Get to know: Ivory Leonard

Can you tell us about your background playing and coaching volleyball?

I played volleyball at Bradshaw High School in Florence and then played for two years at Northwest Shoals Community College. I then got a volleyball scholarship to Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn., where I finished my degree in history and geography with a teacher’s certification.

While in college, I worked as a counselor at volleyball camps at University of North Alabama, and that’s how I got into the idea of coaching high school ball. The summer after I graduated I got a job as an assistant coach at Hoover High School literally two weeks before school started, and that brought me to the Birmingham area.

What drew you to coach at Homewood?

I had been at Hoover for four years when I heard about the opening at Homewood. I did some heavy thinking, and when I got introduced to the community, school and team at Homewood, I thought it would be a good fit for me. It was a good time for me to step into head coaching.

I was hired in the spring and then started doing workouts with the Homewood volleyball team.

What can you tell us about the team this year?

They are working really, really hard and improving every day. Everybody has been supportive since I started.

The six seniors especially are always willing to give 100 percent and come in with a positive attitude. They are the first to do anything I ask. It helps with the three sophomores on the team, which are really the future of the program, when the seniors are backing me up every step of the way. I appreciate their willingness to buy into what I am trying to implement.

What can fans expect to see this season?

I think we will have a successful season. We set a goal for every practice and every game, and our job is to accomplish that goal every day. People will see high energy and a go-all-out type of team.

I am really big on process. I don’t expect fireworks in the first game. I am looking forward to continuing to improve, so when we get to playoffs, we can continue to do well.

I hope a lot of people come to take a look at us. They are not going to be the same team they were last year.

How would you describe your coaching style?

I am very communicative. I think it’s unfair to expect things unless you tell students what you want. From the beginning, we had team meetings and individual meetings. I told each of them where I could see them going, so when I start calling for those things in practice and games, they know what to expect. They are held to that expectation every single day. That way everybody is on the same page from the very beginning.

There is nothing that can stop me from getting you to achieve a point if we are both working on it. There have been times in practice at first where they thought I was loud or high-energy, but now they know to expect that from me.

I am very intense, so my goal is that the girls will mirror that personality. I am confident that the goals we set are going to happen. I am going to keep working with them, and they are going to keep working with me.

Is there anything else you think people should know about how you and the team are working together?

Not only has the team worked hard, but I have also pushed them outside their comfort zones to do things they haven’t done before. I teach tenth grade history in the classroom, and on the court I am teaching my concept of volleyball — what it looks like, how it should flow, what our identity is going to be as Homewood volleyball. Everything we go over is about our identity.