Coaching Staff

Ola Nowak

Head Coach, 12 Black

Ola Nowak, third year coach. 

Nowak has been a FaR Out coach and intern for three years. She is a FaR Out alum who graduated from Grandville High School in 2021. Nowak started her college debut at Grand Rapids Community College, then transferred to Davenport University in her sophomore season. 

Brittany Beaune

Head Coach, 13 Red

Brittany Beaune, fourth year coach. 

Beaune has coached FaR Out for two years at the local level, as well as two years at the regional level. She graduated from Mason high school in 2011 after four years of playing as well. Beaune has experience coaching a variety of different levels throughout middle school and high school ages. Beaune is currently the head coach for the East Kentwood junior varsity team.

Kellie Rowland

Head Coach, 13 Black

Kellie Rowland, eighth-year coach. 

Rowland has coached FaR Out at the national level for eight years. She spent 22 years as the head coach for Lakewood High School, where she achieved an overall record of 1,028-155. In her time as head coach, Rowland achieved one state title (2012), four state runner-up titles, seven final fours, 12 regional titles, 19 district titles, and 19 conference titles. Rowland also coached 43 all-state athletes at Lakewood High School. Rowland’s 2024 12 Black team finished 3rd at AAU Nationals in the 12 Premier division. 

Clair Rowland

Assistant Coach, 13 Black

Clair Rowland, sixth-year coach.

Rowland has coached FaR Out for one year at the local level, two years at the regional level, and three years at the national level. He has also served as an assistant coach at Lakewood High School, where he has taken home one State Championship and multiple top-ten finishes. In Rowland’s 25 years at Lakewood, he worked with the setters and helped develop 7 all-state honorees.

Cameron Rowland

Head Coach, 14 Black

Cameron Rowland, 12th year coach. 

Rowland has coached FaR Out for 12 years at the national level. He also serves the club as the assistant director and recruiting coordinator. Rowland served as the head coach for Lakewood High School for six seasons, where he has recorded more than 200 wins. Within these six years, he led his team to two state runner-up finishes as well as four Final Four finishes. Rowland has also spent time as the director of volleyball operations and volunteer assistant at Western Michigan University. Currently, he is the assistant coach for Lowell High School, where he also is a lead coach for the Lowell Middle School program. 

Savannah Stoepker

Assistant Coach, 14 Black

Savannah Stoepker, third-year coach.

Stoepker has coached FaR Out for two years at the local level, and one year at the national level. She graduated from Lakewood High School, where she was a part of the state runner-up team in 2017 as well as the final four team in 2018. Stoepker’s team was also the GLAC conference champions (2015-2018), and she was named to the all-conference team in 2018. Stoepker then went to play at Grand Rapids Community College, where she led her team in aces. Stoepker currently coaches the Caledonia High School Freshman team. 

Michele Lurye

Head Coach, 15 Black

Michele Lurye, sixth year coach. 

Lurye has coached FaR Out at the regional level for three years as well as the national level for three years. She has been a part of the coaching staff for multiple successful programs, including two state runner-ups at Lowell High School as the assistant coach. Lurye was also a part of the 18 Black coaching staff that took home first place in the 2022 AAU National Championships, as well as the 2024 18 Black team that took 2nd place at AAU Nationals. Lurye served as an assistant coach at Davenport University for two years.

Christa Manyen

Assistant Coach, 15 Black

Christa Manyen, 4th year coach. 

Manyen has coached FaR Out at the national level for four years, as well as with the youth academy for five years. She graduated from Forest Hills Northern after playing for four years, then joined the Cornerstone University volleyball team. Manyen also has 14 years of experience coaching at the junior varsity level. She is currently the head coach for the junior varsity team at Rockford High School.

Courtney Cronkright

Head Coach, 15 Gold

Courtney Cronkright, sixth-year coach.

Cronkright has coached FaR Out for four years at the regional level as well as two years at the national level. She is a Jenison High School and FaR Out alum. After graduating high school, Cronkright played at Olivet College from 2014-2018, where she collected an impressive 1299 career digs. Cronkright is currently the JV coach at Byron Center High School.

Valerie Lurye

Head Coach, 16 Black

Valerie Lurye, eighth year coach. 

Lurye has coached FaR Out for two years at the regional level as well as six years at the national level. During these years she has served the club as a head coach, a lead coach and as the programming assistant, including things like marketing, media, travel, etc. She graduated from Forest Hills Northern in 2009, then attended Grand Rapids Community College. In her time as a coach, Lurye has been on the coaching staff at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Caledonia and Forest Hills Northern. She received the award of Varsity Coach of the Year in 2015 for region 7.

