Melissa Wolter is the head volleyball coach at Division II University of West Florida. She’s also an amazing lady and someone I’m proud to call friend. When I contacted all of the coaches to ask if they’d be willing to chat with me, I told them it shouldn’t take longer than twenty or thirty minutes. Wolter and I were on the phone for over an hour…conversation flows naturally between she and I.
We’ve been there for one another through sickness, death of parents, marriage, divorce, and everything in between. But the constant in our relationship is coaching. We both love it. We both have benefitted from it and I’d hazard a guess that we both can’t imagine our lives without the profession. We love coaching and the strategy, philosophy, and execution it entails. We’re a perfect pair!
Wolter is quite a decorated coach: She’s a four-time conference coach of the year and has guided her team to eight straight NCAA tournament appearances. During her time at West Florida, Wolter has coached six All-Americans, ten All-Region players, three conference All-Decade Team members and five conference Players of the Year. Her career conference record is 115-17, a ridiculous .871 average.
Some things to look forward to from our interview:
- Creating a successful team culture.
- Being an other-centered coach.
- Ways to keep your team motivated in the off-season.
- On females coaching female athletes.
Looking forward to meeting you here next time!
Join me in a series of interviews with successful coaches. I believe what we learn from our coaching peers can be applied to our teams, our recruiting efforts, and how we behave as professionals. These interviews will be less Q & A and much more philosophical in nature, keep coming back to see who I’m talking to and what they’ve got to say!
