May 11, 2018The Three C’s
Having a successful season is one thing. Maintaining that success over the long haul is another. Sue Moon, Head Girls’ Volleyball Coach at North Henderson High School in Hendersonville, N.C., has been helping her athletes be their best both on and off the court for over 30 years.
With more than 500 wins and an .837 winning percentage, she has led North Henderson to 20 playoff and seven regional appearances, finishing as the regional runner-up three times. Last year, she received the Tony Webb Coach of the Year Award, which honors one male and one female high school coach in the state who have made a special impact on the lives of student-athletes. Her squad has also been recognized for its work in raising money for cancer research.
What are her secrets to such a long and successful career? It starts with setting standards for excellence. “We have three core values — commitment, character, and confidence, and we call them the three Cs,” Moon explains. “Things don’t change with our core values, no matter who’s on our team.
“Within that, we focus on integrity, teamwork, and responsibility,” she continues. “We talk about how these qualities are not only important in terms of being a good teammate, but also for being a good person.”
Getting athletes to buy into the three Cs is a big part of the process. “The most important thing today is making a connection with your players,” Moon says. “You have to connect with their heart as well as with their body. Our program is about a lot more than volleyball, and our players quickly realize this.”
Along with getting players to trust her, as their coach, Moon focuses on getting them to trust each other. A lot of that happens through team building activities. Every Friday during the season, the squad spends 30 minutes of practice time participating in fun competitions. Called “Fight For It Fridays,” it includes everything from relays to bean bag tic tac toe, with players split into teams and competing in a different way.
“Anybody who knows me knows that my time in the gym is sacred, so for me to give up court time and not make them have a volleyball in their hands is a different strategy,” Moon says. “But it builds team and I know that it pays off in the long run. And it’s really great to see how much fun they’re having as they work together.”
She also brings in special guests, especially for practices at the start of the season. “One Saturday, after practicing our volleyball skills, we listened to two speakers from our community,” Moon says. “They talked about how team is important in their businesses and agencies and what their core values are. That day we also had a yoga instructor come in. Then we did crafts. Since we are ‘North’ Henderson, we painted a compass pointing north and talked about trying to find true north and the right direction in our lives.”
Wisdom from others continues throughout the season. “There’s a book I really like called The Ultimate Teammate that lists 15 characteristics of a great teammate,” Moon says. “I ask faculty, administrators, and other people I know to come in and talk to the kids for five to 10 minutes about one of those characteristics. They hear it from somebody else, which is important.”
One more aspect of North Henderson’s team building is community service. Activities range from volunteering at the school’s freshman orientation to participating in Volley for the Cure, which has led the team to win two North Carolina High School Athletic Association Commissioner’s Cups. “Service is a good way to develop trust and respect because when you’re giving of yourself for others, and you do it as a group, it develops that sense of team loyalty,” Moon says. “In the past nine years, North Henderson has raised over $100,000 to donate to various nonprofits such as the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the Vs Cancer Foundation.”
With players all working together, Moon also strives to keep distractions at bay. This starts with the preseason parents meeting, where she talks about the concept of everyone keeping the team’s best interests at heart.
“I tell parents, ‘When your daughter takes a jersey it’s with the promise that she will sacrifice self for team,'” Moon explains. “‘The coaching staff will make the decisions about playing time and your daughters have agreed to that because they want to be successful.’ So we don’t have issues about playing time in our program.”
And if player conflicts arise, Moon works closely with her captains to take care of them quickly. “My captains are my eyes and ears in the locker room and they know to come talk to me if there are any issues,” she says. “We discuss how to handle them. I like for my captains to deal with some of those situations, but if it gets major, then I will step in. The kids know I hate drama and we’ll handle it as soon as it arises.”
From the first day of practice to the last, Moon continues to stress the three C’s and that she simply wants to help make her players the best they can be. “We try to coach the total package, socially, emotionally, spiritually,” she says. “Success can be measured in many different ways, it’s not just about wins and losses. I encourage our athletes to be positive leaders in everything they do.”