Chris Schaffer

Head Coach, 17 Gold

Chris Schaffer, second year coach.

Schaffer has coached FaR Out for two years at the regional level. He comes to FaR Out with a rich history of coaching. Schaffer has been a part of the coaching staff at Midwestern State University, Christ Academy high school and club ZIVA, where he picked up the title of Club Coach of the year in 2015 and 2018. He is currently the assistant coach at Cornerstone University where he was most recently named the WHAC Conference Assistant Coach of the Year (2022).

Kayla Clark

Head Coach, 18 Red

Bio Coming Soon!

Abi Mangus

Head Coach, 16 Silver

Bio Coming Soon!

Alan Kaufman

Head Coach, 18 Gold

Alan Kaufman, seventeenth year coach. 

Kaufman has coached FaR Out for ten years at the regional level as well as seven years at the national level. He has a lengthy playing history starting in Salem Ohio, 1977 as both a setter and a pin hitter. Outside of Kaufman’s seventeen consecutive years with FaR Out he has also been on the coaching staff for Salem high school and Caledonia high school.

Katie Lutjens

Head Coach, 14 Red

Katie Lutjens, third year coach. 

Lutjens has coached FaR Out for two years at the local level, as well as one year at the regional level. She graduated from Catholic Central in 2019 after playing for four years, and was also a FaR Out athlete from 2013 to 2019. Lutjens coached the Catholic Central varsity team as an assistant in 2020, then coached the Catholic Central freshman team as an assistant in 2021 and as the head coach in 2022.

Connor Libs

Head Coach, 17 Gold

Connor Libs, third-year coach.

Libs is coming to the FaR Out volleyball club with 10 years of coaching experience, as well as experience as a player. In the past, Libs has played for Louisville Fury, Eastern Kentucky University (club team), and Midway University. Libs was also named to the all-conference academic team at Midway University in 2018. Libs is currently the head coach for Grand Rapids Catholic Central. 

Joe Steenhuysen

Head Coach, 18 Black

Twenty five plus year coach. 

Steenhuysen has been with the FaR Out program since the very beginning. As a founder of the club, he also takes on the responsibility of coaching the 18 black team as well as serving as the national gym lead coach. Steenhuysen has won numerous national championship titles, most recently coming from the 18 Black win in the 2022 AAU Nationals. He serves as an honored guest coach at many summer camps, colleges, high school, and middle schools in the midwest. Steenhuysen has directed FaR Out to being one of the most successful volleyball clubs in all of Michigan.

Charley Andrews

Head Coach, 18 Gold

Charley Andrews, third-year coach.

Andrews has coached FaR Out at the national level for three years. She graduated from Harper Creek High School, where she was also a Miss Volleyball candidate for the state of Michigan in 2016. She graduated from the Western Michigan volleyball team in 2021, where she was the AVCA Diversity Award recipient. Andrews was the assistant coach for Hope College in 2022, where she helped lead her team to an elite eight finish. Andrews served as the Davenport University assistant coach in the 2023 season, and now is in her first year as the head coach.

Stephanie Kalinowski

Assistant Coach, 18 Gold

Bio Coming Soon!

Jake Huston

Head Coach, 18 Onyx

Huston comes into his first season with FaR Out at the national level. He started his coaching debut in 2014 and quickly tallied five district championships and three regional final appearances at Muskegon Catholic Central. Huston was named the 2021 Lakes 8 coach of the year. Throughout his coaching career, he has coached each age group from 15’s to 18’s.

Jeff Butler

Float Coach, National Teams

Jeff Butler, fourth year coach. 

Butler has coached FaR Out for three years at the regional level and two years at the national level. He was the head varsity coach at Mattawan High School for a total of 21 years, where he brought home multiple District Championship titles. Butler has multiple wins under his belt from his time working with Dead Frog as well as FaR Out, including a 2021 AAU National Championship. He was an assistant coach at Western Michigan University from 1994-1997, where he was in charge of out-of-state recruiting, home match management, and player development. Currently, Butler is a float coach in the National practice gym, and is also the mastermind behind our ‘Coaching Development Program’. Through this program, Butler runs class once a week with new and veteran coaches to “coach” them through how to be a great trainer for our athletes. 

Sid Schiller

Float Coach, National Teams

Sid Schiller, fifth-year coach.

