A four-year force: Part 4 — Neufeld, Tuininga brought best out of group

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This article was published 15/05/2021 (1784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kevin Neufeld’s name is synonymous with women’s volleyball in western Manitoba.

He has coached some of the best teams in Brandon high school and club volleyball history. He led the Crocus Plainsmen girls to back-to-back AAAA titles in 2001 and 2002, and directed Storm Volleyball Club to national championships in 2009 and 2010.

Neufeld was the easy choice to step in as interim head coach of the Brandon University Bobcats women when Lee Carter went on sabbatical for the 2017-18 campaign. 

He’s a three-time Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association AAAA coach of the year. But accolades aside, the way the Neelin Spartans he coached from 2010 to 2014 speak about him and his positive impact that lasts to this day say everything.

Jamie Campbell: “Kevin is hands down the best coach I’ve had. He shaped us all as our own players and as a team. Just the time and effort he put into working with us was amazing. He’s the reason a lot of us went far post-secondary. The work ethic and everything he instilled in us. He was a really good coach and he knew his stuff.”

Paige Thomson: “I love Kevin. He’s engrained so many things, even life lessons into us. I can’t even think of all of them. He’s such a big part of me becoming who I am today. He’s instilled so many work ethics, how you should act when you’re in public places.

“The biggest one was you can’t worry about the mistakes. When you dwell on the past that’s not going to get you anywhere and it’s just going to cause you more anxieties and you’re just going to start overthinking it.”

Jael Unger: “He’s a phenomenal person. He was a wonderful coach, I learned so much from him. He contributed so much to my life and I was able to stay connected with him after high school, check in with each other every so often. I’m coaching at Neelin a little bit, I see him every so often. I was the athletic therapist student for the Bobcats the year he coached the women’s team so that was really cool. It was really nice to see him so often. We always joke around with each other.”

Amy Gordon: “I’ve had a lot of different coaches over the years and the thing with Kevin is it was no bulls—t. He was honest, he was to the point. He was serious and he pushed us really hard but we knew he respected us and he wanted the best for us.

“Definitely one of the best coach-player relationships I’ve ever had and honestly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. I can’t put my finger on why but we showed up every day and wanted to work hard for him.”

Jordan Hardy: “I looked up to him for all those years. He was almost like a father figure to us. he was so passionate about it and that’s what helped us become so passionate about it … He made such a huge impact on our team. I don’t think we could have been that good without him.”

Alexis Jameson: “He made a significant impact on my high school experience. I don’t know if I would have gone to Neelin if it wasn’t for volleyball and he really shaped my high school experience, the social aspect as well as the physical aspect.”

Alison Quiring: “He means an immense amount to me. He coached my older sister for four years before me, me for four years and my younger sister for four years so he’s been a part of my family for a long time. He has taught me so much about being a teammate and about being a hard worker and being a competent adult.

“There’s a lot of skills I learned from Neuf that some of my friends that didn’t play sports are still learning now. That responsibility, having to be mindful of things, he would tell us ‘Don’t even bother getting your parents to email me. If you guys want to talk to me, you can email me yourself. It’s like getting your mom to make a doctor’s appointment for you. He forced us to get over that and I learned how to email adults. That was an important life skill to have.”

Nicole Tuininga (nee Clemons): “He is like a second dad to me. He has taught me almost everything I would say in coaching. In high school my coach was very direct and strong and he too was one of the best coaches for sure, but just to learn the philosophical side of things from Neuf, he is such a sweet man. I know sometimes he can come across as a big bear but he’s actually a big teddy bear.

“He’s taught me everything and not just about the technical side of things but how to coach the girls individually. I think that’s helped not just coaching but my teaching career as well. You’re not going to treat everyone the same because they’re not the same.”

Kristine Ward: “I can definitely say I wouldn’t be where I am without him and can even say to this day I’ve gotten to go all over the world for volleyball and he is by far still the best coach I’ve ever had. It gets me a little emotional. He’s a huge reason why I have the work ethic I do today.”

Neufeld’s ability to bring the best out of players in practice and his calming presence during a tight, high-pressure match stand out.

Jael Unger: “Every day we spent time with him and the other girls, he made us determined, goal-oriented and he really just grew us into women with great values, and just made us into better people on the court, not just volleyball players.”

