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The People of LAVA
LAVA is the collaborative fruit of many respected volleyball personalities across Southern California and beyond, but there are a handful of individuals whose collective vision has most significantly shaped the organization, and set and guided its course. The following are our principal members, four men from differing backgrounds and fields who came together to found the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy.
Nabil Mardini, Director of Operations
Nabil Mardini is considered one of the finest volleyball minds in the region, if not the country. As Head Coach of the Pierce Women’s Volleyball Program, Nabil saw his 2010 & 2011 squads win back-to-back CCCAA California State Championships, 2010 being the first such title in school history and with the added bonus of Nabil being named that season’s AVCA National Two-Year College Coach of the Year. As the long-time director for both SMBC Boys (’01-present) and Girls (’00-’10), and now the current director of LAVA Girls, he has extensive knowledge of the operational and training aspects of the club volleyball world. His network of contacts is extensive, owing largely to his reputation as one of the most ethical and upstanding personalities in the coaching world today. All this, in addition to time spent training professionally as a young player himself in his home country of Lebanon, not to mention an advanced degree in Electrical Engineering. Nabil handles much of the day-to-day operations of LAVA, including content for coaches, correspondence with players and parents, and scheduling, in addition to myriad other duties as Club Director for LAVA Girls and his role as head coach for the top LAVA girls team, the South 18-1’s. For more detailed biography on Nabil, please visit here. To email Nabil, please click here.
Trevor Julian, Director of Development
Trevor Julian brings a diverse skill-set to the table for the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy. A long-time and immensely successful junior girls club volleyball coach with Santa Monica Beach Club Girls—his 16-1 teams over the years have consistently competed in Division One of the SCVA Power League and finished Top Five multiple times at various national travel tournaments, and he guided his 2010 squad to a 16’s Division Championship at the Volleyball Festival in Phoenix—he has arguably the most impeccable reputation in the region for dealing with players and parents in an honest and caring way. A former award-winning volleyball player himself—captain and four-year starter at USC, inductee into the Harvard-Westlake High School Hall of Fame—he transitioned degrees in Creative Writing and Business Administration into a career in commercial real estate; his decade in the business has seen him work the acquisition, disposition, exchange, or evaluation of more than one billion dollars of southland property, and the marketing/brokerage skills he developed during time spent in the business trenches gives him a unique perspective on growing the LAVA brand. In addition to spearheading strategic planning and marketing for LAVA and assisting Nabil with the operation of LAVA Girls, Trevor coaches the 16-1’s for LAVA South. For more detailed biography on Trevor, please visit here. To email Trevor, please click here.
Beau Daniels, Technical Director
Beau Daniels has done an exceptional amount in a very short time: an All-American at Pepperdine, he played internationally in Ireland and Switzerland; he logged collegiate coaching stints at Pierce College, where his men’s volleyball squad won a State Title, and his alma mater Pepperdine, where he coached under the direction of legendary gold medal-winning coach Marv Dunphy; a licensed chiropractor and certified strength coach, he runs the respected performance center Body Dynamix, headquartered in the San Fernando Valley with offshoots as far south as Irvine; and he Co-Directs the Santa Monica Beach Club Boys program, overseeing most of the day-to-day operations of that program. Beau brings this extensive, impressive background with him as Technical Director of LAVA, which has him assisting with oversight of the training and education of coaches, as well as player strength and conditioning components, in addition to his role as coach of the South 17-1’s for LAVA Girls. For more detailed biography on Beau, please visit here. To email Beau, please click here.
Ron Hamilton, Finance Director
Ron Hamilton brings efficiency and accuracy to his role as the primary fiscal figure for LAVA. Ron’s impressive background in the insurance world, combined with his knowledge of all things club volleyball after more than twenty years owning and operating clubs—primarily on the administrative side—not to mention an honest and impeccable character, makes him the perfect person to oversee the financial aspects, in all their myriad forms, of the Academy. Ron handles the accounts and much of the day-to-day monetary decision-making, leaving Nabil, Trevor, and Beau—and all of our affiliate Club Directors and coaches—free to do what LAVA does best: educate and train. To email Ron, please click here.
LAVA is far more than just a handful of people, however: our list of coaches and administrators are some of the best in the business, committed and caring individuals with great passion for volleyball, and great dedication and devotion to our players, parents, and families—the true bedrock of the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy!