starting sunshine
developmental programs
WESTSIDE
Pee-Wee's and Juniors season begins mid-October and ends mid-June. No tryouts are necessary to join Pee-Wee's or Juniors.
SOUTH BAY - TIDAL WAVES
Beginner's team for 5th grade and under players, with practices once a week and limited tournament play.
VALLEY
Focus on development of specific skills, such as hitting, defense or serving. Individualized instruction with our top technical coaches.
TORRANCE
Sunshine Torrance players are being trained to compete at the next level, and receive the same elite-level training as our competition teams.
We want our Pee-Wee’s to develop a love of the game…and have fun playing volleyball with new friends.
Want to learn how to play volleyball? Not ready to commit to a full club team? Sunshine offers developmental volleyball classes at our Westside (Santa Monica) and we have a developmental team in the South Bay (Manhattan Beach), Valley (Louisville High School) and Torrance (Classic Components).
Our developmental volleyball classes are designed to introduce young players to the sport in a low-stress, fun environment. Our experienced coaches focus on developing basic skills – setting, passing, hitting and team play – and ensure athletes learn to play using the correct form and techniques. No tryouts are necessary to join these programs.
podcast
sunshine volleyball podcast
With Cari Klein
Listen in to Cari talks with guests on volleyball, school and recruitment,
and life as athletes.
TRAINING
our coaches
lou ann selsky
trainer
Coached men's and women's volleyball at Golden West College for 17 years; won a championship and later became Athletic Director. Club Volleyball (USVBA) five-time All American and won the Nationals.
Cari klein
Head Coach
Cari’s coaching philosophy is to train skills intensely, that games should be easier than practice. She believes everyone should be involved in the drills and while practice is where the players learn, it still should be fun.
Kyle Weindel
Coach
Weindel is in his 4th season at Sunshine as the Associate Club Director. In his first full season with Sunshine his 2021 17 Westside Team was crowned 17 American National Champion in Las Vegas.
Ali Fathali Nejad
Coach
Ali has been the JV head coach and the varsity assistant coach at Marymount High School since 2017. Ali has also been coaching Sunshine Volleyball Club teams since 2017.
Tuan Le
coach
It's not surprising after 15+ years of working together, Tuan’s philosophy on coaching is much the same as Cari Klein’s: teach skills and practice is where the learning takes place, it’s where the hard work happens.
AUSTIN MATAUTIA
coach
Austin was an HHSAA/Enterprise Hall of Honor inductee in 2016 and was the #4 recruit in the Class of 2016. He was also playing club volleyball, playing for A’oaKoa, Hawaii Elite Southside, Ku’ikahi, and the Ka Ulukoa volleyball clubs.
ASHLEY LAU
coach
She began her coaching career in 2011 as the assistant coach at Riverland Community College. Relocating to Virginia, she was the JV coach and the assistant varsity coach at West Potomac High School in Alexandria from 2015-2017.
JUDIT KOLADA
coach
Judit moved to Seattle from Budapest, Hungary in 2019 to experience the American volleyball culture. She started to work at the Washington Volleyball Academy as a private volleyball skill coach and also lead the U17s girl’s team.
SAMMY LEWIS RAMOS JR.
coach
Sammy is entering his 12th year of coaching volleyball and also played collegiate club volleyball at the University of Texas. While at Texas, he was a 3 year starting setter with a team ranked in the top 25 nationally two of the four years.
ALEX CHIGAS
coach
Alex Chigas grew-up in the suburbs of Chicago where he played volleyball for Oak Lawn Community High School and the Ultimate Volleyball Club. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BS in Statistics. While attending university Alex worked as a line judge for Big10 Women’s Volleyball.
AVA CRAWFORD
coach
Ava is originally from Atlanta, GA and has been playing volleyball since she was 10 years old. She played for a club called A5 for years until she moved to playing beach full time. She set for her high school Varsity team and led them to a second place in the state tournament as a co-captain.
IRENE CHOU
coach
Irene Chou played on two CIF Championship teams while attending Glen A Wilson high School, Volleyball D3 in 2007 and Badminton DI in 2009. At Rio Hondo College she played on both the indoor and beach volleyball teams. She was a bronze medalist twice at the USAV Adult Nationals in 2015 and 2016..
