Published: July 18, 2008 10:50 pm            

Katherine Ward takes volleyball reins at Bluefield State

BLUEFIELD — Three coaches in three years? That’s been the plight of the Bluefield State volleyball team. Kat Ward can relate. After all, in three years as a defensive specialist at Bluefield College, she had the same number of coaches.

“I definitely know where the girls are coming from, and I’ll be their third coach in three years,” said Ward, who replaces Arnie Walters as Bluefield State’s volleyball coach. “I know exactly where they are coming from. It is important to have a coach where you know how she works and you can look for the same balance every year.”

Ward, who is from Tampa, Fla., will complete her sports management degree requirements from Bluefield in August. She’ll begin her first coaching stint in the same month with the Lady Blues.

“It was definitely a surprise. I had always thought about it when I was younger,” said Ward, who also goes by Katherine. “I thought about it being a possibility, but I didn’t think it would come this soon.

“It’s an opportunity that I’m grateful to have and I’m glad I took it.”

The challenge ahead for Ward is great. Bluefield State finished 0-22 last season, losing all but their first match in 0-3 sweeps. Ward has met with some of the players that return from the difficult ‘07 campaign.

“The main thing I’m going to worry about right now is I need to get to know my team and I have a short amount of time to do that,” Ward said. “The main struggle we’re looking at is we’re going to have to come together as a team. I think winning is a learned trait and I think we’re going to have to learn to win.”

Ward, who is working this summer as the director of creative services for the Bluefield Orioles, was pleased with the reception she received in her first informal team meeting.

“I had about five of the girls that stopped by and we sat around and talked for a while,” Ward said. “They’re a good group of girls and I can tell we’re going to get along.

“Hopefully they’ll want to play hard and I’ll work as hard as I can for them and do whatever I can to help them succeed.”

The Lady Blues, which had just three seniors on their 10-women roster last season, has some experience back, and Ward isn’t finished adding to the rotation.

“Right now I have about 10 on my roster and I’m hoping to fill it to about 14,” Ward said. “I have a short while to do that, but I’m looking for about four more players who would be willing to give it all they’ve got and in turn I’ll do the same for them.”

A volleyball player since age 5, Ward knows one of her biggest challenges could be her age.

“That’s what I am worried about, I know that I am very close to their age so it’s going to be hard for me to realize that they are players,” Ward said. “At the same time and at the same respect level, they’re going to have to realize that I am the coach and what I say is how it’s got to be.”

Bluefield State opens its 2008 season against Lincoln (Pa.) on Sept. 5 in a tournament in Elkins. The Blues play just five home matches at Ned Shott Gymnasium, with the first being on Sept. 27 against Alderson-Broaddus. The WVIAC was top-heavy last season, with only five the 16 teams having winning records. Wheeling Jesuit won the regular season title, while Charleston captured the tourney crown. Six schools didn’t reach double figures in victories.

“It’s looking to be pretty good this year,” Ward said. “With a lot of hard work and dedication I feel we can be one of the stronger opponents.

“We can at least use this year to build on the next year coming up.”

As for a style of play, Ward has seen plenty of coaching philosophies, including last year under former Bluefield State mentor Jaime Bowman, who was 10-17 in her Rams’ debut campaign.

“I learned a little bit from each and hopefully that will help me to contribute a little bit from their knowledge and hopefully help contribute to the decisions that I make,” Ward said. “From a coaches standpoint, I’m definitely very new at this.”

Bringing a winning attitude will be crucial at a school where winning has often been the exception.

“I think it’s a theme with every team that you need to learn how to win,” Ward said. “We just need to learn not to struggle and not to accept losing and not settle for losing. If we have a bad game, we need to realize it’s a bad game and not settle for that level.”

Ward, who plans to eventually pursue a master’s degree, hopes to bring some stability to a program that’s been missing it for some time. Don’t expect a fourth coach in ‘09.

“I think it’s very important each year that coaches look for players to come back and the players need to rely on their coaches to come back,” Ward said. “Hopefully this year will pick up and we can do the best with what we’ve got and next year we’ll definitely be able to build more on that...

“I’m very excited to have this job coming up with Bluefield State. I’m really excited to get the season going.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

        

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