Pineapple 13U Black, Head Coach

Hey hey...this is Coach Ball. I am SUPER excited to be coaching our 13 Black team this upcoming season. They are a talented group of young, student-athletes that LOVE the game. My job...simply is to continue to fuel that love and teach them some of the things that I have learned over my 40 plus years of volleyball. 

I plan for this team to play hard, have fun and execute the fundamentals of the game at a "high" level.  

We will see you soon!

Link to full bio:

https://www.teampineapple.com/page/show/3530256-club-director

Head Assistant Club Director

Rachelle was our site director at DeKalb last year and has joined our full-time staff as the Head Assistant Club Director of Team Pineapple and BSA Services and Operations Manager. Rachelle went to DeKalb High School. She was a 4 year varsity player there and was MVP in 2007. Rachelle was voted NHC All-Conference ('05, '06, '07). Rachelle played college volleyball at Mount Ida College NCAA DIII. She was a 3 year MVP and Team Captain. She was rookie of the year in 2009, finished #8 in the schools All Time Offensive Points, and made the 2000-2010 All Decade Team after one season.

Rachelle's has coached at all high school levels including Freshman, JV, and Assisted Varsity at DeKalb HS (2013-15) and served as JV coach at Angola High School from 2015-2020 the Varsity Assistant through 2024. She coached club volleyball at: Smash VBC (2008-13), Empowered VBA (2014), and Team Pineapple (2015-Present). She will be the Master Coach of the 15-16U teams for the 2024-25 season and will be coaching the 16 Black team. Rachelle resides in the Angola area with her husband Luke and their daughter Auden.

Assistant Director/ Recruiting Director/ Master Coach

Kourtney has been a coach at Team Pineapple since 2019, and made the transition to Assistant Director in 2022. Kourtney over sees scheduling, college recruitment, VolleyTots, coach development, certifications, and social media. 

Kourtney is originally from Indianapolis where she attended Bishop Chatard High School and was a three sport (volleyball, basketball, track) athlete. She went on to earn a volleyball scholarship to play at the University of Indianapolis NCAA DII. 

As a member of the Greyhound volleyball team, Kourtney and her senior classmates still hold the winningest record in school history with a 121-27 (.818) record. She was the starting right-side hitter when the team went to the Final Four in 2012. 

Coach Kourtney's coaching career began at the age of 19; coaching at a small club in Indianapolis and freshmen mens volleyball. She found a passion for teaching and volleyball and loved that coaching was a mix of both. Coach Kourtney has coached several club teams, high school girls volleyball, three seasons at UIndy as an assistant coach, and spent 4 years at Goshen College as the head coach.

In 2023, her 18 Green team went on to win the Asics Navy Pier Nationals national championship; going undefeated and not dropping a set. Also, in 2023 Kourtney was named the AVCA 18s Club Coach of the Year. This upcoming season Kourtney will be coaching 12 Black, 17 Black and 18 Boys teams.

Arnie Ball

40 years of coaching experience. Arnie will act as a consultant/mentor to all our coaches. Arnie is in the AVCA HOF, he led the IPFW Volley Dons to 6 NCAA Final Fours. Arnie consults all of our teams and will be seen at practices.

Karl Both

This is Coach Karl’s first year coaching for Team Pineapple! He has 5 years of volleyball experience at the High school, Club and Collegiate levels. He is a sophmore attending Trine University. He is the starting middle for the Trine Men’s Volleyball team. Before Trine, he played for Sports Performance and 630 volleyball club where he got 2nd place in AAU Nationals. He is very excited to win games with Team Pineapple and will be assistant coaching with the 18 Boys team. 

katie carbaugh

Coach Katie is from New Haven, Indiana. This is Coach Katie’s second year at Team pineapple! Katie has 11 years playing experience between high school, club, and a year of college at Trine University. In her years of playing she was a Outside/Rightside hitter and Defensive specialist, but also got to play a couple years as a middle. This season Coach Katie will head coach 15 Green along with assistant Hailey! Katie is currently in her second year at Trine University, while also working at Cameron Memorial Hospital.

