Meet our coaches
Coach James Howell
Head Coach
Coach James Howell is a seasoned volleyball player with over 30 years of experience competing in the sand and indoors at various levels from club (in the US and abroad) to competing professionally in Belgium, and at the highest levels in the Armed Forces with the All Army program. While in Europe playing for the US Armed Forces as a Middle Hitter/Blocker he led his team to win consecutive US Army European Men’s Championships in 1996 and 1997, and led the US Army Europe team to victory at the Armed Forces European Men’s Championships in 1998 where he was also named Most Valuable Player.
His lifelong experience as a player and coach enables him to quickly and effectively help his players perform their best through skill development and fostering a greater understanding of the strategic and tactical aspects of the game. Coach Howell has a love and passion for the sport of volleyball and is committed to promoting the many positive and lasting offerings of this lifetime sport, as well as a love for the game to his players.
2017/18 16U Assistant Coach Loudoun Elite
2018/19: 16U Hybrid Head Coach Loudoun Elite
Coach Peyton Yamagata
Peyton Yamagata first discovered her love of beach volleyball while on vacation in Mexico. She discovered her natural quickness – honed by years of agility and coordination as a second-degree black-belt taekwondo – was an asset when covering a sand-filled court. At 14, Yamagata started playing Club Volleyball at Grit Volleyball (formerly known as Dulles Volleyball). While there, she thrived in their hybrid program that forced her to learn and rotate through all positions on the hard court preparing her for beach volleyball in the Spring each season.
Peyton is currently a member of the Grit Volleyball National Beach Volleyball team, she has been on the USAV Beach Volleyball High Performance Team for the last 3 years and at 15, she verbally committed to play D1 Beach Volleyball in 2020 at Texas Christian University. She has been on the Stone Bridge Varsity Indoor Volleyball Team since she was a Sophomore and was named:
2017 First Team All District for the Potomac District
2017 First Team All Regional
2017 Second Team All State
2018 Player of the Year for the Potomac District
2018 Regional Player of the Year
2018 First Team All-State
Coach Nick Collins
Nick Collins has played volleyball for the past 14 years, both indoor and outdoor. He began his career at NVVA playing outside hitter, libero, and setter. In college, he was recruited by Rutgers University where he was able to play two years of D1 volleyball and two years of D3 as the program transitioned to a new conference.
There, he played outside hitter and libero and helped the team come in 5th in the nation two years running at the NCAA Nationals Tournament. He currently still plays at several indoor and outdoor events at the open level.
In addition to playing, he has coached for BRYC for the past few seasons for Boys National 17 and 18’s teams, helping them qualify for nationals both years. Currently, he is an assistant coach at Marymount University while attending graduate school, pursuing a degree in sports psychology.
Coach Jordon Howell
Jordan Howell, coming from a volleyball family, has played most of his life at club and rec levels. While in Belgium, he played for the local sporting club’s junior indoor and sand teams. Upon the return to the USA, he played for the Broad Run Loudoun Youth Volleyball High School team, the Radford Men’s club team, and still competes in local adult leagues at the “A” level. Jordan’s coaching experience includes Head Coach of an NVVA 15U regional team, three years coaching for the NVVA’s Galaxy and Loudoun Youth Volleyball Leagues. More recently, Jordan has been coaching Beach volleyball for the Loudoun Beach program and Loudoun Elite’s Youth league where he strives to make the volleyball experience fun and enjoyable for all new players.