“We’re seeking new staff & interns! Apply below!”
Our Mgmt Staff
Ryan Jay Owens “RJO” (USA) | Owner
Owner/Founder of EliteVolley.com (January 2006)
FIVB License N° 220084
Pro since 2002 having played in Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Greece (3x), Puerto Rico (2x), Finland (2x), Brazil, Indonesia (2x), South Korea, Italy, Lebanon and Qatar with 4 years experience playing for the USA national team.
Resides between Split, Croatia / Belgrade, Serbia… Berlin, Germany & Southern California.
Also, hosts the BeyondAthletic.com podcast (over 75K listens in over 80 countries!) for athletes and runs an international non-profit called Elite Sport Students.
- E-mail RJO! | WhatsApp | Telegram RJO!
Vali Hejjas
(HUNGARY)
| International Recruit Manager
Based in Prague, Czech Republic, Vali (Vah-lee) played for Team Hungary and was an AVCA All American HM & 1st Team BIG 12 player at Kansas State (Elite 8 and Sweet 16 finishes) where she finished a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Business & Management. She also has useful experience from a course in Sports Mgmt in Europe. Moved on to play ~6.5 years professionally in France for Istres Ouest Provence + Nantes (as captain) & finally AEK Athens, where she unlaced after a career-ending injury.
She started a business career with Hertz in Paris, France and during her ~2.5 years there she quickly moved up to her last role as a supervisor in management.
Now married and with two cute-as-all-hell children.
Val is a truly great addition to our staff roster that comes to us with not only tremendous recommendations… But with so much experience as a student-athlete in the USA + professional player + life in Eastern and Western European countries + experience in management with a mega-company in the travel/transportation industry … We’re excited to start a new journey together in both her story and Elite’s!
Christy "Swags" Swagerty (USA) | Manager & Events Coordinator
From California and has played and coached since 2011 in Belgium, France, and now based in Vilsbiburg, Germany she works an an asst coach for Rote Raben II and admin in their main office.
Played 4 years for The Master's College (NAIA D1) and as been coaching youth and adult teams and camps since 2003, including 2 years as a head coach at an NAIA university.
Has her M.A. in Coaching & Athletic Administration and spends her time outside of volleyball with her husband, traveling, writing, teaching English, and helping other athletes find their home abroad.
Contact via E-Mail or Click for CV or Messenger
Martenne Bettendorf (USA) | Jr. Agent
Based near Magdeburg, Germany, Martenne (Mar-Teen) from Oregon. Attended the University of Oregon where she earned 3rd Team All-American honors & finished in the NCAA tourney in the final. After 4 years of collegiate volleyball, she played 4 years as a pro in Azerbaijan (Azerrail A1), Germany (Schwerin A1), Switzerland (Neuchatel A1), France (Nancy A1).
She aspires to be a full time agent one day. In her spare time Martenne enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music and going for walks. Martenne currently resides in Germany with her boyfriend, Jordan.
Martenne will be responsible for key administrative tasks dealing with recruiting, job openings, team tour preparation, as well as immediately be including in recruit efforts for European and USA 15-21yr olds we plan to assist for pro or education.
- Email Martenne or WhatsApp or Telegram her!
Our Admin’s & Interns
Pedro Claudio da Silva (Brasil) | Graphic Design Intern
Based in Brasilia, Brasil, Pedro Claudio played for a A1 team in Brasilia. He has been designing for less than 3 months as he starts with our #EliteVolleyFam & we love his goal to uplift and inspire athletes worldwide by showing them to the world as they see themselves!
Why did I apply?
I’m here because I’m volleyball lover! As volleyball player, I know how hard it is to be a professional player on this sport, and Elite show me that we can make it easier and better for all of young and old players around the world! And i want to help these athletes to get there with a very strong media!
What Can I Gain?
I hope to gain experience on graphic design, doing the most craziest arts for our players as well i hope to gain more experience on volleyball and know more about how to be a successful volleyball player!
Best Help Us?
I think the image of a player is one of the most important things on their career, and with my knowledge in both areas (volleyball and graphic design) I can help Elite creating a strong social media for them and all athletes on it!
Follow him on Instagram!
Lexi Pollard (CANADA) | Intern
Lexi attended the University of Windsor for 4 years earning OUA All-Star honors and competing in Canada’s first Professional League One Volleyball. While playing her first year professionally in Sweden, she is working towards graduating in May 2021 with a Bachelors in Human Kinetics majoring in Sports Management.
Outside of volleyball Lexi loves to spend time with her Miniature Dachshund, finding the best coffee shops in town and sitting down with her sketch book and some good tunes of blues, soul and rock and roll.
Lexi will be using her attention to detail and fine tuning abilities to assist with optimizing our athlete recruitment procedures for combines, camps, colleges and professional teams along with potentially helping us expand our reach to Canadian soil in the future.
Nadja Golijanin (Serbia) | Admin
Nadja (Nawd-jah) aka “the Admin Ninja” been around professional volleyball her whole life growing up with two parent’s managing a pro club in Belgrade, Serbia and a grandfather that owned the pro team, Partizan. She’s currently a university student on a gap year and helping us get things done. She’s help us mainly in the Balkan region with preparation for #EliteVolleyCombine’s and general day-to-day organization and administrative tasks.
Caitlyn Meyer (USA) | Intern
Focus: Frontend Programmer
a Buffalo, NY native, is currently attending James Madison University, where she plays volleyball and is pursuing a Bachelors of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems to be completed in May 2021.
Caitlyn has played competitive volleyball for 12 years, and also enjoys lifting, baking, spending time with her cats and dogs, and listening to music when she’s not on the court or working.
Contact via E-mail or Whatsapp Or Telegram
Accepting applications for:
Agents
Interns
Marketing
UI/UX Designer
Graphic designer
Back-end programmers