Raymond Jackson

Chinook Writer

With the announcement of making #19 on the NJCCA National Ranking, it’s shaping up to be quite a year for the Casper College Volleyball Team. As the Lady T-Birds prepare for their next home game with Northwest College, they are sure to use the motivation, right skills, and leadership moving forward. 

Assistant Coach Kelly Wiedemann grew up in a volleyball family in Missouri. Coming out of junior college, she came to Casper where Head Coach Angel Sharman granted her the position of assistant coach for Lady T-Birds. She said she values the experience with Sharman and coaching players since 2023. 

“I think that trying to give our kids an experience where they grow as people and students and athletes when they come out of CC having more opportunities than they did coming in makes a big difference in people’s lives,” said Wiedemann. “It made a big difference in mine and that is something that I hope that I can impart on our student athletes now and in the future.” 

Makenna Lorenzen, a sophomore and outside hitter for CC, also grew up with volleyball since elementary school. Hailing from Casper and majoring in elementary education, CC opened the door for her to pursue her passion further. During her experience, she grew to love her teammates and coaches who keep her going. 

“I think my teammates keep me motivated for sure”, said Lorenzen, “like when I’m having a bad game, they know, they can tell. So they just make sure to keep it positive and really fix my mindset and just say ‘you got this’!” 

The motivations of both the players and coaches carry on to their training and relationships. Wiedemann described technical skill as the foundation of the game. To her, it’s about what the player is doing during the game, opening up their focus on different strategies such as their

direction and where to go on the court. This also includes muscle memory and visualizing the opponent’s style of playing, all when trying to hit the ball and score across the net. 

“Whenever you do enough reps and you have that muscle memory, you don’t have to think about those things [where to go], you can look across the net and be like, okay, what are their tendencies, where, who are they going to set, what are, what’s open offensively and things like that,” Wiedemann says, “I like to focus more on the technical side of things because then it takes your focus off of those and it allows you to kind of broaden your vision.” 

According to Lorenzen, the team’s training consists of focusing on the basics by working on technical skills. She said that early on in the season, the team learns about passing, getting angles right to pass, hitting the ball, and working on footwork. Later on, they practice small drills to avoid any potential struggles they faced early on. Blocking, for instance, can be difficult when trying to close off a gap that the ball would land between. 

From a leadership perspective, Wiedemann said there is a balance between pushing the team to do better while not being too hard on them. The same is said even when it comes to interacting with Coach Sherman. By finding that common ground, Wiedemann believed that is what makes a good team leader. 

As a player, Lorenzen applies her leadership skills with overcoming challenges of her own. When it comes to a point where she is having a hard time or a negative mindset, she said she holds her head with a positive attitude and keeps trying. She also adds that humility factor of not being pretentious and self-centered on your own team, including opposing players. 

As for leadership, Lorenzen said, “Being a team player, being as positive as much as you can, even when you’re struggling — it’s hard because if you are not showing or giving other players like that positive stuff; it definitely can affect the other players around you… they’ll match your energy and that’s just like how the game will go basically… if everyone’s just down on themselves, the game’s going to be bad.”

For the future of this season, both Wiedemann and Lorenzen say they look forward to it with a positive outlook, team relationships, and each of their philosophies of leadership. 

“We’re going to be a super fun team to watch, and I think we’re going to get better and better throughout the year”, Wiedeman concludes, “I’m excited for this group and for their potential and the rest of our season for sure.”