[media-credit name=’Kelsey Fenton / The Badger Herald’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Wisconsin Volleyball Coach Kelly Sheffield is in his first season as the Badgers coach after coaching the University of Dayton volleyball team for seven seasons, where he earned Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year accolades the past three seasons and led the Flyers to both regular season and conference tournament championships from 2009 to 2012. Sheffield led the Badgers to a 5-1 record during this spring. The Badger Herald sat down with Sheffield for a conversation about the team’s concluding spring season. 

The Badger Herald: What is the biggest change you have seen in the team this spring?

Kelly Sheffield: I think we’re heading in an area, mentally, that I want to see us in. I think elite teams challenge each other. They look for the good in each other, and they do it with enthusiasm. I think we’re getting better in those areas than what we were. I think the other thing is embracing challenges-when you’re trying to do special things, you’re going to hit a lot of barriers. What do you do when those barriers are in front of you-do you stop and turn around and go the other direction, or do you try to plow through it? I think we’re doing a better job of handling adversity and handling the challenges.

BH: What has been the biggest surprise for you since becoming head coach at Wisconsin?

KS: The support of the community, of how much they follow this team and how important this team is to them. The number of emails I get on a weekly basis is [a lot], from some people just passing on their support, and others that are just saying what they’re seeing and other people that are saying ‘You’re an idiot. How about you try to fix this technique on somebody?’ 

There are a lot of opinions. And to me, that’s awesome. We want that kind of passion. I hope that we see more people that are behind this team and this program and getting excited. I would say that’s probably something that’s been a pleasant surprise.

BH: What has the team improved on the most?

KS: Trying to practice at a pace that I think we need to be practicing. I think we’re getting a little bit better at that. Communicating the right way on the court-I think we’re getting better at that. I think our serving saw a lot of progress. Our passing got better-not a lot better, but we’re making steady progress in those areas…Never giving up on a ball defensively-we’ve got a long ways to go on that. My defensive philosophy is safety last. If there’s a ball, you go get it. I think we’re developing a mentality that I want to see us have defensively.

BH: Has any player on the team stepped more into a leadership role?

KS: We’ve been talking about leadership the last couple of days. We just named captains; I think captains are kind of important but what I think is really critical is leadership. I’m much more of a leadership guy than I am a captain guy. I think leadership can come from a whole lot of people, a lot of different people — people utilizing their strengths, and throwing that into the pot and stirring that up, and that just becomes the fabric of the team. We get leadership from somebody like Courtney Thomas, and just the competitive drive that rubs off on people. 

Or the leadership from an Annemarie Hickey, with her willingness to work on her game every single day by herself, when nobody else is in the gym. You get leadership from a Claire Raddatz and her willingness to do anything for the team. You get it from a Dominique Thompson and her integrity and holding everybody else to that same integrity. That leadership comes from so many different people. It doesn’t come from just one person.

BH: Who did you name as team captains for the fall?

KS: They named [the captains]. The team did. The captains are Annemarie Hickey, Julie Mikaelsen and Kt Kvas.

BH: What do you think the biggest challenge for the team has been this spring?

KS: Understanding my humor has probably been a challenge. Anytime you have a coaching change, just learning what the culture is going to be like is a challenge vecause you don’t know. And when you don’t know, you have a tendency of sitting back. You’re not going to be great by just sitting back and watching; you’ve got to be able to nose out and just go. 

We wanted them to get as comfortable as possible, so they can just go. Also, there are things that we feel like they need to be disciplined at. And there are consequences for those types of things. So you’re trying to let them get comfortable but you’re also trying to create a very high standard. And also trying to have fun.