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09/22/2016 12:00 AMNorth Haven’s new volleyball coach Brianna Kleckner didn’t hesitate for a second when asked about her favorite aspect of the sport.
“Teamwork,” she says.
Brianna’s always liked how everyone needs to be in sync on the court for a volleyball team to succeed. Now, she’s striving to foster that type of cohesiveness, along with a jolt of confidence, in the Indians as their new head coach.
“Volleyball is the most team-oriented sport I’ve ever played. Everybody needs to be 100 percent on or you can’t be successful, so I really enjoy that team-environment type of sport. Volleyball has been my end-all, be-all since the very beginning. From the first time I played it, I fell in love with it,” Brianna says. “LeBron James can get his own rebound, dribble down the court and score, and do it all over again. In volleyball, it doesn’t work that way. Your passes have to be on, your setters have to be on, your hitters have to be on. Everybody has to be on the same page 100 percent of the time and mentally tough and moving in the right direction. That team aspect has always appealed to me.”
Brianna played volleyball for Terryville High School and at Plymouth State University, serving as a captain for both squads. She started coaching in various camps right out of high school and, after graduating college, spent one year as a varsity assistant and JV head coach at Terryville.
Later on, Brianna earned her master’s degree in school counseling from St. Joseph University in West Hartford, leading her to taking a position as a 7th-grade guidance counselor at North Haven Middle School. With one foot already in the door, Brianna heard the Indians were looking for a volleyball coach and ultimately became the newest member of the North Haven sports family.
“I am so incredibly excited to not just have the job, but have it at North Haven. Literally, the moment I stepped foot on the North Haven campus, I was immediately welcomed by everybody, and so it almost instantly felt like home and it still does...It feels like I’ve been here for 30 years,” says Brianna. “It’s incredibly exciting. We have an outstanding group of young female athletes who are very hungry, as am I, to change our reputation. The program hasn’t necessarily been the most successful, so we’re coming in as the underdog, and we’re excited to surprise a lot of people and, not just this year, but in years to come, and we’re working hard to repair that.”
Brianna says she wants to build North Haven into a team that’s known for its tenacity, so opponents always know that “we’ll come in strong and give you a run for your money.” Brianna feels one of the most crucial components in that mission is for the Indians’ athletes to constantly encourage each other in order to develop the same level of confidence in themselves that she has in them. Brianna says she saw that when North Haven beat Lyman Hall for its first win last week.
“The team relying on each other and never giving up on each other—that is the biggest thing in volleyball,” she says. “You can never give up on somebody on the court. If someone messes up, it’s our job to remind them to move past it and move forward. It’s just having that team camaraderie in combination with ultimate confidence...Our biggest thing is being mentally tough. That’s our biggest challenge—having the ability to make an error, make the change, and move forward.”
Kristen Bataille has been friends with Brianna for years and she, too, is new to North Haven volleyball as the JV head coach and a varsity assistant. Bataille says she’s learned a lot about volleyball from Brianna and feels confident that Brianna has the knowledge, as well as the right demeanor, to help the Indians play to their potential.
“I think Brianna will be a fantastic head coach,” says Bataille. “She does a great job of balancing a focused practice, but still makes things fun and interesting for the girls, which is a big thing...Brianna is a very good communicator who often wears things on her sleeves, so we talk to the girls about how, if were down, it’s all about celebrating small steps and that, when a girl works on something in practice and then does it beautifully in a game, she’s about cheering them on, saying it’s perfect, and uplifting them.”
There’s still a long way to go in Brianna’s debut campaign, but based on the way things have gone in the early going, she feels good about the girls she’s working with and how they can help the North Haven volleyball program take shape together.
“I love it. It’s been an absolute blast so far,” says Brianna. “It’s still the beginning of the season and there’s a lot to learn and keep working on, but I’m really excited to be here, and I have an outstanding group of girls. I can’t say enough about them and I’m excited for this season and the future.”