344. Kelli Barnet - The Standard - Coaching at Wichita Falls Memorial

Hey, everyone. My name is Colton, and I'm the host of the Coach 360 podcast. Here, our goal is to come alongside and equip coaches with the resources to help develop character through sports and raise up the next generation of leaders. Not only do we do that through this podcast and interviewing coaches from across the nation about character, culture, and leadership, but we also do it through our 2 words character development curriculums. If you want to learn more about these or anything else that we offer, visit our website, 2words.tv. That's the number 2 words.tv. Or you can always drop me an email, colton at 2words.tv. Thanks for listening today. Let's get into the show. PMX Pro Maxima is your one-stop shop for the ultimate fitness equipment solution. Are you ready to take your workouts to the next level? With their state-of-the-art equipment, you can achieve your fitness goals faster and more effectively. From strength to cardio, they manufacture a wide range of high quality products made in the USA to maximize your performance. Experience the difference with PMX Pro Maxima and see why thousands of athletes and fitness enthusiasts trust them. Visit ProMaxima.com today to explore their catalog and elevate your fitness journey. Coach Mackey and I have personally gotten the opportunity to train with their equipment in our home gyms. Many of you know of our strongman and powerlifting backgrounds. From big bench presses and deadlifts, we have spent thousands of hours under a barbell and can personally tell you PMX Pro Maxima is one of the best manufacturers of strength equipment we have put our chalked up hands on. And they're made right here in the great state of Texas. PMX Pro Maxima. Find your strength from within. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Coach 360 Today, I have the great privilege of hanging out with Coach Kelly Barnett. She's the head volleyball and women's coordinator over at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. Hey, Coach. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for carving out some time for us today. Why don't you get us started by telling us a little bit about you and your journey to Wichita Falls Memorial. Yeah, so I was born and raised actually here in Wichita Falls. Um, I graduated from Ryder High School, um, which is the high school that closed down. So Wichita Falls had three high schools, Hershey, um, Wichita Falls. Um, high school, which is called Old High and then Rider and they consolidated down into two, which is Memorial and Legacy. Um, so I graduated from there, um, went on to. Um, undergrad and graduated with my undergrad in interdisciplinary studies, um, in 2020 and then graduated with my master's degree in educational leadership in 2023. Um. After my undergrad, I kind of just went off straight into the coaching world and was a head coach, volleyball coach at Jacksboro High School, stayed there for one year. And then went on to Grapevine High School for the past two years before coming to Memorial. Awesome. Well, what has this last year been like? So you kind of were, you got in right there at the ground level. Um, and you've got obviously the tradition and the history of Wichita Falls. You were a graduate of Ryder. Um, and then now you're stepping into a new campus and where you're having to blend kind of. Tradition and students from across three down to two. Tell me more about how you navigated all of that. Yeah, so we started off really strong with character development. That was our main thing coming in. Um, I got hired back in February of 2024 and I got to meet the girls, um, a few weeks later, all the way from the middle school, um, all the way to, um, those that were going to be seniors, um, this coming year. Just starting off of kind of who I am and what I stand for and what this program could be if they buy in and they really did. We started our slogan of the standard and Um, our girls have just bought in so much to that. Um, they set the standard every day and show up. And so I think just coming in and, um, just being upfront with them about the expectations and, um, Making sure that it's not just me that can set the expectation that they can all set the expectation as well, too. Well, coach, I'd love for you to unpack that a little bit more for us. And so imagine maybe the coach that's listening in right now. And they're stepping into a similar situation. Maybe it's a brand new high school or something like that. And they have to kind of build a program from more or less kind of maybe scratch. So tell me more about when you said you leaned into character development to get you guys started the right way. Um, you came up with this mantra called the standard. Uh, maybe you could unpack and deep dive that a little bit more, but first off, tell us more about what leaning into character development as a foundational program, how you did that. Yeah. So, um, the first day I came in, you know, we, um, talked about different books. I'm all about, you know, the, um, champion minded. I love Alistar Makah. Um, he's been one that I've read a lot about. We've done