Schiller has been with FaR Out as a player and coach for nine years. She attended Battle Creek Lakeview, where she was also the first player in program history to be nominated as a candidate for the Miss Volleyball award in 2018. She graduated from Purdue University Fort Wayne in December of 2022, where she was named to the Summit League All-Freshman team (2019) and Horizon League All-Academic team (2022). Before her college career, Schiller played at FaR Out from 2015-2019, where she was a part of the 16 Black team that won the 2017 AAU National Championship. She was also named an All-American at the same event. Outside of playing, Schiller has experience with coaching the National Team Development Program for the United States National Sitting Volleyball team in Oklahoma. Schiller is currently an assistant at Davenport University.

Macy Keizer

Float Coach, National Teams

Macy Keizer, seventh-year coach.

Keizer has previously coached FaR Out for two years at the regional level, as well as three years at the local level. Her history with the club dates back to the “DFFO” years, where she had a successful playing career before making her college debut at Wayne State University. Keizer graduated from Western Michigan University in 2018 with a degree in child and family development.

Amanda Frost

Assistant Coach, 15 Gold

Amanda Frost, third year coach.

Frost has coached FaR Out for two years at the local level, as well as one year at the national level. Frost was a two time all state setter at Lakewood and career ace record holder.

Brenda Berg

Head Coach, 17 Silver

Brenda Berg, fourth-year coach.

Berg has coached FaR Out at the local level for four years. She graduated from Godwin Heights High School, where she also played for three years on the varsity team. After high school, she played one season at Grace Bible College. Berg has actively coached for Ada Christian Middle School over the past ten years.

Jahna Salisbury

Head Coach, 14 Red

Jahna Salisbury, second-year coach.

Salisbury will be in her 2nd year of coaching at FaR Out. She coached 13 Silver during the 2024 season. Throughout her years playing for FaR Out, she also played beach volleyball at a high level. Salisbury and her partner qualified for the junior Olympics, won the Dunes Classic Tournament, and was a gold medalist for the West Michigan Beach Volleyball Tournament all in 2017. She is also coaching the 7th grade A team at Byron Center Middle School.

Isabelle Koenigsknecht

Head Coach, 13 Red

Isabelle Koenigsknecht, second-year head coach

Koenigsknecht will be joining FaR Out for her second year of coaching at the regional level. She is attending Western Michigan University and hopes to pursue a career in teaching after graduation. 

Sydney Zandstra

Head Coach, 15 Red

Sydney Zandstra, second-year head coach

Zandstra is a FaR Out Alum part of the class of 2022, as well as a graduate of Lowell High School, where she played for Coach Jordan Drake and was part of the team that went on to play in two consecutive MHSAA State finals. While at Lowell, Zandstra was also a part of the basketball and softball teams.  Zandstra went on to play for the College of St. Rose. Currently, Zandstra is the 7th Grade A team coach for Lowell Middle School and serves as an Assistant Coach for Lowell High School. 

Amy Wierenga

Head Coach, 18 Red

Bio Coming Soon!

Kayla Clark

Head Coach, 18 Red

Bio Coming Soon!

Claire Kransberger

Head Coach, 15 Red

Claire Kransberger, second-year coach. 

Kransberger coached at the local level for one year. After graduating high school, she played at Tusculum University for two years. Kransberger has been the freshman coach for East Kentwood High School and is currently the Byron Center freshman coach. 

Alli Pickard

Head Coach, 12 Grey

Bio Coming Soon!

Allison Sagraves

Head Coach, 12 White

Allison Sagraves, eleventh year coach. 

Sagraves has coached FaR Out at the regional level for two years as well as at the local level for nine years. She also takes on the role of a lead coach in the local gym as well as the Youth Academy Director. Sagraves graduated from Jenison high school and FaR Out in 2002. She then played at Cornerstone University from 2003-2005 where she received multiple all conference and all region accolades. Sagraves has taken part in coaching middle school and high school programs at Jenison, Forest Hills Eastern, and South Christian.

Kerri Ellis

Assistant Coach, 12 White

Kerri Ellis, second year coach.

Ellis has coached FaR Out at the local level for two years. She has also had experience working with the FaR Out Youth Academy. Ellis played all four years at Forest Hills Northern, and has also coached middle school volleyball in the Rockford school district for six years.

Ali Pignataro

Head Coach, 12 Crimson

Bio Coming Soon!

Miranda German

Head Coach, 13 Cardinal

Bio Coming Soon!

