June 5, 2025
Ahead of the West Coast Invitational, powered by Triple Crown Volleyball and set for Sandy, UT., June 7-9, we dug into the details on the Athena Volleyball Club, based in Portland, OR.
Here’s the rest of our conversation with Remi Pourrat, director, recruiting coordinator and lead coach.
Q: Parents can get a little twitchy paying for a club sport with the hope or expectation it opens doors for college. How do you address that dynamic at Athena?
A: We have the luxury to offer unmatched support for college recruiting. I am the full-time recruiting coordinator for the club. My job is to help every athlete in our club to find their home for college. We have countless resources with SportsRecruits, the content that LOVB provides (like a google classroom), the content that I provide (videos, to-do lists, templates and guidelines). In addition to the available resources, every athlete sends me their highlight videos for feedback, meets with me, we prepare a plan for them, identify their goals, and I walk hand in hand with them.
Additionally, our coaching and admin staff is basically connected to every college program, and we always facilitate communications between our athletes and their schools. All of that is included in their tuition. Our parents are very supportive and we also have content and guidelines for them, because navigating the recruiting process is challenging for the whole family.
Q: What does the future look like at Athena? Goals, aspirations for growth?
A: Our goal is to grow our community and offer our support and resources to more young women and men. We have started a program in Bend, OR., and that first season was amazing. The people who decided to join and take a leap of faith are amazing, and we are excited to grow with those families. We also started a beach program that is exploding this season, so we are trying to find ways to include everyone that wants to participate. We also created programs for athletes who don't want the commitment or the price tag of a club team.
We are trying to get more involved with our region and the high school programs as well. We are organizing our first high school team camp offering professional level of coaching, as well as alternative high school training for the athletes who do not want to participate and still want training. The level of the gym is increasing season after season, and we want more young people to be part of it, have fun with us and get better together. We know that by doing things right, the performance will follow, it is a natural side effect of our culture.
Q: What are your thoughts on the West Coast Invite and how it fits what Athena wants to do?
A: We really like the WCI tournament. It is an amazing rehearsal for our teams before nationals, allows us to compete against some of the best teams in the country, get challenged and compete. In 2023, our 16 Gold team won the tournament and was invited (to the TC NIT) in 2024, and it was a great experience. We are still hoping to create this strong relationship with the NIT events as we keep growing and getting better.
