Throughout her childhood in Overland Park, Quinn Austin and her father, Kerry Austin, had a nightly tradition.
They ended the day, every day, with a game of volleyball.
It was this common thread that eventually led to the opening of their joint venture, VooDoo Volleyball. In the seven years since the volleyball club debuted in Kansas City, Missouri, Kerry and Quinn said it’s been exciting to see their dream of having their own volleyball club realized.
This summer, the club will volley into its next chapter with a brand new Overland Park facility. Following renovations to the space, VooDoo Volleyball will reopen in its new digs in July.
VooDoo Volleyball is coming to 7625 E. Frontage Road
- The volleyball facility is in the process of moving into a space just off 75th Street and Interstate 35, where Overland Park meets Merriam.
- Previously, the space was used as a storage facility.
- Once it opens, VooDoo Volleyball will generally open its doors at 4 p.m. and stay open until 10 p.m. during the school year, with extended daytime hours during the summer.
VooDoo Volleyball is moving into a 30,000-square-foot space
VooDoo Volleyball is geared toward girls ages 10 through 18, with a variety of different teams.
When renovations wrap up at the new Overland Park facility, it will have five volleyball courts taking up roughly 20,000 square feet in the back. The Austins plan to turn the facility’s lighting upward toward the ceiling, as to not shine in the players’ eyes while they’re on the courts.
In the front, the club will have another 10,000 square feet for a workout and speed conditioning area, concessions and a players’ lounge.
The size was an upside for Quinn and Kerry when they acquired the new space, as they’ll be able to have all of the equipment they need for playing and conditioning under one roof. But they also said they chose the space for its centrality in the metro area.
“We have girls all over the city, so it was important for us to find something that was accessible for everybody,” Quinn said. “In years past, we’ve had to send people out to other facilities for speed (conditioning) or to use equipment. Now we’ll be able to get our own equipment and have everything in an all-encompassing space.”
VooDoo Volleyball got its start in Kansas City, Missouri
The club originally opened in 2018 in a ground-floor space at the Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
Since then, VooDoo Volleyball has continued to grow, moving around a few times before landing its new Overland Park space.
“This was the next step, because we have been progressing and building every year,” Quinn said about the new space. “We’ve been adding coaches and getting more competitive.”
Quinn, now 26, began playing volleyball at 10 years old. Kerry’s background with volleyball goes back quite a ways as well, as this year is his 16th year as a volleyball coach and his 50th as an athletic coach overall.
Though Quinn dabbled in a few other sports like softball and basketball, she said none of them drew her in quite like volleyball did.
A big part of that draw, she said, was the encouraging environment that volleyball provided. All of her teammates cheering each other on, and the friendships that formed from that dynamic.
So that’s the type of environment that she and Kerry want to provide for VooDoo Volleyball’s club members as well. While they still aim for their club to be competitive, the duo said they want it to be a place for friendly competition and fostering connections — a “home away from home.”
“We’re trying to keep that energy going, fostering a positive environment,” Quinn said. “We really want to make it a place where the girls are excited to come, where they don’t mind showing up early or staying late.”
At VooDoo Volleyball, the uplifting doesn’t stop when the players leave the courts either. The duo said they aim to support their members and get to know them not just as athletes, but as people.
When members do eventually leave VooDoo Volleyball — whether that means they’ll continue to play volleyball in college or not — the goal is for them to have skills and relationships that they can take with them.
“We really press the word ‘family’,’” Kerry said. “We want to support them as human beings, not just as volleyball players.”
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