An Afternoon with the Wisconsin Volleyball Team

Last week, I spent some time in Madison, Wisconsin and was able to spend an afternoon at the University of Wisconsin, walk around the campus, and visit their volleyball practice. They have one of the best programs in the country, winning the national championship in 2021 and losing in the final four last year. They were ranked in the top 10 to start the season and unfortunately, lost their first 3 matches of the season to top ranked teams so I was interested to see their mindset. One of my retirement goals is to do some traveling to colleges to visit sport practices and look for what the best are doing and bring that back to the mentoring work I am doing so stopping at UW was a great way to start that journey.

When I got to the practice facility, I was greeted at the door by the 2 team managers who enthusiastically showed me around and gave me the history of the Fieldhouse and the program. They let me know that the team was leaving for Texas one hour after practice was over! The team was watching film until practice started and one thing I noticed was large screen TV’s on the sides of the courts that they told me were connected to cameras filming the courts. The film shows up on a short delay so players and coaches are able to watch any previous play that they want-what an amazing feedback tool that is!

I found a seat in the bleachers and waited for practice to start. Once the team arrived, head coach Kelly Sheffield walked in and proceeded to come up to where I was to greet me. While his team warmed up with a trainer, he spent 10 minutes talking to me and sharing his views on a variety of topics. When practice started, he went back to the floor to coach practice and then when practice ended, Coach Sheffield walked back up to me and said, “what did you think?” Wow….I was a bit caught off guard by that but we had another 10 minute conversation. A reminder that they were all getting on a plane 45 minutes later…

Practice flew by and I was impressed by so many things that I observed. Here are a few takeaways that connect no only to sports but to other life activities:

• It was a welcoming environment. From the managers to the head coach and everyone in between, all team members made this total outsider feel comfortable and that I wasn’t infringing on their work. My feedback was asked for and welcomed.

• All conversations were respectful. Not one voice was raised during practice and the team was amazing at accepting feedback. When I asked Coach Sheffield about that afterwards, he mentioned how they spend a lot of time going through how to respond to all situations and when a response isn’t up to the team standard, team members are called out on it. He mentioned how important it is to know what you stand for and then be able to go back to those and respond appropriately, even when under stress.

• Communication was constant. Coaches walked around before and during practice having 1 on 1 talks with players. There was also much feedback given by the coaches throughout practice. Players were constantly talking on and off the floor. They played music throughout the practice which forced players to be especially vocal on the floor.

• The energy level was high. Everyone, including the trainer, brought enthusiasm to all parts of practice. They clearly wanted to be there and were excited to be around each other.

• Positive relationships were obvious and worked on intentionally. Coach Sheffield mentioned that he purposely tries to have 1 on 1 conversations before practice with those players who don’t play as much since he spends more time at practice with the rotation players. He mentioned the importance of modeling what he wants from players and how those conversations can help build that relationship and trust needed to succeed.

Overall, it was an amazing experience to visit the UW volleyball practice and they definitely have a fan going forward! It reinforced many of the team concepts I believe in and showed the importance of setting high standards and being intentional about teaching and modeling those. I hope you can take something away from my visit and carry it over to your life experiences. Have a great week!

Coach K