ABOUT US

Set | Hit | Dig | Repeat

At Sand Life Volleyball, our mission is to develop highly skilled volleyball players of all ages and build in them a lifelong love of the sport.

Our Programs

Owned and Operated by
Fernando and Katia Saavedra

Fernando and Katia have decades of experience playing and coaching athletes at the highest levels. They share a unified commitment to developing players of any skill level to achieve their greatest possible level of competition. 

Both continue to play at the Open / Professional Volleyball level.

Katia Saavedra (Club Owner / Director)

Katia believes that developing an all-around player is essential to each individual’s progress. Talent is not the only quality needed to become an outstanding athlete, one must be coachable, open to change and disciplined. Most importantly, they must become a teammate able to bring the best out in everyone around them through example, energy and encouragement.  Katia has three children, who all play volleyball and she instills these values in them as she does to every player in the club.

  • She has coached volleyball for 29 years.
  • She played at University of Tampa 1990-1994
  • All-American setter 1993 and 1994
  • Owner of Club Tampa Volleyball which later became Sandspurs Volleyball Club
  • Owner and Director of Sand Life Volleyball

Tim Cornelissen | Senior Coach (Advanced Girls and Boys)

Coach Tim started playing volleyball at the age of 12 as an “assistant coach”, actually more like as a practice dummy, for a girl’s 16s junior team as well as for a girl’s high school freshman team. Due to there not being boy’s volleyball in high school he played pick-up on the beach on the weekends while running cross-country and middle distance track and then went on a partial scholarship to college for the same.  After completing his running career in college, he played club indoor for Arizona State University and then at Northern Arizona University.  While playing club volleyball he also worked as a certified USAV Referee and as a girl’s 16s junior assistant coach.  

After leaving college, he went back to focusing on playing beach volleyball.  He embarked on an adventurous career as a semi-professional player on the AVP Qualifier tour who trained, played with and competed against top talent in the US, Australia and New Zealand.  After taking a break from volleyball and having moved to Florida a few years ago, he got back in to playing as well as started to coach beach volleyball.  He is currently an AAU, USAV and an AVP Level 1 Certified Coach.