the coffee bean. Um, it takes what it takes. I mean, we did all kinds of book studies and just kind of, um, diving into what it takes, um, To build a program, but also coming from three high schools into two, um, really just getting to know each other because we, a lot of us didn't play together before and so. Um, just making sure that girls built trust first. Um, so that's what we, we, we did. We wanted to make sure that these girls knew each other, um, not just as teammates, but as friends and, um, hopefully eventually as sisters. And that's what a lot of them are now. They, they, Are everywhere together. They are super close group. And so that's what we wanted from the beginning. How did you guys, uh, how did you guys do that? How did you build trust as a team as you were getting started? What were some of the practical things that you did? So we did summer workouts every day, Monday through Thursday. So we would lift in the morning and then go and do volleyball skills. Um, after that for an hour and just showing up, we talked about, you know, not every day you're going to want to show up and every day is not going to be an easy wake up and I'm going to get this done. But, um, sometimes you. Just have to show up even if it's 50% you're only at 50% that day maybe you were up all night doing whatever you're sick and you're not feeling well we still expect the girls to show up and give whatever they they can for that day. Speaking of coach, you talked about the standard. What does that mean to you guys? What does that stand for? Yeah, so the standard it's all kinds of things we kind of condensed it down into a few big key things that we think are important for our program is. Um, you know, tough people win. We always want to be tough and, um, sometimes that looks different. Um, showing up every day. Um, like I was kind of talked about earlier. Just different things like that. Um, what you want is on the other side of hard. Uh, we always want to be, um, comfortable in the uncomfortable. I say that a lot, um, in practice and in our character developments, it's. It's uncomfortable a lot of times, but life is uncomfortable a lot of times. And so if we can get these girls to be comfortable in that and just to, um, grow in that uncomfortableness, then, um, that's what we want. Every coach wants a player led team, but how do you build a player led team? That's the question that led to the creation of the captain's course, a ten week customizable leadership development course for student athletes. The captain's course will equip student athletes to lead their teammates, Promote the growth of leadership skills, create alignment on your core values from coach to athlete, and help build player-led teams. Learn more at www.2words.tv slash captainscourse. What are some of the other, um, kind of core beliefs or values of your program? How, how, how would you say that you coach those up and get the girls to buy? And you talked about, you know, establishing that buy-in was really important in the beginning. Um, how do you, how do you do that? Yeah, so every day. That's what we talk about. We talk about, um, culture changes, um, when the standards are lived out every day. So it's not just what we put in the locker room or what we put on a t-shirt, um, With our standard, the standard is how we live out every day and every day we we come to practice ready ready to go and when someone isn't on that same page we pick them up and make sure we put them on our back and get them to where they need to be. I love it coach. Um, you know, when you talk about, uh, uh, tough people win and what you want is on the, the other side of hard. Maybe expand a little bit more for me on how you get the, those girls to, um, to live and walk that out. Uh, from a practice standpoint, a daily standpoint and on the field standpoint, or I'm sorry, on the court and off the court standpoint. Yeah. So we, um, a lot of times in practice we'll be in, um, pressure situations. I like to create pressure drills, whether that's. Um, with keeping a score or putting maybe a time limit on a certain drill. Um, that way girls are used to, you know, things being hard. Not everything is going to come to you super easily. And I think a lot of times, especially with the younger generations that we're seeing, um, anytime they don't have instant success, a lot of times they'll quit or move on to something else. And so we just want to teach them that. You know, we can problem solve. We can break down a drill. We can stop and talk and figure out what went wrong and how we can fix it later on. And then as you guys kind of, uh, have started to move into, um, I guess, you know, more or less your first kind of off season here. Um, what has that kind of looked like for you guys? Um, as, as you've made that transition, what have you seen that you've liked and. Uh, what's gone well? What's been a challenge? Yeah. Um, it's honestly been so fun having these girls in the off season. Um, Junior class right now going to be seniors they're such a core group they believe in each other they want to uplift the freshman class and which will be sophomores they're willing to just buy in like