Rewarding kids for best effort and also helping other kids understand what best effort looks like is a top priority for us at Spike Frog. Coach Dee Dee, Will and Bonnie, coaches for the Junior Frog Yellow Dragons team, have come up with an awesome award for “Best Effort”. They award a Dragon Medallion weekly recognition award to one kid on the team that gives best effort.
Coach Bonnie explained “it’s not the one that gets the most serves or balls over the net, but it is an award for the hardest working team member that gives their best effort. I love having this special memento to reward someone who has played beyond their regular game, because it rewards them for taking the risk to do something new.” Coach Bonnie also said that the reward is just temporarily theirs and they pass it on to the next Super Dragon at the next game.
We asked Coach Dee Dee how they came up with the idea for the Dragon Medallion. She said that it was born from their own experience with their daughter – seeing her tired and a little bit unenthusiastic at the first game. “I saw several girls on our team who seemed to have lost a bit of their spunk between our practice day and game day. The award seemed like a super simple way to get the kids energized, and when I showed up at the game with it, the players jumped all over it.” The coaches decided in advance that the team member who won the award would get to lead the team cheers for the week and would get to choose an activity at practice, as well as present the award to the next player to win it. “So far, it seems to be motivating some good hustle and enthusiasm on the court!”
Bonnie, Will and DeeDee are all volunteer parent coaches. We are beyond grateful for the time and energy that our volunteer coaches give to the hundreds of kids in our league each season. We love that the Yellow Dragons have incorporated this idea for recognition with their team and we encourage similar awards for other teams at Spike Frog. If you know of or have any ideas that encourage best effort or Spike Frog’s mission of creating a culture of play, please email those to us. We’d love to hear from you!
Parent Helper
Answers for families new to Spike Frog.
What are you looking for?
Camps and clinics run between league seasons.
Whatever is coming up next is listed on our programs page. If nothing is posted yet, join the mailing list and we will announce the next ones there first.
Austin Velocity is the step up from our rec leagues.
It is for athletes who want more training and tougher competition than a once-a-week league gives them. Tryouts, teams and schedules are on their own site.
Questions about a booking? Email leagues@spikefrog.org.
Everything a new league family asks in the first week. Pick a question.
What grade is your athlete in this school year?
Has your athlete played organized volleyball before?
Our Pro divisions ask for 10 consistent overhand serves at an evaluation, so this is the question that splits the two paths.
In four of our six divisions, yes — a parent from your own team coaches it. Spike Frog is a volunteer-coached league.
Parent volunteer coach required
Junior Frog · Spike Frog · Spike Frog Pro · Boss Frog
Every team is coached by a parent from that team, however the team was built — friend requests, a school group, or individual sign-ups. Ideally one parent takes the season. If nobody on the roster can, we build a rotating schedule so each parent coaches one week. No team is ever cancelled for lack of a coach.
Coach provided
Boss Frog Pro — led by a qualified Spike Frog coach.
High School — a qualified coach runs practice; each team provides a parent volunteer for Saturday game days.
Minivolley — led by trained high school athletes under staff supervision.
Never played volleyball? Most of our coaches haven't.
We run a coach training session before the season, hand you week-by-week practice plans, and you have a Spike Frog staff contact all season. The commitment is one practice hour a week plus Saturday games.