MEGAN DEAN

This is Megan’s first year with Team Pineapple! Megan played high school volleyball at DeKalb High School. After graduating from Ball State in 2012 she returned to the area and started her coaching career. Megan spent two years as the JV coach at DeKalb and two years as the JV coach at East Noble. She then spent 4 seasons coaching the middle school levels at East Noble. She will be coaching the 14 White team this season.  

Lindsey decamp

This is Coach DeCamp's 7th season working for Team Pineapple. Lindsey has 12 years of playing experience, 4 of those at the varsity level for New Haven High School. She also played collegiately at Trine University as a libero and defensive specialist. Lindsey majored in Sport Management with a minor in coaching and later received her MBA through Trine University as well. She has coached multiple levels and teams throughout her tenure. Lindsey coached the girls freshman team at New Haven High School for two years and is currently the head coach for the boys volleyball team. For the 2024-25 season she will be coaching the 16 Green team. She is so excited to continue her coaching career at Team Pineapple!

McKelvey Espeset

This is Coach McKelvey’s first year coaching at Team Pineapple. She is from North Manchester, Indiana and is a freshman at Trine University, where she studies psychology and is a middle/opposite on the volleyball team. She will be co-head coaching 15 Yellow this year!

Mike FinEfrock

Mike is in his 9th year as an assistant coach at Carroll High School in Ft. Wayne.  He has been a part of Team Pineapple for last 7 seasons as either an assistant coach or head coach.  This year he is a master coach for the 13-14's age group.  Last season he was the head coach for our very successful 13 Black team.  For the 2024-25 club season he will be coaching the 14 Black team and assisting with 17 Black.

NICOLE HODGMAN

This will be coach Nicole’s second year coaching at Team Pineapple. She has 13 years of playing experience, including being a 4 year starter at Bishop Luers High School and 2 time Indiana State Runner-up. She received awards for All-Conference, All-State, Indiana All Star team, and Prep Sports player of the year her senior season. She also played 4 years of collegiate volleyball as an outside hitter at IPFW, where she graduated with an elementary education degree. Since graduating she has spent the last 16 years coaching different age groups at camps, clinics, schools, and clubs across the Fort Wayne area. She is currently the JV coach at Bishop Dwenger High School. She will be the co-coach for the 15 Black team. 

melissa hamilton

Coach Melissa graduated from Angola High School and played defensive specialist at varsity level all 4 years of high school. Her coaching experience started 14 years ago. She coached 8th grade and assisted with the school club program at a local school for 10 seasons. Coach Melissa took a 2 year break to spend time with my family. She is a nurse and married with 2 children, a 20 yr old and 15 yr old. This is her second season with Pineapple and is excited to be back. She is very passionate about volleyball and teaching the fundamentals and the love for the game. She believes that hard work and determination meet with success!

Mallory holmberg

Coach Mallory is from Brighton, Michigan. She is currently a freshman at Trine University where she is majoring in Psychology and is an outside hitter on the volleyball team. This will be her first year coaching at Team Pineapple, and she’s super excited for this upcoming season! Coach Mallory will be coaching 15 yellow.

Payton Hunley

This is Coach Payton's second year at Team Pineapple! She comes with 11 years of playing experience; high school, club, and college volleyball. Coach Payton holds four records at East Noble, where she is currently the head coach in her second season.  When she attended East Noble she was selected All-Conference and All-Area three out of the four years. After high school, Payton attended Bethel University where she was an outside hitter. Her junior and senior year she achieved Crossroads League All-Conference honors. In 2020, she helped her team win the National Christian College Athlete Association National Championship. She has coached at NIVA, Impact VB, Bethel University; where she was awarded NCCAA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021. Coach Payton will run her East Noble feeder program through Team Pineapple and help with 18 Black. She currently works at the Dekko Foundation and resides in Kendallville with her husband and two German shepherds.

addyson kuzma

Coach Addy is from Hinckley, Ohio. This is Coach Addy’s first year coaching at Team Pineapple! She has played volleyball for 7 years for school, club, and now at Trine University. Coach Addy has been coaching for 2 years at the CYO and Club level at AVC (Academy Volleyball Cleveland). She will be the assistant coach of the 10 White team this year!

