player’s athletic abilities on the court. Hard work, determination, great attitude, relentless hustle, and coachability are the attributes we are looking for in all our club players.
We are focused on keeping costs minimal to allow as many regional student athletes as possible the ability to experience club volleyball. This club is open to all area schools in Southeast Iowa and West Central Illinois. We are unbiased to the school any athlete attends and look at all players equally when judging their athletic abilities for team placement.
December 2020
The founding drive
Lisa Knapp started Spirit Volleyball Club after too many winters on the road. Her daughter Madalynn needed a serious club. The nearest ones were in Iowa City and the Quad Cities. The hours in the car were the tax on getting better.
Lisa’s answer was a hometown club: competitive enough that families would not have to leave the river towns to find a real season, and open enough that the gym was not reserved for one school.
Spirit is for southeast Iowa and western Illinois — 10U through 18U, with the youngest players around eight years old.
Growth
From seven teams out.
The first season, 2020–21, fielded seven teams. The next stretch went to twelve, then sixteen — more than 150 girls from 26-plus school districts. A later season pushed past twenty teams and toward 240 athletes.
Those numbers are history, not a promise of this year’s roster. What has not changed is the point of the club: keep the work local, keep the standard high, and keep families in the building.
Last season’s rosters start on the Teams page. This year’s teams, fees, and remaining tryout nights: email Lisa at spiritvball@gmail.com.
How we run
Director & standards
Want to coach? Fill out the coach interest form.
501(c)(3)
Spirit is a nonprofit. The mission is access to real club volleyball in this region — not a side project of a larger metro club.
USA Volleyball
The club is USA Volleyball affiliated. That is the membership and event structure our season runs through.
SafeSport
Coaches complete SafeSport training and background checks. Safety is a requirement to be on the floor, not a slogan.