Our MIssion

At Drive Volleyball Club we have a balanced, dualistic approach to coaching and playing the game. The sport of volleyball is always growing, changing, and evolving both technically and philosophically, and we find it best to be just as dynamic and adaptive as a staff, team and club in training our players. As with many things, volleyball can also be subject to the trends and fads of the time, however, we focus on the aspects that are innately timeless and essential to the game. We identify the best way to coach players by acknowledging them as individuals with specific strengths and areas of improvement, instead of tailor them to be an objective ideal that other clubs and coaches might strive for.  Drive Volleyball Club is more than a specific way to pass, a serve receive system, or a defensive scheme. We are the sum of all the emotions, effort, and care of the members of our club: coaches, players, and families.  

Eli Estrada
Owner, director, coach- Girls 18 Blue

My Philosophy
My philosophy has always been to teach and grow players‘ ability on the court, both mental and technical, while simultaneously teaching players life lessons they can use off the court. I aim to build a culture of responsibility, accountability, respect, and excellence. Just as I think a player's duty on the court should be to “better the ball,” as a coach my duty will be to help “better the individual.” I will always remind my players that practice does not make perfect, but instead, perfect practice makes perfect. From a technical standpoint, I want our team to build upon a strong defensive and serving foundation. Offensively, having and growing a full repertoire of shots and tools will do much in keeping our opponents off balance, where our out-of-system will be just as effective as our in-system play.

My Coaching Experience
I’ve been coaching for over 18 years and this upcoming season marks the start of my 62nd season. At the middle school level, I was 6th and 8th grade head coach at The Latin School of Chicago, as well as the girls head coach at Francis Xavier Warde school where I helped lead the girls' team to it’s first ever conference/league championship. For high school girls, I coached at The Latin School of Chicago as the JV coach with a combined record of 37-5 over two seasons. I was recently the head of the girls and boys volleyball program at Ogden International School (CPS), where I helped coach the girls to three regional championships in 4 years, two of which were back-to-back, the school’s first and only IHSA team awards. For the boys I started at Quigley Prep and restarted the boys volleyball program at Gordon Tech (now DePaul College Prep). I also returned to my alma mater, the Latin School of Chicago as the boys' assistant varsity coach and helped coach them to their first regional championship. Most recently, I was the head boys and girls coach at Von Steuben High School, which plays in the highest division of the CPS conference. Before returning to Von Steuben, I was the head varsity coach at Whitney Young for the Girls’ Program, leading them to two undefeated seasons in conference.

In addition to coaching at the middle and high school levels, I simultaneously coached club volleyball for the last 13 years. I head coached at three Chicago-area clubs and directed at one, working for the 13U, 15U, 17U and 18U levels for both boys and girls.

My Certifications
ASEP, IMPACT, CAP I, PCA, VIRTUS

Eddie Kao
Assistant director, coach- Girls 17 Blue

Eddie Kao is an alum from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Outside of Drive, he works full time as a Modeling and Simulations Engineer for a robotics integration company. He has both assisted and head coached all age groups from ages as young as 11 years old all the up to the 18's age group on both the girl's and boy's programs.

Coach Kao is enthusiastic about passing down his knowledge and experience as a volleyball player. He believes that the key to a great individual is not someone with natural or intuitive talent, but someone who understands the game and can think critically about their ability and performance, to push themselves beyond their preconceived limits.

He uses the critical thinking and problem solving skills he’s acquired as an engineer to give players a unique and more thought provoking experience when learning and playing the game. He is a firm believer that if you not only teach them how to perform, but the knowledge of why we use the tools, skills, and drills, they will be able to mold the practices into their own and succeed at alarming rates.

Kari Herbst
Coach- Girls 13 Blue

Kari Herbst played volleyball at Concordia University-Chicago and graduated with a degree in Education. She was the starting setter there all four years and holds the record for career assists. In August of 2009, she headed to Slovenia for an opportunity to play overseas. While she had a great experience and enjoyed the journey, she did not end up staying in Europe to play.

She currently coaches the Freshman girls volleyball team at Glenbrook North and has coached club for 11 seasons. She started her career at Energy coaching 14U for two years, and then coaching 12U for four years. Following her stay at Energy, she coached at Sky High, and continued coaching 12U for two more years. She concluded her tenure there coaching 15U for three years.

