About Us
   
 
Tim Kelly - Founder/Owner

Tim Kelly began Bring It Promotions, LLC in response to his own overseas experiences. Following his graduation from UCLA in 1994, Kelly accepted an offer to play in Spain. What he soon realized was that most agents did not have the European wherewithal to adequately advise or represent him as a client. By developing contacts of his own and touring with his fellow American volleyball professionals, he began placing male clients on teams he had established connections with. It didn’t take long for the demand to spread to aspiring female volleyball professionals too, so Bring It Promotions opened its doors to males and females alike in 1997. In 1999, Kelly began preparations for the expansion of his International Tours division. Like wildfire, the International Tours grew rapidly into three categories: University Tours, Exposure Tours, and Recruiting Tours. Accounting for 70% of the company’s revenues, the Tours have grown to include over 20 different tours annually. With the tours generating numerous contacts throughout Europe and American coaches asking for access to European recruits, Kelly added the International Recruiting Service in 2000.

Kelly enjoyed a decorated playing career as a middle blocker at UCLA and as a five-year professional in Europe. He has also served as head of delegation for numerous European and South African Championship teams and tournaments as well as on USA Volleyball delegations. Kelly has lived in Europe since 1996 and currently resides just outside Paris in France. He travels extensively, speaks five languages, and is a self-proclaimed “workaholic,” which affords him little free time.
 
 
William "Bill" Kelly - Chief Financial Officer and Business Manager

After graduating from the US Naval Academy, Bill Kelly enjoyed a 20-year career with the Navy and finally ended it as the head of a computer test facility on Point Loma, California. At retirement the family moved to Santa Barbara so that Bill could take a job at Raytheon Company, which would lead to another retirement after 17 years. At that point Bill started a custom golf club company called Santa Barbara Golf Technologies which motto was “using technology for golf-game improvement!” With considerable business experience and his son’s need for financial support for the continued growth of Bring It Promotions, Bill and his wife, Nancy, decided to take on all the financial responsibilities for BIP. They look forward working with their son, Tim, as the company continues to thrive.
 
 

Coach Solomon jumping in to referee the USA vs. Czech Republic Friendly Match pre-Spring Cup 2001 in Brno, Czech Republic. He's got all the skills.		 Cory Solomon - Director for the International Recruiting Service, Director of Recruiting for International Tours

Cory Solomon serves as the Director for the International Recruiting Service and as the Director of Recruiting for International Tours. Solomon is uniquely qualified for these positions because of his extensive background in coaching volleyball at the collegiate, juniors, and high school levels. After earning his bachelors degree from the University of Utah in 1987, he served as an assistant coach at Utah for five seasons. During his final three seasons, the “Utes” advanced to three consecutive NCAA 2nd round appearances.

After leaving the University of Utah, Solomon joined forces with Tim Kelly and assumed a lead role in the development of an International Recruiting Service as well as the expansion of Bring It Promotion’s International Tours. Solomon originally conducted business from his home in Innsbruck, Austria, and had the opportunity to watch European volleyball first hand. Living in Europe also afforded him the opportunity to serve as a coach on numerous Bring It Promotions tours. Solomon coached the Bring It USA team to a first place finish in the Sibillini, Italian tournament with a win over the top under-20 team from Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He has led numerous tours through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Because of Solomon’s dedication to the expansion of the International Tours division of Bring It Promotions, he also arranged a University Tours to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. Solomon’s understanding of the women’s game in the United States, added to his understanding of the women’s game in Europe and the South Pacific make him very qualified to lead the International Recruiting service and International tours for Bring It Promotions.

Once again residing in the U.S., Solomon can be found skiing or riding his mountain bike in Salt Lake City, Utah when he’s not on tour with Bring It Promotions.
 
 

Brooke Rundle - Director of Player Management, Tour Leader
Extraordinairet

Brooke Rundle began working for Bring It Promotions during the summer of 2002. Brooke's many talents for dealing with volleyball life in Europe were first discovered during her participation in BIP's January Exposure Tour 2002 on which she was the team captain and fearless leader of her team and delegation both on and off the court. She was immediately hired to help run some of the many tours that BIP had planned for the summer of 2002 and she did a great job. Most importantly, she has received rave reviews from the teams and coaches that she has worked for in this capacity and we look forward to having Brooke in charge of many University and Youth Tours in future years.

