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encouragement. Tim tweeted a message to several U.S. Women’s National Team play- ers and coaches, and setter Alisha Glass, a former three-time National Champion at Penn State, responded.


“I’d like to give a shout out to some very strong ladies and a supportive husband, check out their story and follow them!! @JamtheGym,” said the Tweet from Glass (@aglass6).


After that, Glass shared the Toys’ story with her teammates and they arranged for Ellen to become the honorary coach during the team’s big match with Serbia. “We watched from our couch in Pitts-


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burgh and Ellen sent Twitter messages as to what she was seeing, why things worked, and other coaching tips,” Tim says. “The whole thing was like a magic tonic. Ellen got through those treatments and returned to coaching after a season off, and we had a new favorite team to follow!” And follow the Toys do. They go to great lengths to support the National Team, such as getting up early or staying up late for online matches and traveling when possible to watch in person. The couple fl ew to Southern California for last summer’s USA Volleyball Cup matches, where they walked into the American Sports Center (the training center for the U.S. National Teams) and were recognized by the women’s team. “Having 30 of the world’s best players rise to greet us, that was a special day,” says Tim, who, along with Ellen, runs the We Serve First Foundation, designed for players from families with a medical situation to send two young girls to a summer camp and pay for one to play club volleyball. The couple is also behind Jam The Gym, a fundraiser to fi ght cancer and also to remember Ellen’s assistant coach, who passed away from leukemia in 2012. Recently, with Ellen feeling up to the trip, the Toys made the 14-hour drive from Pittsburgh to Omaha, Nebraska, to watch the U.S. women capture the Grand Prix title, a trek with signifi cance that was not lost on the team members. “It means so much to us,” USA captain Christa Dietzen says. “They are so inspiring to us. We are so thankful for them to be here and to be a part of it.”


SUPER FAN NO. 3 With social media playing a large role in both the Vol-B-Que and also connecting the Toys to the women’s National Team, it’s no wonder that our third Super Fan uses it to help promote volleyball and its charismatic players from around the world. Rob Espero, or as many people know him, @RobOnTheMic on





VolleyTalk, Twitter and Instagram, has been involved with volleyball as a player, fan, offi cial and radio and public address announcer for more than 25 years. He attended college at UC Irvine, but an injury kept him from playing, so he turned to line judging to help pay the bills. Before one Anteater match, when the PA announcer didn’t show up, longtime men’s volleyball Sports Information Director Stacey King asked him to step behind the mic, knowing that Espero was well-versed in the sport of volleyball. The rest is history. Espero, who works in IT support, is the voice of UC Irvine vol- leyball but also serves as the PA announcer for many international volleyball events that are held in the United States. But it’s the way that Espero promotes the sport and the people involved in the game


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that has garnered so much attention. If you look on any of Espero’s social media accounts, you’ll fi nd hundreds of photos and selfi es of him with players from around the world, players who call him a friend and seek him out when he’s at a match, because they understand what he is trying to do: help promote volleyball worldwide.


THEY SERVE FIRST: Tim Toy and his wife Ellen’s mar- riage is bonded by the love of the sport and teams they support. (Photo: Toy family)


“If you look at other countries like France, Italy, Russia and Brazil – their vol- leyball players are literally like rock stars,” Espero says. “So I try to fi nd those stories and put them on social media, so people see what I’m posting and enjoy it. There are some awesome personalities here in the U.S. You start throwing in the interna- tional factor, I defi nitely want to get that information out there and get those stories out so American people can engage the game of volleyball. Not only the parts of the game with competition and strategy but also the players themselves with great


personalities.” Espero’s position as the PA announcer at matches also gives him a leg up in getting to know these players, as he is literally on the court.


“Being able to have access to these players allows me to intro- duce myself, establish this relationship and engage in these interac- tions that allow me to get to know more about them and therefore just help in the best way I can to promote who they are, their suc- cessful careers and to promote volleyball.”


When announcing a match, Espero has his own style. He gets the crowd pumped up with his enthusiasm and adds colorful phrases like “Return to sender,” “cross-court CRUSH,” “slide, slide, slip and slide” and “downtown pound.” Not only does he paint what is occur- ring within the lines of the court with his voice, he also educates fans with specifi c descriptions of advanced terms.


“Hopefully the way I announce a match or broadcast on the radio shows that I have a love, enthusiasm and energy that wants to get the game of volleyball out there on people’s radars even more,” he says. “We have some of the greatest players in the world in the USA


National Team program, but they’re great for so many reasons,” he continued. “They are talents on the court, but they have incredible personalities, they’re good people, they work hard and they represent the United States incredibly well. It is my deepest hope and desire that the American public can go out and discover who these people are and really embrace the talent, skills and personalities of these players who are wearing the red, white and blue and who are trying to go get us gold at the Olympics.”


SUPER FAN NO. 4


No super fan list would be complete without the one who crosses international boundaries. Japanese native Nahoko Mori is a big of fan of the U.S. Women’s


and Men’s National Teams, even cheering for the Americans when they play against her home country. Mori, who presents the American players with gifts when she sees them in person (like at the 2015 FIVB World Cup in Japan), formed her allegiance when Japanese native Toshi Yoshida was the head coach of the U.S. Team.


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