Hannah Kelley, Life Skills: Coaching with Empathy.

Sports often focus on the moments that suck oxygen out of a room. Wow moments.

A block or dig that wins a volleyball team a provincial championship.

They’re captivating for good reason.

What goes into that moment though? How did that team, that athlete, that person, get there?

It’s subtle. Often unnoticed and underappreciated.

It’s empathy.

Empathy is the ability to be understanding of the thoughts, feelings or attitudes of another.

Not a trait that gets a lot of spotlight in the sports world.
Should a volleyball coach have empathy? They are responsible for teaching technical skills, implementing strategy and executing tactics.

They also must manage people. In Volleyball Nova Scotia’s club system, this means managing boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18 generally. Each with their own personality. To be clear, I don’t mean managing playing time or collecting team fees.

I mean managing them emotionally.

Volleyball has taught Hannah Kelley this ability.

Hannah is the 21-year-old Head Coach of the Bridgewater Chill 17U Girls team.

21. Head coach.

That alone is an rare accomplishment.



Hannah is now in her 3rd year of coaching club volleyball. Her first two year were spent with the South Shore Smash.
Last season she coached at the same club as her mother, Deanne Oickle-Conrad who shared some insight as to how Hannah has developed into the coach she is today,

“Hannah's leadership and organizational skills have been honed and developed by effectively communicating with players and parents.  She fosters a positive environment for her athletes and shares her love and knowledge of the sport every time they take the court.”

A statement that is typical of any good coach.

Coaching becomes much more when a coach decides to introduce empathy into their coaching equation. While coaching a junior high team at École De La Rive-Sud which is just outside Bridgewater, Hannah did just that.

“Hannah took a player under her wing to work on her serve. This athlete lacked confidence in her serve at the beginning of the season because it was an underhand serve. This serve is particularly deep and Hannah had many personal chats to encourage this athlete to use that serve and told her just because it is underhand, it doesn’t mean she has a bad serve.”

Subtle.

We place instances like this under an umbrella term such as “communication skills”, but make no mistake, this is empathy.

“Hannah reminded this athlete that she had the skills with that strong underhand and to be confident on the floor. This athlete would later go on to serve 23 straight points to an opposing team later that season. Hannah gave this athlete a leadership role as a team captain and made all the difference in this player's confidence.”

Coaches can choose to take the “my way or the highway”, approach. They may tell players to conform to a style or technique which they feel is best for a player. There’s a place for that, but great coaches find ways to get the best out of their players. Would this player have found the success she did if Hannah forced the player to serve overhand?

A characteristic like empathy is learned through your cultural and societal environment. For Hannah, this was the volleyball court and experiences she had as a player, with her coaches.

“I've seen her grow into an amazing leader because of everything the game has taught her. She has had amazing coaches in her playing career and has taken their positive attitude and transfer that to her own team.”

From a pure volleyball perspective encouraging this player to serve underhand, it was a good coaching decision. But what about the residual effect on the player?

“This athlete went on to tryout for a club team this fall in 15U and she made a local team on the South Shore. Empowering athletes to use their skills is where Hannah excels as a coach and puts her own life skills to best use.”

That’s why coaches coach.

They shouldn’t coach to win sets, matches and championships. Those are wonderful benefits but Hannah shows us that something more meaningful, instilling confidence in a 15-year-old athlete, is as simple as believing in them.

Hannah’s ability to be empathetic created the possibility of a 23-0 serving streak.

Coaches are in a unique and privileged position. They can mold and influence young athletes in ways many may not realize.

This is the foundation of those “wow” moments we glorify in sport. The block or dig to win a provincial volleyball championship.

Players lives are impacted behind the scenes, with no cameras or media attention, in a gymnasium on Nova Scotia’s South Shore.


Thank you to Hannah Kelley for sharing a bit of her experience in volleyball with us for our Life Skills project.

If you are a coach, parent or player interested in sharing some comments about what volleyball has taught a player or coach off the court, please submit them to Tim Stephenson at vnscoordinator16@gmail.com