Trina Leffers

Coach Leffers graduated from Carroll High School. Her love of volleyball started in middle school and carried all the way through high school. After graduating from Ball State University with an elementary teaching degree, she coached 2 years of middle school volleyball. She then coached a fifth and sixth grade team at her elementary school for 11 years. She is currently an East Noble High School assistant volleyball coach.

seth mcdonald

This is Coach Seth’s first year at Team Pineapple! He has 7 years of volleyball experience under his belt at the High school, Club and Collegiate levels. He attends Trine University and is going into his sophomore year. He is an exercise science major and plays volleyball on the Trine Men’s team. He is a setter and is from Howe’s Cave, NY. He played club volleyball with Sporting Albany where he won the 2023 NEAAU championship and hopes to win more here with Team Pineapple! He will be assistant coaching with the 18 Boys team and can’t wait to get started!

Shebly Rice

Gabby Rodriguez

Emilia Shipe

This is Coach Shipe’s first year coaching for Team Pineapple! She comes to us with over 15 years of coaching experience at various levels. She has been head coach at Garrett High School, Leslie High School and Merrillville High School as well as assisted at Carroll High School, her alma mater. After high school, Emilia played one year at Saint Francis before starting her coaching career with Carroll High School. Coach Shipe took a few years off of coaching while raising her three little girls and teenage son. She currently teaches MS and HS art at Garrett High School and recently moved to Hamilton Lake. She is super excited to coach the 18 Black team this year for Pineapple!

ANNA zellers

Sarah Ball

Sarah has been a coach with Team Pineapple for 8 years serving in the capacity as an assistant or head coach, working mostly with the younger 10-13U Pineapple Teams.  Sarah is the BSA Pro Shop and Concessions Director.

Sarah served as an assistant/co-coach at Angola Middle School for 3 years with the 6th grade team and has been the head coach for 7th grade for the past 2 years and leading the team to a 25-2 season, winning the Jr. NECC title.  In 2021, Sarah was named Assistant Varsity coach at Angola High School. This club season, Sarah will be a "floating" assistant coach that help runs practices and fills in for other coaches when needed.

Chaney Brodbeck

Kelsey Closson

- 4 year Varsity starter who holds records for Coldwater High School (Coldwater, MI) in Season Aces, Career Aces, Career Digs, Season Assists, and Career Assists. 
- Top 25 in Career Assists for the State of Michigan. 
- All-State honors 3 years in a row. 
- Inducted in the Coldwater High School Hall of Fame. 
- High School Coach for 18 years, Varsity Coach for 10 years at Coldwater HS (MI)
- 7th year coaching at Team Pineapple, 11 years coaching club overall. 
 

catherine dobies

This is coach Cat’s 3rd year with Team Pineapple. She has been playing volleyball since she was 8 years old. She was a 4 year varsity player at Oxford High School, captain for 3 of those years. She led the team at Oxford in service aces and pass rating; and was named OAA All-League her senior year. She is going into her 4th year of collegiate volleyball at Trine University where she also has been captain for 2 years. She was named Academic All-District team for the past 2 years. Along with playing volleyball, she is majoring in Biochemistry and Chemistry at Trine. Coach Cat has also coached at Unified Volleyball Club during the summer for the past 4 years while she is home. 

kassidy faler

Coach Kassidy is from Pioneer, Ohio. She is currently a junior at Goshen College where she is studying education and biology. Kassidy is also a libero for the women's volleyball team at Goshen, she also is a member of the track team. She has played volleyball for 11 years and has coached 16 Yellow and assisted 17 Green at Team Pineapple previously. She is excited to continue her coaching career this year at TP! Coach Kassidy will be assisting 17 Green this season.

justen gerber 

Justen has been the head coach of the lower Middle School volleyball teams at Lakewood Park for two years and this year he also helped with the high school team. Before that he was the head coach at Saint Johns. Last year he co-coached our 11 Green team and also assisted the 11 White team. He will be coming back for his third season at Team Pineapple coaching the 13 Green team and assisting 17 Black.
 

MADDIE HOELSCHER

Coach Maddie is in her second year coaching at Pineapple! She has played volleyball for 13 years. She attended St. Phil where she helped lead the team to two back-to-back state championships, 2 Regional titles, and 4 District titles. Maddie played club at Redline Volleyball Club for 8 years where she helped lead the team to many tournament championships. She is currently a sophomore at Trine University playing volleyball. This season she will be Head coaching 16 White.

