About Unified East

Unified East wasn't created because our community needed another volleyball club. It was created because we believed the athletes and families of Macomb and St. Clair Counties deserved more.

For years, many of our area's top athletes traveled to Oakland County in search of higher-level coaching, stronger competition, and more opportunities. We never believed the problem was the talent on the east side—we believed our community deserved greater investment, higher expectations, and a club experience that families could be proud to call home.

Rather than asking athletes to leave their community to pursue elite volleyball, we set out to build those opportunities here.

Unified East is led locally by Breanna Staton, Director of Unified East, Varsity Head Coach at St. Clair High School, and a longtime club coach with more than a decade of experience coaching athletes from the beginner level through nationally competitive teams. Throughout her coaching career, Brea has been passionate about developing not only skilled volleyball players, but confident young people who enjoy coming to the gym, embrace challenges, and love the game.

As Director, Brea remains actively involved in every aspect of the club—from planning training opportunities and designing player development systems to building teams, mentoring coaches, communicating with families, and spending countless hours in the gym with athletes. Unified East was intentionally built as a coach-led organization because we believe the best decisions for athletes are made by coaches who work with them every day, understand their needs, and are personally invested in their success.

Through our partnership with Unified Volleyball Club, a respected and established program in Oakland County, we've been able to combine a proven club structure with local leadership that is fully invested in the athletes, coaches, and families we serve throughout Macomb and St. Clair Counties.

Our first season exceeded every expectation we had.

More than 200 athletes attended our inaugural tryouts, allowing us to form over 10 full-season teams in our very first year. Along the way, we expanded far beyond team practices by offering camps, clinics, positional training, Mini Stars, Junior League, speed and agility, mental performance training, recruiting education, and year-round opportunities for athletes of all ages to continue learning and improving.

While those accomplishments are exciting, they aren't what make us the most proud.

The most rewarding part of our first year has been watching our gyms fill with athletes who are excited to be there. Watching friendships form across schools and age groups. Seeing confidence grow. Watching athletes stay after practice because they simply didn't want to leave. Hearing families tell us their athletes have fallen back in love with volleyball.

That's the culture we're trying to build.

Our vision extends far beyond wins and tournament finishes. We want to raise the level of volleyball on the east side while creating an environment where athletes are challenged, families feel connected, coaches are invested, and every player has the opportunity to reach their full potential. We believe volleyball should teach resilience, confidence, leadership, accountability, and teamwork while still being something athletes genuinely look forward to every week.

Organization, communication, and accountability are at the center of everything we do, but relationships will always come first. We never wanted Unified East to feel like a club where families simply pay tuition and show up to tournaments. We wanted to build a community where coaches know every athlete by name, families feel comfortable asking questions, younger athletes look up to older athletes, and every player feels valued, supported, and challenged.

Athlete development is never left to chance. Practice plans, training systems, coach collaboration, and long-term player development are intentionally designed to provide every athlete with a consistent, challenging, and positive experience regardless of age or team level.

One of the greatest strengths of our club is our coaching staff. We intentionally look for coaches who care deeply about kids, believe in continuous learning, and understand that relationships matter just as much as results.

As we enter our second season, investing in our coaches is one of our biggest priorities. Better coaches create better athletes. Year two will include expanded coach education, mentorship, collaboration, leadership development, and shared training systems to create an even more consistent experience throughout every level of Unified East. We believe that when coaches continue to grow, our athletes benefit.

Growth has never been our only goal.

Our goal isn't to become the biggest volleyball club in Michigan. Our goal is to become the club that athletes are excited to come to, families are proud to be part of, and coaches are honored to represent.

We'll continue expanding training opportunities, strengthening our development pathways, increasing collaboration between teams, and providing more opportunities for athletes to compete, improve, and fall in love with the game. Every decision we make is centered around creating the best possible experience for our athletes, families, and coaches while protecting the culture we've worked so hard to build.

The first year proved something important to us.

Families in Macomb and St. Clair Counties were looking for exactly what we hoped to create: a place where athletes are challenged, where coaches genuinely care, where organization matters, where families feel like they belong, and where volleyball is competitive—but still fun.

We're incredibly proud of what has been built during our first year, but we also know we've only scratched the surface of what Unified East can become.

Year one was about building the foundation. Year two is about raising the standard.

Welcome to Unified East. Unified in name. Unmatched in purpose.