Our Team

Neil Mason

Mason enters his eighth year as both Founder and Director of TCA Volleyball Club, continuing his pursuit of excellence both on and off the court. On the court, TCA Volleyball Club has won three Open Junior National Championships in the 17′s division in 2004 and 18′s division in 2006 and 2008, along with several National Qualifier Championships. In 2006, Mason was honored by the United States Olympic Committee as the 2006 Developmental Coach of the Year for the sport of volleyball.

Mason spent his college career playing for the 49ers of Long Beach State as a scholarship athlete. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2006, Mason was an Academic All American, a President Ambassador, and a member of the Presidential List while at the Beach. Along with his academic successes, Mason was also successful on the court as part of the 1999 Men’s Volleyball team that went on to be runners-up in the NCAA National Championship that year.

Off the court, Mason is currently growing the TCA brand nationwide as he serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. TCA Volleyball Clubs are now located in Maryland, Texas, Georgia, Northern and Southern California, Michigan, and New York. As TCA’s director, Mason is currently focusing all of his energies and is gearing his efforts to utilize the sport of volleyball as a vehicle and tool in teaching life skills to young athletes across the nation.

Outside of TCA, Mason recently spent time coaching the USA Youth National Team Holiday Camp in Chula Vista, California. He also coached the USA Youth National A2 Team in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2007 and 2006 at the High Performance Championships, also in Ft. Lauderdale. In July of 2008, Coach Mason served as the Assistant Coach of the U.S.A. Girls’ Youth National Team that won the gold medal at the NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Mason, above all, is a motivator and passionate leader. Instilling confidence and direction in his players and coaches is his top priority. Mason teaches and lives by a simple motto that “Thoughts are things and there is nothing you cannot achieve if you visualize, apply yourself, and dedicate all your necessary effort.”

Steve Aird

Prior to joining TCA, Steve served as the Director of Volleyball Operations assisting the PSU Women’s team to the 2007 National Championship. In that season the Lions went 32-2 while going a perfect 20-0 in the Big Ten Conference. With the help of Steve’s training, four players went on to earn AVCA All-American Honors. The list of players included Christa Harmotto, the 2007 Big Ten Player of the year, Alisha Glass, 2007 2nd Team All American, Arielle Wilson, the 2007 Big Ten Freshman of the year, and Megan Hodge, the MVP of the 2007 NCAA Final Four.

Before PSU, Steve built his coaching career in Ohio. He spent three years as an assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati while serving as the recruiting coordinator. In his last season Cincinnati brought in one of the premier recruiting classes in the country. One of his recruits, Stephanie Neimer, went on be named the 2007 Big East Freshman of the year. Steve also helped build practices and trained players such as AVCA All-American Jessie Nevitt. While at Cincinnati Steve also found time to coach at the club level. As a coach for Team Z he took squads to Open Nationals in back to back seasons. In 2005 he coached the 17’s team to a third place finish in the Open Division at Nationals.

Preceding his time at Cincinnati, Steve spent three years at Auburn as an assistant coach. His responsibilities included team travel logistics, marketing, and scouting, as well as training. In his first season the team recorded one win finishing last in the conference. During his last season the team qualified as the 7th seed in the prestigious SEC. In just three seasons Auburns RPI jumped almost 200 points. At the age of the 23, Steve was the youngest assistant coach in the SEC. Steve began his coaching career just two years before working with Auburn. As a senior in college Steve served as the Volunteer Assistant at PSU working with three different All-Americans. Shortly after graduation Steve took an assistant coaching position at Davidson which would launch his successful career.

Steve started coaching after a successful playing career. A former member of the Canadian Junior National Team, Steve was recruited and played against colleges all across the country. After competing internationally with Team Canada, Steve accepted the offer to attend Penn State. By his junior season Steve was named the teams’ captain. Under his leadership Penn State went to 3 NCAA Final Fours.

Lara Blume

Lara hails from Little Rock, Arkansas, a place very close to her heart and purpose.

Lara began her career in philanthropy at a very young age. Her parents served as role models as they would feed and provide work opportunities to homeless men in the streets of Little Rock. Occasionally, they would even bring them home for a warm meal. Her parents instilled in her core values that remained with Lara through her international travels and personal development.

This trait of giving back and helping others became second nature to Lara. She became president of Y-Teens, a non-profit group in Jr. High School. She then went on to volunteer under Tracy Steele at the Martin Luther King Commission. She became a role model and mentor during her time at the commission while speaking to young children about the importance of education and not giving up. Lara went on to study Child Psychology as well as Education.

Lara started the New York City based Reach Back Foundation in 2000 . The company helped professional athletes operate their own non-profit organizations, and assisted in fund raising for their causes to enable them to give back to their communities. Lara has worked with some of the world’s most renowned athletes in the NBA and NFL.

In 2003 after moving to Los Angeles to further her passion of service, Lara dedicated three years of volunteering to serve on the board of the Salvation Army South Los Angeles Youth Center. Through Lara’s determination and resolve, the organization was able to raise capital for the center, implement programs for at risk youth and introduced the center to well known celebrities and athletes to garner further support for the center’s causes.

Lara believes that her work is never over and will continue persevering to help others raise awareness and funds for the same causes that are near and dear to her heart. She is working hard to build a legacy and that will touch numerous lives.