Lisa “Cheeks” Hormann

Cheeks has a storied volleyball history as a player, coach, and mentor for our director Lloy Ball. She began her career at IPFW under Coach Arnie Ball. As a player, Cheeks had a stellar career as she is still the individual season record holder and career record holder in service aces for the Mastodons. She was a member of the first GLVC Championship winning team in 1984. After her career as a player, she became a member of the coaching staff and then Head Coach of the Women's Volleyball team for 4 seasons with an overall record of 87-50. For all of her accomplishments, she was inducted into the Purdue Fort Wayne Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.

Cheeks has never lost the coaching bug, and has been a part of our coaching staff since Team Pineapple's inception. She coached one of our 16U Open teams last year, where they won the TP Classic and Smack series event. She and her husband Roger have been married for 28 years and reside in the Fort Wayne area. 

Erin Kline

Coach Kline graduated from Wayne Trace High School in Haviland, Ohio. She has experience playing both varsity and club volleyball as a middle hitter, receiving all-conference and all-district recognition. Coach Kline graduated from Huntington University where she played basketball for four years. Currently, she is the JV girls volleyball coach for East Noble. This season, she is looking forward to coaching the 6th grade East Noble feeder team!

hailey laroy

This is Coach Haileys first year coaching with Team Pineapple! She has 7 years of volleyball experience; high school, club, and now currently playing volleyball at Trine University. Hailey played club at Team Pineapple for 2 years and played 2 years at NIVA. Hailey attended East Noble high school where she started off as an outside and ended her career as a DS. She is now pursuing that defensive positioning on the Trine volleyball team as a freshman. Hailey managed the East Noble boys’ volleyball team her junior and part of her senior year. Coach Hailey will coach 15 Green this year. She currently is a full-time student who resides in Angola

Grace Majewski

Coach Grace is in her first year playing volleyball at Trine University and first year coaching as well. She has played volleyball for 8 years and went to school at Manchester High School in Michigan where she got to 1,000 assists before her senior year ended. Grace played club at MiElite for 2 years and this past year at Flight. This season she will be the assistant coach for Coach Maddie, who is coaching 16 Yellow.

Katie probst

Coach Probst is going into her 5th season coaching with Team Pineapple after co-coaching the 11 Green team last season. She previously coached at East Noble High School,  Girls Head Volleyball Coach (3 seasons)
2020-2022 . She also was a Varsity Boys Volleyball Assistant
Coach (2 Seasons) 2023-2024. Coach Katie played volleyball at East Noble (2004-2008) where she holds the career assist record with 1,872 assists. This season, Katie will be coaching our 11/12 Green team.

laura stegall

Coach Laura is a Fort Wayne native and former Purdue Fort Wayne Volleyball and basketball standout (1997-2002).  Stegall was inducted into PFW's Hall of Fame in 2006. During her coaching tenure, Stegall launched two collegiate volleyball programs.  She laid the foundation of success for Indiana Tech, earning 2006 WHAC Coach of the Year honors following Tech’s first NAIA Regional appearance in just the program’s second season.  After moving to Florida, Stegall had the opportunity to launch another collegiate program.  In her eight seasons at Daytona State College, the Falcons were ranked in the top 25 seven consecutive seasons.  In 2019, Stegall was recognized as the AVCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year.  Stegall is excited to return to Fort Wayne and help foster the development of athletes in the community.  This season she will be the coaching the 16 Pineapple High Performance team and assisting the 13 Black team.

katlyn walker

Coach Walker has been coaching volleyball for the past 10 years. She was the North Central (OH) 7th grade coach for 4 years. She was the coach at Edon for 3 years and now she is the Head Coach at North Central. This will be Coach Walker's fourth season coaching with Team Pineapple and coaching our 17 Green team for the 2024-25 club season and assisting with 14 Black. 

Kacie VanKalker

This is Coach Kacie’s third year at Team Pineapple. She has been playing volleyball since she was 8 years old. She played 6 years of club volleyball at Epic United. She was a four year varsity player and two year captain at Illiana Christian High School. There she also holds the record for career digs. Kacie is going into her forth year of collegiate volleyball at Trine University and is majoring in marketing.