Paige Thomson: “It was also just the work ethic he instilled in all of us. Going from Grade 8 to Grade 9 I was definitely not practising every day but having that drive and pushing us to the next level was what we needed.”

Alexis Jameson: “He was extremely honest and straight up. He didn’t allow things to slide, which was good. I think we all needed that and that was what made us succeed. He was extremely organized. I learned so many things from him, leadership, organizational skills, taking responsibility.”

Jamie Campbell: “The way he would adjust our practices and drills more so towards the week we had ahead and the way he would encourage us on and off the court, just being an approachable guy if we had any issues. He was always willing to put in extra time to get us extra reps if we needed. He’d go out of his way to ensure we were the best we could be.”

Amy Gordon: “He was also really calm, cool and collected. It was never panicky, like ‘Oh my God, you guys are down by 10 points, what are you doing?’ I remember it’d be a timeout and it was always very calm, really methodical and thought out, and he was just really smart. He knew the game inside out.”

Kristine Ward: “How he respected us, treated us with respect but also held us accountable to ourselves and our own goals. He knew what we were working towards and reminded us of that all the time but he would always have the confidence in us to get the job done. If we didn’t that day, that’s OK, but he’d always challenge us to do better.”

Nicole Tuininga: “His calmness. His calm but strong presence. Rarely did he get really worked up. He was always consistent. That really helped the girls, especially for the girls that were a little more emotional and struggled when they were down. He was calm, cool, collected.”

Neufeld certainly found terrific help in assistant coach Nicole Tuininga. The Selkirk product joined the Bobcats and played libero from 2008 to 2010. She stepped away due to a back injury but saw that door closing as a fantastic alternative one opening.

Paige Thomson: “Nicole was the best. You kind of have ‘Good cop, bad cop mentality, sometimes you would have bad cop, bad cop. Nicole was that person that was a bit of an outlet for us if we were maybe getting frustrated with Neufeld that we could go to. Having that girl figure there, it was awesome. She was so down to earth and genuinely cared about every single one of us. Not just us on the volleyball court but who we were as people. Kevin was the same way.”

Jamie Campbell: “For me especially, I don’t know if she’s the reason I became a libero … she saw something special in my skills especially with her being a libero as well, she definitely worked with me very closely to help me develop into the libero I was.

“It was a Grade 10 city final game she pulled me aside and I was struggling at left side and she pulled me aside and was like ‘I know you’re struggling at the net but your stats in the back are really good. Have you ever thought about libero?’ That’s the first time the position really crossed my mind so I think she had a huge impact on that.”

Jael Unger: “She was quiet sometimes. She kind of let Neuf take on his role and talk as much as he needed to. She was always the person you could come to for advice and she had so much volleyball knowledge and experience. We all felt comfortable talking with her if we needed help with volleyball skills or even just if you needed an ear to listen to anything.”

Amy Gordon: “She was hugely important. I think all of us or a good chunk of us had a strong aspiration to play university or next-level volleyball. Having her in the gym every day as a person that did get to that next level, she was intense and she was gritty. She was a libero so she was an amazing defender and was just a really, really good role model for a lot of us wanting to get to the next level.

“She was great to have in the gym with Kevin and evened him out.”

Jordan Hardy: “She was awesome. They had both really different perspectives on the game, which was really good. We could connect with each of them differently.

“She was more recently playing volleyball so it was really easy to connect with her.”

Kristine Ward: “It was nice to have a female around but also someone successful who played locally … To have her as such a strong role model and see how successful she was, was an asset to our team.”

Alison Quiring: “Nicole was so integral to our team dynamic and the whole functioning of our team. There’s sometimes this misconception that ‘Oh, we need to have a younger woman assistant coach who can relate to the girls.’ Nicole was definitely ‘no bulls—t, we’re not messing around here.’ She would frequently have a timeout and would say ‘Girls, get your heads out of your asses.’ She was a very important figure for us. She was very strong, opinionated and smart.

“She did feel like a big sister. We could joke around with her and tease her and she would tease us right back. If we ever did need something we could go to her and we could go to Neuf too but it was really nice to have someone there with Neuf. I feel like they balanced each other out well and worked well together.”

 

MONDAY: Finding mid-season form

 

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