Jennie Cripe

Head Coach, 13 White

Bio Coming Soon!

Riley Dejong

Head Coach, 13 Crimson

Bio Coming Soon!

Aubrie Helmus

Head Coach, 13 Steel

Aubrie Helmus, third-year coach.

Helmus has coached FaR Out at the local level for two years, and will be joining the state level in 2025. Before stepping into the world of coaching, Helmus started her playing career at FaR Out from 2009 to 2011. She also gained four years of experience while playing at South Christian High School (2012-2014) as an outside hitter.

Emma Whitley

Head Coach, 12 Red

Emma Whitley, fourth-year coach. 

Whitley has coached FaR Out for three years at the local level and will be joining the regional level in her fourth season. Whitley was a FaR Out athlete for four years, where she was also the recipient of the Emily Duits scholarship. She is now an active member of the Cornerstone University volleyball team, where she also received the WHAC Champion of Character award in 2022 and 2024. Whitley was a key contributor to the Golden Eagles when they won the WHAC Conference Championship in 2022. In her four years as a Golden Eagle, Whitley has collected 898 digs and 154 aces. 

Paige Wolverton

Head Coach, 14 Crimson

Bio Coming Soon!

Allie Cusack

Head Coach, 13 Silver

Allie Cusack, second-year coach.

Cusack will be joining the regional staff after her first year as a local coach. She graduated from Grand Ledge High School before attending Lansing Community College from 2010 to 2012. Cusack then transferred to Grand Valley State University from 2012 to 2014, where she played on the university’s club volleyball team. Cusack currently coaches the JV team at Caledonia High School. 

Skylee Bellgraph

Head Coach, 14 Grey

Bio Coming Soon!

Dyllan Hanna

Head Coach, 13 Cardinal

Bio Coming Soon!

Kaitlyn Frys

Head Coach, 14 Sangria

Bio Coming Soon!

Stephanie Kalinowski

Assistant Coach, 18 Gold

Bio Coming Soon!

Dave Miller

Head Coach, 15 Grey

Dave Miller, fifth year coach.

Miller has coached FaR Out at the local level for three years as well as two years at the regional level. He has been playing and coaching for thirty plus years, allowing him to bring a large skill set to the FaR Out family.

Justice Craft

Head Coach, 12 Cardinal

Justice Craft, fifth-year coach. 

Craft has coached FaR Out for five years at the local level. She is a FaR Out alum who also graduated from East Kentwood High School. After graduating high school, she played for Marshall University from 2014 to 2017. In those four years, Craft received multiple accolades, including MVP of the Eagle Challenge as well as the C-USA Academic Medal. Currently, Craft is the head coach at Kellogsville High School for the volleyball and track teams. 

Amy Weatherford

Head Coach, 17 White

Amy Weatherford, third year coach.

Weatherford has coached FaR Out for three years at the local level. She graduated from Waverly high school before going to play club volleyball at Central Michigan University. Weatherford was previously the freshman coach at East Kentwood high school for 15 years, then also coached for two years at Pinewood middle school and two years at Ionia public schools.

Valerie Lurye

Lead Coach

Valerie Lurye, ninth year coach. 

Lurye has coached FaR Out for two years at the regional level as well as six years at the national level. During these years she has served the club as a head coach, a lead coach and as the programming assistant, including things like marketing, media, travel, etc. She graduated from Forest Hills Northern in 2009, then attended Grand Rapids Community College & Davenport University. In her time as a coach, Lurye has been on the coaching staff at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Caledonia and Forest Hills Northern. She received the award of Varsity Coach of the Year in 2015 for Region 7, and was named Division 1 Coach of the Year in 2024.

Cameron Rowland

Lead Coach

Cameron Rowland, 12th year coach. 

Rowland has coached FaR Out for 12 years at the national level. He also serves the club as the assistant director and recruiting coordinator. Rowland served as the head coach for Lakewood High School for six seasons, where he has recorded more than 200 wins. Within these six years, he led his team to two state runner-up finishes as well as four Final Four finishes. Rowland has also spent time as the director of volleyball operations and volunteer assistant at Western Michigan University. Currently, he is the assistant coach for Lowell High School, where he also is a lead coach for the Lowell Middle School program. 

Elle Humphries

Lead Coach

Elle Humphries, fifth year coach.

Humphries has coached FaR Out at the regional level for four years and is now taking on the role of a lead coach in her fifth year. She graduated from Portage Central high school where she was an all-state honoree in 2012. After high school, Humphries played at Ferris State University from 2013 to 2014 where she and her team won a regional championship and made it to the elite 8.

