Women’s Volleyball
UBC, Ottawa, Laval and Alberta to host U SPORTS soccer and volleyball championships in 2018-19
Throughout the 2017-18 season, U SPORTS sits down with one key athlete, coach, and staff member of each U SPORTS athletic program in our new interview series “Getting to Know…”
Name: Kevin Neufeld
School: Brandon University
Sport: Women’s Volleyball
Position: Head Coach
Seniority: 1st Season
Previous school/position: Neelin High School / Coach
Hometown: Brandon, Man.
1. How did you first get involved in coaching? What was your path to your position as head coach of women’s volleyball at Brandon University?
I had an interest from a very young age. I played a whole variety of sports and I had just an on-going love for sport. I basically have been in a single-track path. I graduated from Brandon University and got a job teaching high school Phys. Ed and Health as well as coaching 34 years ago and I’ve just continued down that path. I’ve been with the provincial team program for over a decade and been involved in small ways with the junior national team program, as well as running lots of club programs and tournaments. I’ve also been involved with the university program here since it started 12 years ago in different roles so I’ve had my foot in the door for a long time.
2. Who are the people that have influenced you most as a coach?
Larry Pilling was a junior high legend in my time and then moving on to someone like Dwight Kearns, who has coached here at Brandon University in the men’s basketball program on an interim basis. It’s been 38 years and that continues this year as I’m coming in to try and keep the momentum going for what Lee Carter has built here at BU.
3. How would you describe your coaching style?
I think always changing and always adapting are very important. Every athlete is different, but we need to set high expectations of student-athletes. I think once they know what to expect success follows. I think that kids aren’t a whole lot different than they used to be, but they are definitely different. Times have changed with connections and social media but for the most part people that are playing at the U SPORTS level are very committed and dedicated athletes who don’t have a lot of those outside influences that are negative.
4. Which coach do you admire the most, and why?
People might laugh at this but I really like Mike O’Shea of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I follow football, not life and death, but passionately for sure, and I think that he is a players’ coach. He communicates honestly and he is very up front. I think people know he’s in charge but at the same time he’s not afraid to carry bags to help load the bus. I think he’s not afraid to interact with people and while it’s only been the last few years that he’s been with the team, he’s been someone I’ve looked up to.
Mike Burchuk is someone else I’ve looked up to. Back when I was coaching at Assiniboine Community College he brought what I think it was his 15 and under provincial team but treated me like I was at his level. You know, those kind of people stick out in my mind. I also mentioned Dwight Kearns and Larry Pilling as two former coaches who had big impacts on huge numbers of people in this community.
5. What is the most “out-of-the-box” thing you’ve done as a coach?
I remember back when I was with the provincial team years back I focused on a real player-driven approach. I remember a stand-out moment when I asked a team member during a practice and she had this almost scared look on her face because she had never been asked anything before, she had always been told what to do and what she needed to do. I questioned something like, what did she see in that block, and she really had no clue. So that stuck with me that we get players to learn the game and not just tell them what to do and how they should do it.
6. What is your greatest coaching moment or achievement?
Probably the fact that I’ve been able to do it for 38 years is the big one. This being the 39th year of my career is something I’m proud of, but another one would be winning the Canada Games in 2009 with Team Manitoba and beating Team Ontario in the final, when we were likely the fourth or fifth-ranked team. Winning the first AAAA provincial at Crocus was a big one and taking the team at Neelin, a wonderful young group of ladies, from Grade 9 and seeing them grow to win provincials in their senior years was another memorable moment. Overall, just having great rapport with the team’s that I’ve coached and being able to stay connected with those groups has been great.
7. What’s the best advice you can give to an athlete and/or athlete’s parents?
This is a great opportunity, and there are tremendous expectations placed on them and it’s a difficult gig. To manage school and training, the technical side of the game and on-court practices, all while often living on their own for the first time can be difficult but it’s a great opportunity. To have great role models that can carry over into life is important. You know, we think being a U SPORTS athlete in first and second year can be tough, but think of the single parents raising kids on their own that are trying to balance work, life and some tough life lessons. If we can get people that are willing to work hard, we’ve accomplished something because I think there are a lot of high school-aged kids going out into the world that don’t have this opportunity so it’s important they make the most of it.
8. How have you changed as a coach over time? What principles/values etc. have remained the same?
Being a good person and working hard have remained the same. I’ve really tried to teach the whole athlete – how they carry themselves off the court, that they represent themselves and our school, our city and our province with tremendous class and respect. I haven’t really changed much other than trying to understand how kids are in some ways being raised differently today than in previous generations from my perspective. Parents are involved and want to be communicated with. They don’t necessarily want to be hands on, but they want to be known that they are involved. I respect that totally. Having two adult children myself, I understand fully how precious kids are to parents and parents deserve to be involved but we don’t need to be micro-involved.
9. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in coaching mode?
I like pretty much all sports. I’m a big Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan and like watching the Winnipeg Jets. I love home repair. I built a cottage at the lake a few years ago, so those kind of interests that keep me grounded and give me something to keep busy at are fun.
10. What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a coach?
I’ve said to people over the years that if our team needs to play better I would take my shirt off and coach shirtless. That would embarrass all of us. Thankfully I’ve never actually had to go to that level. We always play better after I say it, so it hasn’t happened yet but that would definitely top the list.