She loves teaching the fundamentals as she knows the importance of having good form and technique. Although Coach Kari takes coaching very seriously, she also understands the importance of having fun, making sure girls have a good experience, and helping them become better people.

Jordy Cuzco
COACH- Girls 14 Blue & Boys 16 Blue

Jordy’s philosophy has been to provide players with lessons that are both applicable on and off and court. He aims to teach players the importance of teamwork and holding each other to high standards. In doing so, players are better able to understand concepts such as a sense of community, communication skills, discipline, and leadership skills, and by possessing these skills, players will be able to perform to the best of their ability and surpass performance barriers, pushing towards new limits. 

He has been playing volleyball for over 15 years and graduated from Von Steuben High School, where his team won three city championships. After graduation, he attended and played for a year at SIUC, and is currently playing for and finishing a behavioral neuroscience degree at Dominican University. 

Jordy has been coaching for 8 years and this season marks his 3rd at Drive. For high school boys, he coached at Von Steuben as the freshmen coach where we won the freshmen championship, as well as the varsity coach for the girls program. He also coached the JV level at Foreman HS, as well as the freshmen coach at Whitney Young. At Drive last season, he was the coach of the Girls 13 Blue team and the Boys 18 Blue team, which earned a USAV-National bid and competed in Vegas for USAV Nationals. He is excited to mold my experiences into lessons that players can use to develop a better understanding and approach to volleyball.

MURTAZA THARWANI
COACH- GIRLS 15 Blue & BOYS 15 Blue

Murtaza Tharwani grew spent most of his school career in CPS and played volleyball at Von Steuben High School as the captain and starting outside hitter of the varsity team. Murtaza played club volleyball at various Chicagoland clubs, but concluded his club career at Drive volleyball as a captain of his 18s team. He currently attends the University of Illinois at Chicago where he is studying Information and Decision Sciences along with Finance, and is the starting OH for the UIC Men’s Club Volleyball.

During his free time, Coach Murtaza enjoys singing, playing instruments, and playing basketball. As a Drive alum, Murtaza loves coaching at Drive as he can relate to the players’ experiences and wants his players to enjoy the same positive, productive, and memorable experience that he did as a player at Drive.

Justine Penaflorida
Coach- Girls 13 Blue

Justine currently works as an intensive care nurse. She has played volleyball for over 12 years, and continues to do so. She is an alum of Niles North High School and North Park University. 

She started her coaching career with Velocity, working with the 15 and 16 boys program. Justine is in her 3rd year with Drive and 5th year coaching overall. During her time in Drive, she has been an active and integral part of the youth program. 

She enjoys focusing on technique and form to help the youth players build a solid foundation, as well as teaching players to understand strategies and techniques allowing them to be more well-rounded volleyball players. Justine believes the intangible aspects of volleyball are just as important: attitude, effort, and communication are assets that any athlete should bring to their sport as well as to their community. Justine aims to provide an environment to challenge players to be the best version of themselves. 

Leah Lane
COACH- Girls 16 Blue

Leah Lane graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied Supply Chain Management and played on the women’s club volleyball team for four years. Prior to college, Leah received All-Conference and All-Tournament awards at Carl Sandburg High School and developed a strong technical skillset through seven years of club volleyball experience. She has since returned to her middle and high school alma maters to assist at summer camps and summer leagues.

Coach Leah is passionate about helping players understand the “why” behind good form and technique. And this season, she is most excited to help players become their best self on and off the court by teaching the importance of hard work and dedication, being a good teammate, and having a well-rounded understanding of the game.

Dayna Mccue
Coach- Girls 15 Red

Dayna graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in Economics and Government. At Connecticut College, she was the captain of the varsity volleyball team. She was named to both the NESCAC All-Academic and All-Sportsmanship teams during her tenure. She currently works full-time as a data analyst. 

Dayna aims to build a positive team environment that instills confidence, trust, pride, and commitment. She understands volleyball is as much of a mental game as it is physical and looks to teach the players not only technical skills but also mental toughness.