STAFF
Coach Esai's Bio
Club Director
Phone: 239-544-8598
Coach Esai, our club owner and director, was raised in Gering, Nebraska. His father was an electrician who taught him how to work on electric motors, and his mother works at the local DMV. Esai’s parents taught him to compete, work hard, be responsible and punctual, and always stay humble. Esai brings these values with him to the club.
Esai grew up as a multi-sport athlete playing football, basketball, and baseball and was a runner and thrower in track. Esai loves playing different sports as it builds athleticism and strengthens muscles that are not activated by playing just one sport. It also lowers an athlete’s risk of injury. This is why Esai is so passionate about providing agility training for all club volleyball players. He is focused not just on building great volleyball players but on building great athletes.
Esai played baseball at Dakota State University while getting his degree in physical education. This is where he met Coach Barbara and where they married in 2019.
Esai is the club director, doing all of the behind-the-scenes work to make the club run. While he may seem a little quiet and reserved, don’t let that fool you. He is fiercely competitive and intensely focused on developing his athletes!
“When I first started training with Esai, I was very weak. Since then, Esai has gotten me stronger, faster, athletic, and mentally stronger. My footwork and foot speed in the beginning were uncoordinated and slow. Now, I am more coordinated and my footspeed is faster. Esai does a great job creating workouts specifically for me as a volleyball player. He explains what I am doing and explains the muscle groups I am using, he demonstrates what the movement should look like, and he emphasizes the importance of the exercises. Although his workouts are challenging and intense, he has prepared me physically and mentally to compete in many matches in a day/weekend.”
-Naples Athlete
"Before I started training with Esai, I've always felt slow, and weak while playing volleyball. I would always get so tired after volleyball plays and I wouldn't get my feet to the ball. Esai has helped and pushed me to become a whole different player, showing me the meaning of what every exercise is meant to do for my body, and the importance to maintain a consistent physical training schedule. Now, not only do I feel better physically, but I see a difference in my jumping ability and getting my feet to the ball. I am always prepared physically for any upcoming games; anytime and anywhere!"
-Naples Athlete
Coach Barb's Bio
Coach
Phone: 239-381-4472
Growing up in Lima, Peru, Barbara was destined to be a volleyball player as the daughter of Coach Kike and Coach Carmen. With volleyball around her every day, Barbara began playing at age three. As she grew, she begged Coach Carmen to train with her every day. Volleyball was her parents’ life and Barbara’s passion.
While Barbara played volleyball her entire childhood, she began playing competitive club volleyball at 10 years old. Barbara was a phenomenal player, able to do things other players couldn’t. At 15 she joined the Peruvian U15 Junior National Team and continued to play nationally for five total years, winning four gold medals.
Barbara came to the States to play collegiate volleyball and finished her career at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. She was a four-time All-American in college.
Barbara met Coach Esai at university. They married in 2019 and have a little girl, Brielle, who will most certainly become a volleyball player.
Barbara learned much from Coach Carmen and Coach Kike, but responsibility, discipline, and perseverance were values that stand out to her today.
Coach Kike's Bio
Coach
Kike grew up in Mollendo, Peru, where his father worked at a petroleum plant and his mother stayed at home. Sports were part of their family—Kike’s dad was a soccer goalkeeper.
Kike’s father was influential to him. He not only taught Kike to love sports, but also taught him good values like hard work and responsibility, punctuality, and doing things the right way.
The love of sports was evident as Kike grew up swimming, diving, and playing basketball and table tennis. He was a multi-sport athlete starting as a young child. It wasn’t until he was in his late teens that he started going to the beach with his friends and discovered a love for volleyball. He didn’t know much about the sport at first, but his friends taught him the game, and though he started in his late teens, he was more naturally gifted at volleyball than at his other sports.
At 19, Kike began his mandatory one year of service in the Peruvian army, but he practiced his volleyball skills while there. When he got out of the army, he moved to Ariquipa and began his club career. Kike played competitive club volleyball for 10 years and even played one year for the Peruvian national team. During this time he also became a successful women’s (teen) volleyball coach, and his team consistently won tournaments. While coaching, he met Mam Bo Park (a Hall of Fame coach), who became a mentor and brought Kike onto the coaching staff of the Peruvian women’s national team.
Kike has not only worked with the Peruvian national team but also coached professional teams in Peru and Italy. In fact, Kike has led the National League of Peru Women’s Seniors to more titles (5) than any other coach. He has coached over 20 players who have gone on to play collegiate volleyball here in the States, and two players who are now in the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame. In most of the clubs he has been the master coach, who sets the coaching direction of the club.
Kike and his wife Coach Carmen have spent the past few years coaching in Florida for clubs such as OTVA, Top Select, DME, Vibe, and USA South. They have now joined their daughter Barbara, in her new club, as volunteer coaches.
"I met Luis Enrique Briceno Herrera in 2007 when he came up to work with us at our club SpaceNeedle Volleyball Foundation - (Boys/Girls club). I'm glad that we brought Coach Enrique, he was so helpful to us in many ways: Training our Coaches every day over the period of six months, helping me with my High School Girls' team. We went on to become Metro Champions in 2008. Enrique was instrumental to our clubs success over the year(s) to follow because we took his expertise and applied it to our coaching staff. Our boys and girls teams have gone on to represent our region at U.S. National Championships. Our coaches have moved on to work with U.S Volleyball High Performance Men's and Women's Program(s). We are extremely thankful for Enrique's help to achieve our goals. Our club has sent dozens of Boys and Girls to play college and work up to National teams and National Team programs."
- Mark West (Club Director of SpaceNeedle Volleyball Foundation)
Coach Carmen's Bio
Carmen, Kike’s wife, is from Lima, Peru, where her father was a police officer and her mother a nurse. Her parents taught her humility, discipline, and loyalty, all of which you can clearly see in Carmen’s relationships with the girls she coaches.
Carmen started playing school volleyball at 10 years old. Although she also ran track, danced, and played basketball, she was drawn more to volleyball. After primary school, she continued to play college volleyball at the National University of Engineering in Lima.
After university, Carmen continued to play club volleyball while also beginning her career teaching mathematics and coaching school volleyball. It was while playing club volleyball that she met Coach Kike and they married in 1988.
Carmen has always coached girls’ volleyball, both in Peru and here in the US, volunteering at each of the clubs that Kike has coached at. While Kike specializes in taking the older teams, Carmen is excellent at teaching the younger girls skills, laying the foundation they need to succeed with Coach Kike later.
When you see Carmen coach for a full season, you will see the values her parents taught her. She is very humble and extremely loyal to her girls, and she focuses first on creating discipline in her team.
“When we met Coach Carmen, they had just moved here and she was our daughter’s coach at Vibe. Our team did not think we were destined for any world titles, but Carmen took these girls under her wing and by the end of the season, had them playing like a well-oiled machine, far surpassing what any of the parents had expected. More importantly, every girl on the team and parent on the sideline loved Coach Carmen, which is the true sign of a great coach. Her English is a little broken, but her love for the girls is not! It is hard imagining our daughter ever having a better season than the one with Coach Carmen!”
—Naples Dad
If you’d like more information about our coaches, please give us a call.