LORRIE VELLUTATO
coach
Lorrie Vellutato played volleyball and swam competitively in high school. She was MVP and received 1st team league honors in volleyball and was 1st in the US Sprint Freestyle. At UCLA she was on the swim and water polo teams. She played beach volleyball and was an All American for indoor volleyball (USAV).
EMMA SCHWETTMANN
coach
Emma played for sunshine for 4 years starting her freshman year of high school, but she's been playing volleyball for 7+ years. She currently play at Boston University but she's back in LA for the year.
JEFF PORTER
coach
Jeff has coached at the college, Eastern Kentucky University, and the high school levels. At Brentwood High School (1979=2016) his coaching focus was with girls’ volleyball for 37 seasons.
LENKA JAMRICHOVA
coach
Lenka Jamrichova grew up in Santa Monica and played volleyball at Santa Monica High School and with both the Bayside Volleyball Club and the Sport Shack Volleyball Club.
DANIEL FREEMAN
coach
Daniel Freeman played on the Oak Park High School volleyball team, earning all-league honors as he helped the Eagles to their first CIF Championship appearance.
STEVE ASTOR
coach
Steve Astor brings over 20 years of coaching experience, spanning multiple sports, at various levels including college, high school and club to the program.
PERRY KLEIN
coach
Perry Klein has always been involved in sports. He attended Palisades High School where he was an All-American and All-City volleyball player. He was Volleyball Magazine #6 recruit in their Fab 50 in 1989.
NATALIE ENTO
coach
Develop a young athlete into a person of character, who has a high level of integrity and who can be accountable for their actions.
KRISTIN KEEFE
coach
Kristin Keefe played four years of volleyball at Marymount High School before playing for Stanford University; she was a four-time All-American Outside Hitter and 1991 National Player of the Year.
BAILEY JEFFERSON
coach
Bailey Jefferson was a four-year starting libero at Manvel High School. She also played for the Texas united volleyball Club (formerly the Pearland Juniors) for five years, earning two bids to the Junior Nationals.
CRYSTAL AKENS
coach
Crystal Akens played middle blocker on her Ontario High School team and for the Poly Juniors Volleyball Club in Pomona. She played as an outside hitter for the California Juniors Volleyball Club in Long Beach.
HEATHER BOWN
coach
Heather Bown is originally from Orange County, CA. She was recruited by UCSB and played MB for two years, being named to the All-Big West 1st Team and ranked ninth nationally in hitting percentage. After transferring to the University of Hawaii Heather was named WAC Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999.
MARGARET RAY
coach
Margaret Ray played club volleyball for KJVA (now KIVA) from 1986-1992. She was the setter during her four years of varsity volleyball at Kentucky Country Day School; she earned All-State and MVP honors in 1991/1992.
JACOB TITUS
coach
Jacob Titus played for the C2 Attack Volleyball Club before graduation in 2018 from Station Camp High School in Gallatin, TN. He was a member of the 2016 A2 USA National Beach Team and the 2017 and 2018 A1 USA National Beach teams.
AMELIA ALLEN
coach
Amelia Allen played volleyball at Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington. The team won the Washington State Championship in 2010; Amelia’s sister, Ashley was the team’s coach. Amelia was twice named All-State and All-Wesco honoree tree ties.
JJ VAN NIEL
coach
Jamison Van Niel (JJ) earned a BS in Business Administration, with an emphasis in finance, cum laude form the USC Marshall School of Business in 1998. He began coaching with the Coast Volleyball Club in San Diego (2006-2015)
HERB CUDIAMAT
coach
Herb Cudiamat played multiple sports at Peral City High School, including volleyball; his team won the OIA (Oahu Interscholastic Association) League Championship. He played on a club team at Loyola Marymount University while obtaining both his BS and MS in Civil Engineering.
LAURYN GILLIS
coach
Lauryn Gillis began her career at Munciana Volleyball Club in Indiana. She played indoor college volleyball at the University of Wisconsin. Following her undergraduate career, she continued her education at the University of South Carolina while playing beach volleyball.
newsletter
“You should never stay at the same level.
Always push yourself to the next.”
– Marnelli Dimzon
