With one year as head coach under her belt, Kayla Nelson is building a program that embodies ACE – attitude, communication and effort.
After skill level, Nelson looked for these …
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With one year as head coach under her belt, Kayla Nelson is building a program that embodies ACE – attitude, communication and effort.
After skill level, Nelson looked for these three components during tryouts to help build that specific team culture.
“I would like to win more than we won last year and with this group, it’s totally doable,” Nelson said. “After that, just building something and continuing to build a culture here with all these girls.”
The Warriors went 9-21-1 last season. However, junior Lila Bartley noted the team lost very few seniors and are mostly the same team, which has allowed them to know early on what they need to fix.
The Warriors currently have 11 players on the varsity roster. There are three players that are new to the team and eight are returners. Six girls are seniors, four are juniors and there is one freshman.
“They are a close knit group of girls, so they all get along and communicate with each other easily,” Nelson said. “Obviously, they’re high school girls so they get upset with each other, but they always know how to talk it out.”
Nelson added that despite not many changes to the roster, she was planning on changing some of her coaching tactics.
“My approach to coaching this year is very different. My positivity and being able to talk to the girls is better this year,” Nelson said. “I think we understand each other a bit more and I’m able to get my point across and they understand what I’m saying and vice versa.”
Besides building a team culture and winning some more games, Bartley and senior Chandler Blondin both want to compete for the conference title.
“I think we have a lot of experience from last year and looking at what we have now, it’s definitely doable,” Blondin said.
Blondin credited the front row as one of the team’s strengths and noted that the team has a very good IQ on what to do and when to do it.
Currently, the team has been focusing on fine tuning their service balls and working on their defense. Blondin added the team has been working on faster tempo balls to help run their offense at a different pace.
Nelson is looking forward to seeing this team develop and continuing to incorporate their team values every single day.
“These girls are worth watching,” Nelson said.
The Warriors will open up their first game of the season at home on Friday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m.