After the "retirement" of Jaimie Lee from BIP in June of 2002, Brooke took over the role of Director of Player Management. Her main duty in this role is to run the women's side of the player placement agency. Female players interested in finding a team and job in Europe (or Puerto Rico, South American, etc.) need to be in touch with Brooke. Prior to her European current stint, Brooke had an illustrious career at UCSB where she lead the Lady Gauchos to the Regional Finals of the NCAA
Tournament in each of her last 3 years. Rundle was Freshman of the Year and 1st Team All Conference in 1998 and went on to be voted All District and All Conference in each of her last 3 seasons, as well as 2nd Team All-American honors in 2000.

Brooke is originally from Westlake, California, but currently resides in Maribor, Slovenia where she has her first professional volleyball contract and plays for the top division club OK Benedikt in nearby Lennart, Slovenia. She enjoys traveling, reading, listening to music,playing the guitar, and playing beach volleyball in her spare time.

   
 

Brook Coulter - Youth and Juniors Tour, Marketing

Brook Coulter began colaborating with Bring It Promotions during the 2002 European Season while she was living and playing in Slovenia and helping Ms. Rundle hold down the office. Her efficiency and volleyball knowledge was quickly harnessed and now she's helping the company move farther into the youth and juniors direction. Coulter is also responsible for the company's drive to add some European sponsors and develop a more commercial front in Slovenia where much of the company's operations are based.

Brook had a two sport college career, as a four year starter in volleyball (with All Pac 10 Freshman and Senior Year honors) and two seasons on the basketball team at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, Coulter played basketball for a partial season in Holland with Top Division club Bahrendrecht. Then, after a year as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of Nevada (Reno), she came to Europe again to switch back to volleyball for good.

Brook is originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, but currently lives in Maribor, Slovenia where she is playing her second season with the top division club OK Benedikt in nearby Lennart, Slovenia. She enjoys snowboarding, skiing, reading, wakeboarding, waterskiing, good company and a fine glass of "mis-mos".
 
 

Jon Walsh - Bring It Promotions, Canada

Jon Walsh joined the business side of BIP during the summer of 2002 after starting off on the player side.

After participating in the Summer Tour 2001, Jon spent the 2001-2002 Season playing as a middle blocker in Freiburg, Germany with FT 1844 Freiburg. At 199cm, Jon led his team in attacking and blocking and proved himself to be a formidable competitor for the European Pro Leagues.

Jon joins BIP as our Director of Canadian Players and will also
deal extensively with all placements of new players (Canadian and non-Canadian). He will also head our annual August Men's Exposure Camp/Tour as well as a rekindling of our original Spring Tour. Jon's goal is to give Canadian players of all levels more opportunities in the European Leagues and will also ensure that all rookie players have the chance to showcase their talents.

From Red Deer, Alberta, Jon played 3 years with RDC College before transferring to the University of Calgary where he played 2 years and received a diploma in Sports Management/Business. Jon is currently playing in the Azores, Portugal with Ponte Delgada and working full time from there as well.
   
 

Jirka Honzik - European Tours Assistant, Player Representation Services

Jirka Honzik was born November 17, 1976 in Prague, Czech Republic. He has lived all but one year in the Czech Republic, and in that year (1994-1995), Honzik lived with Cory Solomon’s family in Salt Lake City and was a foreign exchange student at West High School. During his exchange year, Honzik played volleyball for Twin Peaks VBC. Upon his return from the U.S.A. Honzik finished his high school education in Prague, then enrolled in Prague University of Economics, studying international trade, the European Union, and international relations.
Honzik began playing volleyball at the age of twelve. By age 15 he made the Czech Junior National Team as a setter and went on to win the Czech Junior Championships four consecutive years. He is currently competing in his seventh season for a professional team called MFF Praha. Honzik’s greatest accomplishment as a player was taking second place in the Czech Clay Court Championships in the summer of 2000.

Jirka Honzik has been assisting with BIP tours to the Czech Republic since 1998. He was the USA Delegation Manager for the BIP team in Spring Cup 2001 (Brno) and he is always a crowd favorite among University Tour players. He assists not only with tours, but has also helped us represent some Czech National Team players and was pivotal to the early success of the International Recruiting Service. He is invaluable to Bring It Promotions and is one of the main reasons that we are as successful as we are today. Honzik is a tour guide, team manager, tour director, and general Czech Lord all rolled into one. No tour is complete without a jaunt through Prague and no jaunt through Prague is worth the time if Jirka isn't running the show.

Honzik is also responsible for adding several top Czech National Team players to BIP's client list and has been responsible for the growth of a market in the Czech Republic for American (and other foreign) players.

Honzik speaks fluent Czech, English, and German. His favorite music group is Metallica and he enjoys all sports. He is single and resides in Prague, Czech Republic.

