Racky boasts experience, stresses personal development
By Dana Ehrmann
Sports Correspondent
Bailey Racky, new head coach of the girls Catholic Central varsity volleyball team, has plenty of coaching experience — enough to know that intangibles count for a whole lot.
Racky accumulated that experience coaching high school volleyball at Winona Senior High in Minnesota and at nearby Wilmot Union High School. She also has club experience with Club Fusion in Marengo, Illinois as well as the Wisconsin Juniors AAU Volleyball Program.
She is joined by assistant coaches Stephanie Snyder, Maureen Shaw and Jackie Pankau.
“I think it is important to develop the person first, and the volleyball skills will come,” said Coach Racky.
She’s the assistant athletic director at Catholic Central, so she works in the building and will get to witness her athletes’ personal growth on and off the court.
“There are a lot of lessons that can be learned through athletics, which I hope to talk with them about,” she continued, citing persistence, patience, hard work, communication and the drive to do better as the qualities she hopes to instill in her new Lady Topper squad.
She’s ready to take on what looks to be a tough and competitive Metro Classic conference this year. She said: “We have a good conference, but I believe that any team can beat one another on any given day. We just have to hope we are prepared for whoever we play, and do our best the entire way.”
To achieve that level of preparation, the coach has some simply-stated goals:
Get better every day, and develop well-rounded players on and off the volleyball court.
So far in practice, the team is well on its way.
“The girls are busting their tails to get better every day. They continue to push one another for one common goal,” said the coach. “It has been a joy thus far. It makes me super excited to see what is to come.”
The Lady Toppers are coming off of a 17-18 season last year, and are moving on after losing seniors Sara Hackbarth, Sarah Gould, and Olivia Sobbe, who now plays for UW-Whitewater.
The key returners are sophomore Grace Spiegelhoff and junior Emily Swanson, as well as the new co-captain pair of junior Anna Hackbarth and senior Lindsey Lehman.
Newcomers Jesse Kempken, a junior, and sophomores Miriam Ward and Elizabeth Klein look to make a big splash, as well.
This fall there are about 30 players total playing volleyball for Catholic Central, and Coach Racky wants to focus on all of them, not just the 15 competing at the varsity level.
“I really want to work on developing a program, not just a varsity team only. I hope to bring a new look and a fresh start,” she said.
They open up the season with a tournament at UW-Whitewater on Aug. 26-27, and conference play against Dominican on Thursday, Sept. 1.
How will they fare this season? Coach Racky answers this with another question.
“Why not us at State?”
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