Jordan lifts her team up at every moment she can get. photo by Daniella Prime-Morales
Jordan Graham applies her coaching skills to the Thomas Jefferson Varsity Girls’ Volleyball team.
Thomas Jefferson’s Girls’ Volleyball is coming in fast and strong with new varsity head coach Jordan Graham. Graham has been coaching the Junior Varsity team here at TJ for five years, and, because of her hard work and dedication to TJ volleyball, former head coaches Denny Bryan and Ian Byrne have passed down the role to her with no hesitation. Graham’s new position consists of coaching the varsity girls, alongside her assistant coach Allison Driver, maintaining the program’s fundraisers, managing all four teams, creating team schedules, and keeping the concessions stocked and running smoothly during home games. In addition to these tasks, Graham brings so much more to the TJ volleyball program.
Graham is a young coach that encourages positivity within her team at all times. She describes her hobbies as just “Colorado things,” including hiking, walking her dog, coloring, drawing, and painting. These activities bring moments of reflection and relaxation in Graham’s life. Inside the gym, Graham enjoys talking with her team and creating a “friend to friend” relationship over a “coach to player” relationship anytime. She wants her team to love the game and the people that come with it. Graham also hopes her team will feed off each other’s positive energy every time they play together. The head coach has played volleyball since she was eight years old, and she enjoys every aspect of the game. This includes watching, playing, and coaching the sport. Graham is passionate about volleyball specifically, because she loves how a team works together and challenges themselves physically and mentally. Overall, Graham hopes for her team to look out for each other and motivate one another the same way that she did growing up.
Graham is a TJ alum who played volleyball all four years of high school. She has adapted several techniques from her former coaches, such as focusing on the mental strength of her team. This concept is extremely important to Graham because she understands the large role of a good mental state within the game. To help with this mentality, Graham has asked each player on her team to create a personal goal that they will strive to achieve by the end of the season. Graham wrote down each player’s words, and plans to check in with their goals in the middle of the season. This will remind her players to keep pushing and working for what they want. By the end of the volleyball season, she hopes to see her team accomplish all of their goals through lots of determination and commitment.
Being promoted to head volleyball coach, Graham has noticed some changes when switching from coaching JV to Varsity. Overall, she highlighted the fact that coaching is much faster paced, and more skills are covered in a short period of time. Taking on this challenge can be difficult, so Graham has decided to focus on a few different tasks. “I think it’s important that every single player gets involved in practice so each individual can improve in their level.” Helping her team improve on their own skills is very significant to Graham, and she hopes to provide advice that will push her players every practice. Regardless of the team Graham is coaching, she still obtains a strong definition of her job’s meaning. “Being a coach to me means I get to help young girls grow into the sport and into who they want to become. I think being a coach is not just for volleyball but for helping to set life-long goals and skills for on and off the court.” Graham possesses all of the aspects of being a positive coach, which comes from the lessons she learned when she was a Spartan.
Graham has already started the season strong for her players and hopes to see vast improvement as her team continues to grow on the court. With the goals that Graham has helped her players set for themselves, she has also created a goal that she hopes to accomplish this season. “My goal is to support all of the players as much as possible. I want to be there for my team whenever they need- both in the game of volleyball and out of it.”
Graham is an exceptional individual in the TJ volleyball program, and her new role as head coach could not have been possible without her determination. Graham puts her entire focus and commitment into teaching each girl to have true passion and love for the game itself. Graham aspires to watch her team physically improve in volleyball skill, but also mentally worship the complex game of volleyball.