   
 
Ario Satrio Prakoso - Indonesian (and Asian) Exclusive Partner

Ario is in charge of all player placements for the ever-growing Indonesian Men's and Women's Leagues. BIP starting working with Ario exclusively for the 2004 Season, and together we successfully placed 11 clients in the league after only having 4 clients in Indonesia the previous year. We look forward to many
future signings with Ario's guidance, not only in Indonesia, but also in future leagues that we hope will be opening to foreigners soon in Maylaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, China and other Asian countries.

Ario was born in Jakarta on June 22nd, 1968 and earned his BSC (Hons) at the University of Pancasila Economics. He earned an MBA at Jakarta's Institute of Management (International Marketing). He was an Indonesian National Basketball Player from 1985-1990 and was Chairman of the Indonesian National College and University Basketball League from 1999 to 2002.

Ario is currently the Director of Operations for AVANTE SPORTINDO, a Sport Management & Event Organizer. He lives in Indonesian with his wife and two children.
 
 

Kyle Ashby - Graphic & Web Designer

Kyle Ashby works as a Web and Graphic Designer running Kathunk Designs a Graphic/Web Design and Marketing company out of Santa Barbara, California.

He has been working with Bring It Promotions creating this website Logos, Banners, T-Shirts, Business Cards and Promotional Materials, since its start in 1997.

Some of his other clients include QuickCrete, Steven Handleman Studios, Ukao, Bentec and Serbin Communications.

Go to www.kathunk.com to learn more or email info@kathunk.com for information!

 
 

Chris Mortimer - Official BIP videographer

Chris "Mort" Mortimer was first introduced to BIP on the 2003 August Men's Tour. He and his little dig-vid made some waves and now he's the official BIP videographer and future tour-leader. Mort played ball at UCSD from 1999-2003 and was an All-League libero as well as still being coach Ron Larsen's favorite player of all time. One of these days he'll be either playing professionally in
some beach city in Portugal, or stolen away from BIP by some big Hollywood studio. For now he can be seen on 2-3 tours/year either filming or running the tour or both. Mort also specializes in Team Highlight, Recruiting and Exposure Videos for teams and athletes as well as general Graphic and Media Production.

For more information on Mort's services: Grifter210@aol.com

 
 

Kostas MARGARITIS

Our man in Greece, Kostas has been working with us as a great friend and partner since 2002. He has excellent contact with all Greek teams, and also good connections in Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, and the rest of Europe. Kostas comes to the "Agent Business" from "up on top" of the net as is well known for his honesty and integrity as well as a great love and knowledge for the game of volleyball. He was an International Referee starting in 1984, and became an official FIVB referee in 1986. He whistled the World Cup Finals in 1989 and was one of two chosen neutral referees for the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. In 1995 Kostas suggested several rule changes to the FIVB, among them the coloring of the ball, the rally point system, the reduced pressure in the ball, the ability for coaches to stand during the match, and a few others. He is the author of two books: "Everything That You Don't Know About Volleyball" (loosely translated from Greek, the book is in Greek only) and "Beyond the Net". In 1996 he was re-elected as a neutral referee for the Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA. It was after this competition that he was named "Referee of the Year, 1996" and at that point he decided to retire on top. During his career he whistled hundreds of games in various competitions including Grand Prix, World League, World Cup, and the Olympics, but the events that he remembers best include a European Championship match in Berlin (1st time with East and West Berlin) and the USSR's last match as the Soviet Union (vs. Italy).

Kostas Margaritis
kostasvolley@hotmail.com
www.volleyballagency.com

 
 

Margaret "CJ" Sherman

Margaret "CJ" (aka "Ceej") Sherman is our new (2005) BIP South East Representative. First introduced to Bring It Promotions as a coach on our most famous "2001 Exposure Tour", Ceej was raised in South Florida playing softball, soccer, track, volleyball, and backyard football, as well as surfing, skating, and motor cross cycling with her brothers.  

Her volleyball career began at Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, where she earned NAIA All Conference and All Region honors. As a recent retiree from a highly successful collegiate head coaching career (Palm Beach Atlantic University, University of South Carolina Aiken, and University of Montevallo), CJ has switched her focus to coaching her two beautiful daughters, Meghan and Kamryn, on their high school and club teams (Jacksonville Juniors).  

With CJ’s impressive coaching accomplishments; an overall record of 337 wins and 188 losses, including two back-to-back 30 win seasons, 7 times coach of the year, 34 All-Conference players, 21 Academic All Conference, 3 Conference Players of the Year, and 5 All-Americans, we are extremely excited to have her on board the BIP staff to help bring us to another level!  

Ceej will be extremely active in recruiting for future tours, coaching and guiding BIP tours, and integrating the entire South East region into our activities.