By Kalleen Rose Ozanic, Staff Writer
July 27, 2024
Photos: Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
“We had grown tremendously with people coming from places that we would have never thought,” said her husband, co-founder and director Garrett Minyard. “People make the drive to come play volleyball, from like Westchester (County, N.Y.) and from Greenwich and even from up north of Hartford."
Madeleine, who is now 2 years old and about 3 feet tall, has grown tremendously, as well, said the pair of volleyballers, who are both over 6 feet tall. The Minyards left professional volleyball careers in Italy in 2018 after “agonizing” over whether to play another year or to launch their own club. “That actually felt like a safe choice because we already were there,” Cat Dailey Minyard said. “Stay another year. I knew the team. I knew what that was going to look like.”
But they decided to head back to the U.S. and start the Northeast Volleyball Club in Connecticut, where they had both graduated from college — she from Yale University and he from Sacred Heart University.
They first opened the club in Wilton, renting out three courts and a small office in 11,000 square feet in the Four Seasons Racquet Club. There, Cat Dailey Minyard said, “You walked in and you were getting hit in the face” with a volleyball.
After about four years, the Minyards upgraded to the 52,000-square-foot, six-court athletic center where they have enough room to rent space in the back to soccer and lacrosse teams. The athletic center also has office space, a weight room, turf, parent and coach lounges and a rock wall — something Cat Dailey Minyard said is a relic from when the Northeast Athletic Center was the SONO Field House.
Their club coaches over 500 athletes among its club teams, summer camps and programs for kids in kindergarten to age 18. Last summer, over 1,500 athletes went through its summer programming.
It offers 9 boys teams and 25 girls teams; the Minyards said volleyball is much more popular among girls and women, though male interest is rising in the sport. The National Federation of State High School Associations reports that, since 2012, boys volleyball is the second fastest-growing sport in the U.S.
Volleyball is the Minyards’ passion, though they don’t get to play nearly as much as when they were in college or on the professional circuit. But they said their love for the sport shines through in different ways — especially as parents. “I care so much more about these kids and my daughter,” Garrett Minyard said, but admitted that he sometimes misses playing. His wife said she misses playing volleyball as well — especially practicing. “I think that playing is so much more personally rewarding, but this is more fulfilling,” she said. “It's a different kind of fulfillment.”
And though they may reminisce about their playing days, volleyball has become an inescapable part of their lives. “Work-life balance?” Cat Dailey Minyard said. “It’s all just life.” That’s especially true for the married pair who share personal lives and work in an “synchronous lifestyle,” Garrett Minyard said.
“I mean, your favorite parts are also your least favorite parts, right?” Garrett Minyard said. “You take your work home with you all the time. There's always someone to bounce ideas off of constantly, whether you're at home or at the office and you have a very connected reality with this person.”
“I think that we challenge each other and balance each other really well and the things that I'm not good at, he is, I'm not gonna lie,” Cat Dailey Minyard said. “Challenging each other and pushing each other in a way that I wouldn't feel comfortable doing with a co-worker.”
The Minyards said they are candid and honest with each other, laughing as they say they’re not afraid to brutally say if the other’s idea is bad. And from their honesty comes success.
With their stacked programs, 70 of their athletes have already started collegiate athletics or have committed to a college team. Of those, 20 belong to Division I programs.
July 27, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
Reporter, the Norwalk Hour
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