After 19+ years, a perspective of the SoCal and Greater San Fernando Club scene.
Recognizing the massive political, economical and social issues brought on by the China virus pandemic, Industry VBC has closed its doors after 19 years of SoCal Club Volleyball. During that time period we were the only small club in the greater San Fernando Valley area to medal multiple times at Junior Olympic qualifiers, and at a time when Junior Olympic qualifiers still meant something. A feat that the other small clubs could never match, including Reef, Supernovel, Point West, and too many others to name.
Our player development was unparalleled in the greater SFV as we focused on alll aspects of athletic development, not just volleyball. We routinely helped kids who were cut from the other clubs, some that couldn’t make teams, and some that had played at one club for years and then all of a sudden were dropped from the top team. We helped them understand the process, that they had been let down by their club, not the other way around, and we turned them into high school and club standouts. Our top players were among the best of the best and went on to compete at schools such as University of Hawaii and UCLA. We championed playing by the rules and reached out countless times to the deaf ears of the SCVA in regards to blatant rule violations by multiple clubs. Unfortunately the SCVA had a great written code that they never lived by and refused to enforce any policies against big clubs.
The biggest and most notorious of the SoCal clubs, Nabil Mardini and Trevor Julian of LAVA (formerly SMBC). For those that don’t know, Nabil seized the SMBC club only months after the owners death, taking it away from the owners family and rebranding it as LAVA. The LAVA name, logo, and color scheme were all taken from a propane company that already existed in Los Angeles long before the volleyball club. Nabil was the kind of guy who was “let go” from Pierce College after a 17 year coaching career. Why? Because forensic accounting turned up a rumored ~4 million dollars over a 10 year period that was missing from the athletic programs funds. Former Pierce athletic director stated, ‘you know, after 17 years of coaching here at Pierce there hasn’t even been one person who has called or emailed on Nabils behalf after his release’. Couple that with years of illegal recruiting, attempted slander and intimidation of other clubs coaches, using other clubs names as promotional tools for their club, and a multitude of other infractions paints the true picture of what the Nabil and Trevor are really about.
And then there’s Carrie Wright of Oaks VBC (whose club was saved by her hiring and paying big bucks to a former Chinese National Team player to come in and actually teach volleyball) and Morgan Wijay of Superchumps. These two take the cake for bottom feeding. Intentionally slandering clubs and people in an effort to take over gym space and build clientele. It’s amazing that these two feel comfortable showing their faces in public. Carrie was caught red handed by club parents from Coast and Wave VBC lying about other coaches and clubs and still lies about it to this day. In an effort to further their own livelihoods and the fact that they have zero ability to actually teach and coach meant they had no issues at all lying for years in an effort to build their businesses. Ask them about it. Their ugliness shines through in their conversations and their physical appearance.
Last but certainly not least, the newest member of the “building a business through better lies” club, Sina Aghastly. Sina came to our club begging for help as he had already put his previous high school program in ruins and his current program Chatsworth High was falling apart on him. The best players transferring out and new players not wanting to come in. He wanted us to help him build his program by running summer clinics and promoting his school. In an effort to support our local high schools we gave him, free gym time, set up summer clinics and introduced him and ran his promos to our club players. As soon as we stabilized his program for him, he turned his back on our club. The icing on the cake was his cif “championship”. Being on the committee of coaches who gets to decide what division schools compete in, Sina convinced his committee friends to let his team drop down a division for playoffs. Competing in a higher division for the season and for the past 5+ years, he dropped down a division for playoffs, something that can only be done by the “committee” vote. No other school in the CIF playoffs had this opportunity. Sina only did this for his team, and they won the CIF championship in a lower division than they have ever competed in. From our perspective, EMBARRASSING, from his perspective, the only way he could ever win anything and the only way to make himself look like a legitimate volleyball coach was cheating. Well done Sina.