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The Power Station – Camp and Club History

The Roots of the Power Station

Camp Director, Walt Stefani, has coached at Orchard Park High School since 1979. Since beginning with the program, Coach Stefani has posted a winning percentage of .758 and he has had the pleasure of coaching some of the finest talent in Western New York.

One of his all-time best athletes, Rich Bland (voted the #1 volleyball talent in the U.S.A. by Volleyball Magazine-1988), was recruited to play for U.C.L.A. Through Rich, Coach Stefani was employed as a summer Travel Camp Coach for the prestigious U.C.L.A. Volleyball National Travel Camps under the supervision of Al Scates – winner of more collegiate championships than any other coach in the history of the N.C.A.A.   Coach Scates’ influence and advice led Coach Stefani to form the the Power Station Volleyball Day Camp in 1988. The Camp has since grown into the largest Volleyball Day Camp in Western New York servicing over 200 athletes each summer.

Eventually, the Power Station Boys Volleyball USVBA Club evolved out of the Camp. The Club was organized in 1994 as a National Travel Club with 4-5 teams of varying age classifications. The Club competed in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, Virginia, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio. Many of the Club’s athletes have gone on to play collegiately.

During recent years, Coach Stefani partnered with Matt Lexner from Orchard Park High School. Together, their mission has been to build and promote volleyball talent among young athletes across western New York. They developed training methodologies that are high on repetitions and have focus on the development of skills in a controlled match atmosphere. Along with skills training, a tournament format was developed that would eliminate “dead time” and allow the athlete to maximize efforts. The result was high energy, fast paced practices/tournaments that the athletes loved!

Today, more athletes from western New York are playing and enjoying the sport of volleyball. It is our hope that, through these athletes, the dream of improving the overall quality of volleyball in Western York may be realized!

The Roots of the Power Station:

Club Director, Walt Stefani, has coached at Orchard Park High School since 1979. Since beginning with the program, Coach Stefani has had a winning percentage of .758 and he has had the pleasure of coaching some of the finest talent in Western New York.

One of his all time best athletes, Rich Bland (voted the #1 volleyball talent in the U.S.A. by Volleyball Magazine-1988), was recruited to play for U.C.L.A. Through Rich, Coach Stefani was employed as a summer Travel Camp Coach for the prestigious U.C.L.A. Volleyball National Travel Camps under the supervision of Al Scates – winner of more collegiate championships than any other coach in the history of the N.C.A.A. Coach Scates’ influence and advice eventually led Coach Stefani to form the the Power Station Volleyball Day Camp. The Camp has grown into the largest Volleyball Day Camp in Western New York servicing over 200 athletes in the month of July.

Eventually, the Power Station Volleyball Boys USVBA Club evolved out of the Camp. The Club was organized as a National Travel Club with 4-5 teams of varying age classifications. The Club competed in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, Virginia, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio. Many of the Club’s athletes have gone on to play collegiately.

During recent years, Coach Stefani has partnered with Matt Lexner from Orchard Park High School. Together, they have changed the philosophy of the Club to attend to the wide range of talent in W.N.Y. The coaching staff has devised training procedures that are high on repetitions and have focused on the development of skills in a controlled match atmosphere. Along with skills training, a tournament format was developed that would eliminate “dead time” and allow the athlete to maximize efforts. The result was high energy, fast paced practices/tournaments that the athletes loved!  More boys are playing volleyball and enjoying the sport of volleyball. Through these athletes, the dream of improving the overall quality of volleyball in Western York may be realized.