![Joe Faulk (middle) founded the Okaloosa-Walton Volleyball Academy. He stands beside two of the coaches, Mini Maestas (left) and Jessika Jackson (right). The volleyball program is for girls looking to play travel volleyball and recieve training outside of the local schools regular volleyball seasons.
[KAYLIN PARKER/NEWS BULLETIN]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-71c5decf-5913-2e05-e053-0100007fa668-1961cfdd.jpeg)
CRESTVIEW — After watching his daughter play volleyball in Crestview for several years, Joe Faulk, founder of the Okaloosa-Walton Volleyball Academy (OWVA), envisioned the potential reach a volleyball program would have in our community.
"We're talking about 10,000 children that could be underserved, and we just thought it was a great opportunity," Faulk said.
Faulk—a financial planner by trade—said the process to start this program was like planning a small business. The difficulty came when he had to find staff that could mirror his enthusiasm.
Not wanting to coach himself, Faulk said he put together a team of coaches by reaching out to roughly 80 candidates and telling them about his vision.
“I was in a very simple position to recognize a need and know how to find smart people to make things happen for me because I can’t make that part happen,” Faulk said.
The club currently has five coaches in charge of five teams and is looking to have nine players per team.
Mini Maestas, the coach for the 17-year-old age group, enjoys coaching travel teams and wants every girl on her team to receive a college scholarship.
“It’s a lot of time, but to me, I love the sense of camaraderie," she said. "You become a family with these other girls on your team."
The coach for the 15-year-old team, Jessika Jackson, was born in Crestview but moved to Freeport as a youth. She said she was the first girl from Freeport High School to receive a college volleyball scholarship to what is now Pensacola State College.
Born and raised in a small community, Jackson believes travel volleyball is important for girls wanting to play in college.
"It’s these small-town girls that need an opportunity to see that there’s a whole world out there," Jackson said. “Volleyball exists everywhere you go, different atmospheres, different coaches, and different styles. But, at the end of the day, we all play the same way.”
Part of Faulk’s vision is to have a program that reaches more children in the community like special needs children.
"Once we have established the volleyball program as a reliable entity here, we could expand into basketball, softball, indoor soccer, field hockey…and that should not be limited to the most gifted athletes that we have in this city," Faulk said.
Before beginning a special needs program, Faulk wants to find the right coach for this particular group of kids and said he has reached out to a few candidates that could be a good fit for this position.
“The timing of that program will really depend on getting the right person to lead that group,” Faulk said.
OWVA plans to host open gyms in August and have tryouts in October.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Volleyball exists everywhere you go'