They're the three Vs of Liberty Hurricanes volleyball: Virtue, Valor and Victory. Each player receives a five-page "code of honor" detailing the meaning of the three Vs and their relevance. Every player gets an 'Ammary's Army' T-shirt with a military chevron of the three Vs.

And, during a "cult-like" meeting at their coach's home, each player signs an oath attached to the code of honor that they "strive to uphold the three Vs in all aspects of life."

Liberty coach Neiad Ammary is focusing on more than digs, passes and spikes during practices at his alma mater. With an assist from his girlfriend, Julie Sterrett, the leadership education director at Lehigh University, Ammary is teaching his Hurricanes about leadership development and it isn't a crash course, either.

The Liberty players major in it.

"I've been doing a lot of this stuff for the nine years I've been the coach," Ammary said, "but it's been intensified by some of the materials and curriculum made available by Julie. It's information and it's experiences that can transform the students personally and socially off the court, and also make them more competitive and successful as athletes on the court."

The coach, who at 29 years old enjoyed an outstanding volleyball career at Liberty High, the University of Delaware and still competes nationally, estimates his players dedicate more than 100 hours in the offseason to the leadership development program.

Seniors Dan Bucchin, Zach Gallagher, Adam Hann, Johnson Hypolite and Ryan Holzer, and juniors Gilberto Figueroa and Steven Hughes have gone all-in with Ammary's expectations. They read literature, write essays and discuss in open forums information that relates to self-improvement and team-building. They also take camping and hiking trips together, and train under adverse conditions.

"We meet each Friday after school in the offseason. While others are starting their weekends, we're in the classroom learning about character and leadership and how it relates to life in general," Ammary said.

"I think our training definitely carries over onto the court. One thing I've seen is our players respond to adversity very well. For example, in our [five-set] win over Emmaus, each time we lost a set we came back to win the next one. We fell behind again in the fifth set but we rallied again to take the match.

"We don't really judge or success on wins and losses. We judge it on how well we respond to adversity."

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For Liberty players, it's more than just volleyball