Humphries has a rich history of coaching for FaR Out, including winning the 2021 and 2022 AAU State Championships. She is currently the varsity assistant coach at Byron Center high school.

Lori Armstrong

Lead Coach & Float Assistant

Bio Coming Soon!

Missy Ritz-Johnson

Lead Coach & Float Assistant

Bio Coming Soon!

Kerri Ellis

Float Assistant

Kerri Ellis, second year coach.

Ellis has coached FaR Out at the local level for two years. She has also had experience working with the FaR Out Youth Academy. Ellis played all four years at Forest Hills Northern, and has also coached middle school volleyball in the Rockford school district for six years.

Toni Haynes

Lead Coach

Toni Haynes, sixth year coach. 

Haynes has coached FaR Out at the regional and national level for six years. She graduated from East Kentwood high school in 2010 before playing at Kishwaukee College for two years where she was also named an All American. Haynes then transferred to Mars Hill University for her last two years of eligibility. Haynes also coached at Club Fusion in the Chicagoland area. Haynes is now the current head coach at East Kentwood high school.

Maribeth Johnston

Lead Coach

Bio Coming Soon!

Sid Schiller

Float Coach, National Teams

Sid Schiller, fifth-year coach.

Schiller has been with FaR Out as a player and coach for nine years. She attended Battle Creek Lakeview, where she was also the first player in program history to be nominated as a candidate for the Miss Volleyball award in 2018. She graduated from Purdue University Fort Wayne in December of 2022, where she was named to the Summit League All-Freshman team (2019) and Horizon League All-Academic team (2022). Before her college career, Schiller played at FaR Out from 2015-2019, where she was a part of the 16 Black team that won the 2017 AAU National Championship. She was also named an All-American at the same event. Outside of playing, Schiller has experience with coaching the National Team Development Program for the United States National Sitting Volleyball team in Oklahoma. Schiller is currently an assistant at Davenport University.

Joe Steenhuysen

Lead Coach

Joe Steenhuysen, twenty five plus year coach. 

Steenhuysen has been with the FaR Out program since the very beginning. As a founder of the club, he also takes on the responsibility of coaching the 18 black team as well as serving as the national gym lead coach. Steenhuysen has won numerous national championship titles, most recently coming from the 18 Black win in the 2022 AAU Nationals. He serves as an honored guest coach at many summer camps, colleges, high school, and middle schools in the midwest. Steenhuysen has directed FaR Out to being one of the most successful volleyball clubs in all of Michigan.

Charley Andrews

Lead Coach

Charley Andrews, third-year coach.

Andrews has coached FaR Out at the national level for three years. She graduated from Harper Creek High School, where she was also a Miss Volleyball candidate for the state of Michigan in 2016. She graduated from the Western Michigan volleyball team in 2021, where she was the AVCA Diversity Award recipient. Andrews was the assistant coach for Hope College in 2022, where she helped lead her team to an elite eight finish. Andrews served as the Davenport University assistant coach in the 2023 season, and now is in her first year as the head coach.

Ola Nowak

Lead Coach

Ola Nowak, third year coach. 

Nowak has been a FaR Out coach and intern for three years. She is a FaR Out alum who graduated from Grandville High School in 2021. Nowak started her college debut at Grand Rapids Community College, then transferred to Davenport University in her sophomore season. 

Michele Lurye

Lead Coach

Michele Lurye, sixth year coach. 

Lurye has coached FaR Out at the regional level for three years as well as the national level for three years. She has been a part of the coaching staff for multiple successful programs, including two state runner-ups at Lowell High School as the assistant coach. Lurye was also a part of the 18 Black coaching staff that took home first place in the 2022 AAU National Championships, as well as the 2024 18 Black team that took 2nd place at AAU Nationals. Lurye served as an assistant coach at Davenport University for two years.

Allison Sagraves

Lead Coach

Allison Sagraves, eleventh year coach. 

Sagraves has coached FaR Out at the regional level for two years as well as at the local level for nine years. She also takes on the role of a lead coach in the local gym as well as the Youth Academy Director. Sagraves graduated from Jenison high school and FaR Out in 2002. She then played at Cornerstone University from 2003-2005 where she received multiple all conference and all region accolades. Sagraves has taken part in coaching middle school and high school programs at Jenison, Forest Hills Eastern, and South Christian.