No Limits
How One Couple is Redefining What Greatness Means in Competitive Club Volleyball
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY AND DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NO LIMITS SPORTSPLEX
Earlier this year, No Limit’s top tier 17U volleyball team endured going winless at a major national tournament in Indianapolis, but appreciated the silver lining of playing in front of a bevy of big-time college coaches and seeing exactly where they stacked up against some of the top competition in the nation.
A few weeks later, Jena Ousley’s squad showed they took the lessons from the losses seriously when they rebounded by going
9-0 and winning a major tournament
in Orlando.
In the hyper-competitive arena of competitive club volleyball, Jena and her husband, Steve Ousley, who founded No Limits SportsPlex in 2019, are committed to proving a club volleyball program can be both elite and emotionally grounded, and competitive yet community-focused.
No Limits has grown from a dream into a powerhouse for competitive volleyball with nearly 20 teams and 200 athletes. But for the Ousleys, success is measured less by the number of trophies and more by the opportunities the clubs provide athletes to grow and the character of the players leaving their gym.
“I just wanted to make better people,” says Steve, reflecting on the genesis of the club. “We want you to be strong in your faith, we want you to give back to your community, we want you to do well in school... and then obviously we want you to be good at volleyball.”
At the heart of this philosophy is the commitment to accessibility. Steve, who grew up in a single-parent home and never had the money for competitive sports, made a promise from day one: “we’ll never turn a kid away because of money.”
This commitment is real, with the club providing between $75,000 and $100,000 in scholarships each year, sustained by community support and belief in their non-profit mission.
No Limits has been a catalyst for success for a number of athletes who have gone on to play collegiate volleyball, including Vivianne Cancio at Webber International University and Ali Pate at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Defining Its Competitive Nature
No Limits offers club and recreational volleyball, soccer and flag football, but volleyball has been its flagship sport.
No Limits has developed tiered levels of competitive club volleyball from 10U through 18U to encourage personal growth and provide options for a variety of players and their families.
The Navy tier is reserved for “elite athletes who are seriously pursuing a collegiate volleyball opportunity,” while the White tier is for those interested in continuing to move up the ranks and/or a collegiate opportunity at a smaller level, and the Orange tier is designed for those “hungry to learn and improve with a focus on high school volleyball.” This structure ensures athletes are placed in competitive environments that match their skills and drive and where they are challenged but also able to compete.
Athletes are required to try out each year, meaning some players work their way up the competitive ladder, while others could potentially go down a level depending on the competition and their own commitment to the sport.
Steve and Jena are outspoken critics of clubs that pressure non-elite players to join simply to help fund the “top team,” and Jena is particularly critical of recruiters who tell young players, “I
need you”.
“As a coach, if you’re telling a player, ‘I need you’, what do they need from you?” she asks. “Like you’ve put a ceiling on them that they think they’ve made it because you need them.”
Her message of engagement with potential players is more like this: “I would love to have you on my team. I can make you better.”
The Standard Bearer
Jena has seen the good, bad and ugly of high level competitive volleyball, which translates to the wisdom she guides the club with.
Her credentials speak for themselves: she was an outstanding club player in Texas who earned a Division I scholarship to James Madison University (JMU), where she played libero from 2004-2007. By the end of her highly decorated career, she was named one of the top five liberos in the country
and became JMU’s and the Coastal Athletic Association’s all-time leader in career digs.
Jena aims to be an emotionally supportive figure who encourages her athletes but also calls them up to greatness by giving them tough love when needed, inspired by coaches who did the same for her. As part of that, she is big on transparency, as well as developing a strong internal drive and work ethic.
Jena insists that chasing a college scholarship cannot be the goal—the love of the game must come first.
“I want to teach ’em the work ethic to get there, not just tell them, ‘Oh you can do this’…because two practices a week isn’t going to cut it. It’s all the stuff you do on the outside, on your own time, that is really going to pay off.”
This philosophy extends to setting realistic expectations with parents, who she is upfront and direct with about her knowledge of the game.
“I’ll put your knowledge in this hand. I’ll put my knowledge in this hand,” she says, raising both hands. “If it’s more, I’ll listen to you. Otherwise you need to sit there and cheer for your kid.”
This strategy is designed to protect the athlete’s development by ensuring the coach’s authority and expertise are honored, preventing parents from disrespecting the coach and causing the players to second-guess their coaches.
“We want you to be strong in your faith, we want you to give back to your community, we want you to do well in school... and then obviously we want you to be good at volleyball.”
Next-Level Success
The Ousleys are refreshingly blunt about the “scholarship-or-bust” narrative that plagues modern youth sports. Jena actively pushes back against the idea that a player “needs” a Division I offer to be successful.
Coach Jena Ousley knows what it takes to compete at the highest level of volleyball, having starred at Division I James Madison University for four years.
“Four more years to watch your kid play... who cares where they’re playing?” she asks.
“Besides having children, it was one of the best things I ever did in my life,” she says, referring to her college volleyball experience.
The club’s mission is validated by former players like Ali Pate and Vivianne Cancio.
Pate, a standout at Sebring High School who now captains the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth team, joined No Limits to elevate her game despite living over an hour away.
“I’m still best friends with so many of the girls that I’ve met... from that club today,” Pate shares, noting that the joy of the game remained central even as she transitioned to the collegiate level.
Cancio, who recently finished her collegiate career at Webber International University where she played indoor and beach volleyball, recalls her initial tryout as a nervous high school sophomore. She was late and ended up having a one-on-one tryout with Jena. Despite her nerves, she made the U17 Navy team. Though Jena was not her primary coach, Ousley’s competitive, corrective and positive coaching style made a massive impact on Vivianne, inspiring her to coach rec teams for the club, where she successfully led her teams to a championship.
In May, club player Addison Holley, a student-athlete at George Jenkins High School announced she would be continuing her volleyball career at Polk State College in the upcoming season.
Increasing Their Impact
As the club continues to grow, the founders harbor a long-term dream: building a full-scale sportsplex in Lakeland where their volleyball and other programs can be established under one roof.
They have identified a large swath of land in Lakeland, but that comes with a $3.5 million price tag. To prepare for future growth, the Ousleys annually save at least $100,000 toward the venture. However, Steve is holding out for the right deal and the right partners, wary of rushing into massive debt that would compromise their core values. “I don’t want to sell myself to the devil,” Steve explains, referring to the need to sharply raise fees or take on players just to pay the bills.
Ultimately, the sportsplex is not simply about getting bigger—it’s about increasing their impact. Steve’s long-term goal for the facility is to host tournaments and use the revenue for initiatives like sponsoring global Christian mission trips for the 18u team. This echoes the founders’ defining purpose: to use sport as a vehicle for profound, life-altering experiences.
“I am not in this to get rich,” Jena says with a smile. “What I want is to have impacted people—and I know we have already done that.”
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