we talked about and so. Um, just going from weight room twice a week, we do volleyball twice a week and then every day or every week we, um, have a character development and that looks different. Um, each day it could be, um, watching a YouTube video and then talking about it. Uh, we go through a lot of, uh, I build worksheets for them and kind of have them answer the hard questions that, um, maybe someone's never asked them before. And we talk about it as a group. We talk about it with shoulder partners, with our teammates, um, And just making sure that in the off season there's no varsity JV freshmen we're all just maverick volleyball program and building that program up is our goal and so it's been really fun to kind of see them. Incorporate from all different teams from all different levels, get to know each other on a deeper level. And so that's been really fun and just kind of seeing them build these relationships that maybe they didn't have in the fall season. Yeah, that's really cool. How do you see that, um, kind of continuing to build as you guys work through summer, you know, strength and conditioning and workouts, and then you get into next fall season? Yeah, um, you know, I think it'll just keep building. We, um, this year did big and little sis. And so I think those, those girls got close, um, with each other. And I'm hoping that throughout the summer, um, the upperclassmen maybe who can drive or. You know, they'll text the younger classmen and get them to summer workouts and just hopefully buy in to what we're doing here. Yeah, that's really cool. Um, can you recall any, uh, just memorable or notable kind of stories or, uh, or, or, or moments and ways in which you guys kind of Um, exhibited the, the core values that you guys have laid out over the last season or the last semester. Yeah, I think against, um, we played Abilene Wiley, um, at their place. It was our last, um, district game. Um, and, uh, we had lost to them in five. We actually got reverse swept by them at home. And so that was a tough loss and, um, kind of just coming in the next day after that loss and just talking about. The different things that we did well and the things that we kind of failed on in that game in that match. And so just walking into that game, I think, I think our varsity girls, they reached a new level. They really just put, put each other first. They went in with a team mindset rather than a me mindset. Um, which is something that I think a lot of high school girls, you know, sometimes it's hard to get them away from that. Well, I'm not getting playing time. I'm not seeing the floor. And so just getting them all to, you know, you have a role on the bench, um, you have a role on the court. And so, um, just seeing them cheer for each other. Um, be excited for someone else. Maybe that didn't get playing time or whatever that, that looks like. Um, I think against Abilene Wiley, we actually won in three. And had a lot of things, um, not girl go our way that game and just to see the girls kind of step into adversity and feel that pressure, um. You know, we talked about pressure is a privilege and that not everyone gets to feel that and we really kind of dove into that mentality and just kind of took it and ran with it. So that was really exciting to see. Love it. Well, coach, as we, I've got one more question for you as we kind of wrap up a little bit here. Um, What is one of the most important things you believe coaches need to understand about leading their student athletes right now in this, you know, 2025? Um, I just think keeping the main thing, the main thing, um, you know, it's really easy to get caught up in the social media world and what other parents are saying, maybe what other coaches are saying. Um, and just keeping our, our goal is coaches is to grow, um, grow people, um, in my case, grow young women. And I want to grow young women into confident, independent women who are going to go out. Um, and leave this place and go out and be the best they can be, whether that's, um, in a career field or Uh, aunts, moms, whatever they want to be in life. I want them to be the best at that and just be confident in it. And so, um, just keeping the main thing, the main thing. I love it, coach. Awesome. Well, hey, thank you so much for your time today. If our listeners want to connect with you and just maybe deep dive into a little, you know, subject that they may have heard some of here today, what would be the best way for them to connect? Yeah, so they can either email me. My email is Kay and then Barnett, B-A-R-N-E-T-T at WFISD.net. And then I'm also on Instagram. And Twitter at, uh, capital WF Maverick VB. Awesome. Thank you so much, coach. Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Hey guys, one last note before you head off for your day. Over 1,400 schools across the nation have or are using one of our curriculums. Are you ready to jump on board? If you want a turnkey program to develop character in your athletes, give us a call at 281-723-9943. We will work with you and your budget to make it as easy as possible. Thanks again for listening to the coach 360 podcast. Now let's have a good one today.