100th Article Written
This will officially be my 100th article I have written for Prep Dig. I have been on staff nearing two years now. Prep Dig has supported me and helped me grow in covering volleyball here in the state I call home. I wanted to write this article to explain a little bit about myself and Prep Dig.
Derek Jackson
Who I am – I am a teacher and a coach in Claremore, Oklahoma. I have a 10 month old and daughter a beautiful wife. My wife and I both have a passion for coaching volleyball and have done so our entire careers. We also both coach club volleyball and have for nearly our entire careers. I got started coaching when I was attending OSU and was the middle school coach for one season at Stillwater. The local club, Crush Volleyball Club, also gave me an opportunity to coach for them that season. This is were I met one of the best coaching mentors in my life. Coach J changed my outlook and view on how to be a coach. It was more than Xs and Os. It was about your character, the relationships, and still being able to be highly competitive. She coached me as much as she may have coached the athletes that season and I will forever be grateful and better for it.
Head Coach Stints
I was blessed to receive an offer from a west side school at 4A Clinton High School to take over as the head coach of the entire program. I was armed with little to no knowledge of how to run a team, yet alone the whole program, but had the support of an extremely wise athletic director and an experienced assistant coach. We were able to turn the program around and get within one win of going to the state tournament. More importantly, I took a LOT of lumps as a coach; ones that shaped me and got me going in the right direction. Ironically, the wise Athletic Director at Clinton was also named Coach J. He believed in me every step of the way. He often asked questions rather than giving statements. Looking back, I believe he wasn’t looking for an answer as much as he was looking for how strongly I believed in the answer I was giving. He would help steer me without taking the wheel from me. This is a powerful way for someone to truly learn and I am forever grateful for the lessons and opportunities that he and Clinton gave me.
I was then able to move back to Tulsa, which is very close to where I grew up, and take over at a 6A school in Sand Springs. Again, we were able to turn a six win team around and rack up 18 our first year. This is where I spent 3 years learning and growing as a young coach. After multiple players going on to college, winning an academic achievement award each year, and roughly being ranked top 15 all season long, I was presented with the opportunity to take over at a 5A school in Claremore. This was unique in that this program was not in needing of turning around in terms of wins and losses. They had been getting plenty of those in the prior seasons. So this past season was unlike any I had coached before. I also have been coaching for Virago the past 3 season where I have been blessed with a ton of hard working kids that have gone on to start for their school programs and/or move on to a more competitive club the next year.
My Why
Why I wanted to coach in the first place was to give back to the realm that had given me so much. It gave me a safe place, it gave me life lessons even when I didn’t want them, it gave me memories and friends that will last a lifetime. I want to help these young people be equipped to not just survive adulthood but to thrive in it.
Why I wanted to work for Prep Dig was to help give these young ladies the recognition they deserve. I have personally seen blood, sweat, and tears from them with little to no acknowledgment, mostly due to there not being many options out there to cover them but none the less, they deserve to be told “good job,” to be told that their hard work is paying off and we see you pushing yourself. Prep Dig strives for exactly that and I’m blessed to help be a part of it.
Why I wanted to help coach young coaches. Nearly three years ago, I started hosting a yearly coaches clinic for volleyball. Me and a handful of fellow coaches I knew threw together a bunch of sessions to cover, picked a date, threw it around the state a bit and waited to see what happened. To our surprise, there were over 40 coaches in attendance wanting to better themselves by listening to what we had to say. Im not sure one of us presenters felt qualified to be “leading” other coaches, but that didn’t stop us. We wanted to make an impact for the sport as a whole. This summer will be our 3rd summer in a row to host a clinic and it has grown every year. This all stemmed from a coach that once wanted to coach me up and how that has now been passed onto every athlete I have ever coached and the athletes of those who attend the clinics.
Prep Dig
This will be the 282nd article posted here in Oklahoma, we have over 200 players entered into the prospect database, and the best is yet to come. Please consider subscribing to see all this and more. Use “Jackson30” to save 30% off your first billing cycle. That is a savings of $54 on the 2 year plan. That includes both club and school coverage. If that isn’t something your are looking for right now, I suggest having all the players you know enter themselves into the prospect database and following us on our social media platforms, Twitter and Instagram. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.