B2 Thursday, October 1, 2009
Old Gold & Black Sports Photo courtesy of Media Relations Graphic by Ken Meyer/Old Gold & Black
Coaching Series
Heather Kahl Holmes By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor
Coach Heather Kahl Holmes is in her fifth season at the helm of the Wake Forest volleyball program. Holmes has amassed a career record of 58-67 overall and 35-51 in ACC play. Kahl Holmes coached Natalie Mullikin who over her career proved to be one of the best players in program history as she finished her career as the school’s most prolific blocker. In nine seasons with the Demon Deacons, Holmes has coached three honorable mention All-Americans, three All-Region selections, 11 All-ACC players, one ACC Player of the Year, three AVCA All-District team members and one ACC Rookie of the Year. From 2000-04, Holmes served as an assistant coach for the Deacs. Prior to her arrival at Wake Forest, Holmes began her coaching career as an assistant at Clemson, her alma mater. Before beginning her coaching career, Holmes was a standout player for the Tigers, leading them to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances and one ACC Tournament final as the team’s starting setter from 1991-94. She was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary Volleyball Team on August 1, 2002. After a tough start this year with 10 straight losses, the Deacs are back on track and rolling with four straight wins. After the rough start, how important were those first two wins against Applachain State and Liberty on Sept. 19? I think emotionally, mentally they were probably two of the most needed wins in my career. We have been struggling with a lot of injuries lately, and not a lot of people know the battles we’ve been having. Our center is coming back from a hip surgery. She had a torn labrum that she played with all last year and then had surgery in April so it’s a four month rehab. She has been gutting it out. We lost our starting libero 10 minutes before our first match this season with a fractured finger; she had two pins put in it. We lost an outside in preseason to a meniscus. We’ve been battling. A lot of people are playing out of their position, and I’ve had to start a lot more freshmen than we’re used to. With that being said, this team always
comes in with a positive attitude, and they’re ready to go and they keep working hard. So hopefully in the long run, now that we are starting ACCs, it’s going to pay off.
Has it been difficult to adjust after losing Natalie Mullikin, probably one of the program’s best players ever? I think it has and a lot of it has been because of our injuries. Losing Nat is huge for our program, but the fact that we lost Megan (Thornberry) who is our best passer and one of our best defenders who controls the back court, you know if it wasn’t for her last year Nat maybe never got the ball because we had to be in system the whole time. I do miss her leadership at times. I miss that confidence, that “give me the ball” kind of attitude. When you’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing those key roles they’re not used to, saying that or wanting to be like that all the time so eventually they’ll set up and with the experience they’re gaining they’re going to take over that role. What are you expecting going forward for this season? We take it one day at a time. Every practice is different for us right now. Every time I step into the gym I don’t know how many players I’m going to have ready, how many can practice, how many can only take a certain amount of swings and a lot of that just has to do with the wear and tear of preseason and playing three matches in 24 hours. There aren’t that many sports that play that many matches in a 24 hour time period so you really take a beating. We just take it one day at a time. What has been the most gratifying moment for you in your coaching career? Just being at Wake Forest and the idea of what these student athletes have to go through every day with the academic side of things and combing that with our travel and athletic side and the demands that we place on them and the demands they put on themselves, really to see them graduate
is the most exciting moment for me. Last year was the first year in nine years I missed a graduation because I had a best friend’s wedding. I mean winning absolutely, everybody loves to win, but honestly to see these girls mature and grow into independent strong women is the pride that I take in developing these young women. Hopefully they get competitive on the court and in the working world when they leave.
Why is Wake Forest the right place for you? When I first came here it was a lot different from the school that I came from, which was Clemson. Not only academically, but population wise. I always tell the recruits this, but the minute I stepped on campus I could feel the family atmosphere and everyone knew everybody. My husband is an alum from here, so it’s neat to see him walk on campus; professors from the mid ‘90s still know him. You are just well-supported by the professors to the administration. We have one of the best athletic directors in the country, Ron Wellman, who really cares about you as a person and not just as a coach. Like I said, everyone likes to win but he really, really cares about you as a person and that’s first and foremost, so that’s what makes it special for me here. I just walked down there and a lot of athletic directors could be really upset with our start, and believe me we don’t accept it, but he understands what’s been going on with the inner workings of this team. We’re banged up and we’re young and he gets it and he just keeps saying, “Keep fighting, you’re going to get better.” He was proud of those two wins but he doesn’t come down on you and it’s just amazing. It makes you want to keep fighting and keep going instead of just being beaten down all the time. What is your favorite restaurant in WinstonSalem? Village Tavern. By far. It’s mine and my husband’s first choice every time. It’s the one I recommend all the time to recruits. Who has been the most influential person to you? It is my dad. He is retired now, but he taught
at my high school in the town where he was born and raised. He got into volleyball basically because he had two young daughters that needed a sport and he started without knowing anything about it. He wanted to educate himself every day. He went and watched other coaches, he read books, he watched videos, he joined one of the best AAU sports clubs in our area and he was a coach there for 20 years. That’s the program that I came from. Just his dedication and hard work, he worked three jobs while coaching. He coached football, baseball and basketball; he coached every sport that was available in our small town. Just watching him thrive was amazing. It was all about teaching; it was never about wins and losses. Though the success came, it was just watching him interact with the kids and seeing them respond. That is what inspired me. I actually didn’t think I would coach. I wanted to be a special education teacher because my brother is a little developmentally challenged so I thought I would do that. Then I got a chance at a graduate assistant position down at Clemson and thought well, I’ll get my master’s and maybe coach on the side, and I loved it. I don’t know what it was, but staying in this college atmosphere and being able to take in all the sports is something that was just in my blood, and I really didn’t know it at the time. Who is your favorite athlete to watch play any sport or any time period? Back in the day it was (Michael) Jordan for sure. I was a big fan of the U.S. Open this year and (Roger) Federer is probably one of my favorite players to watch. He is just calm, cool and collected, and there are those moments where he shows his passion. He always shows it by his hard work, but you need to see that emotion. He is consistent and hard working, and you never hear him say a bad thing.