Long before they were assistant coaches for UCLA women’s volleyball, Tony Ker and Kaitlin Nielsen were best friends – they spent time together almost every day as student-athletes at UCLA.
When both were hired to work together at their alma mater, they realized just how much their friendship had come full circle.
“Oh my gosh! Dude, you have the key to Pauley!” Nielsen said to Ker.
Despite taking drastically different paths after graduation, the two picked up right where they left off and wound up on the same courts where they had once competed.
“Coming back and starting to work with Kaitlin, it was like we had never not been friends,” Ker said.
Coaching hadn’t been in either of the athlete’s plans.
A four-year All-American on the UCLA men’s volleyball team, Ker is the NCAA’s all-time leader in digs with a total of 1,220. Originally hoping to go into either real estate or professional volleyball, he never intended on going down the coaching route.
“My dad used to tell me that I’d be a terrible coach,” Ker said. “He just said, ‘You don’t pay attention to detail – you just use your athleticism and you don’t do any other things right.’ It was mean!”
The Founder of Cal State Northridge’s men’s volleyball program and Legacy Volleyball Club, Walt Ker coached each of his three sons when they were younger and watched as each went on to play for UCLA. Ker said that his father has since taken that statement back after seeing him in action.
Nielsen, on the other hand, comes from a long line of teachers who saw her coaching debut as a “no brainer.” She had been more surprised herself, expecting to play professionally for longer and then become a teacher, but Nielsen found purpose in helping younger athletes instead of focusing on her own career.
“Being a player, especially playing professionally, you get to be really selfish. It’s your workout, your diet, your rest, and it’s all about you maximizing,” Nielsen said. “By the end of my career, I was really ready to think about other people and be bigger than myself.”
The pair came together under the familiar presence of head coach Michael Sealy, who had worked as an assistant coach for four years with the men and one year with the women in 2005, which overlapped with both Ker and Nielsen’s time as UCLA athletes.
“We knew how to work with him right out of the gate,” Ker said. “It’s really cool to be able to come into work everyday and be around two of your really good friends.”
Sealy calls his assistants complete “volley-dorks” because of their passion for the sport and its nuances. He said the only thing they’re more passionate about besides volleyball is UCLA, which is what makes them so great.
The trio’s camaraderie is apparent to the team as well.
“They’re all super close and you’ll see them goofing around off the court,” said senior libero Taylor Formico. “It obviously helps the team dynamic. They all support each other and they’re all on the same page.”
Both coaches have their hands full with a plethora of tasks on a day-to-day basis. While the team is in season, Ker is in charge of the team’s defense, and Nielsen handles offensive aspects of the game.
Neither assistant coach can sit still during matches, clutching clipboards and shouting out advice to the players.
In practice, the two often delegate and make observations to the players from the side of the court. However, one of them will occasionally step in and play against the girls.
“When (Nielsen) comes and practices with us, she just kicks our butts. She knows all our weaknesses, so she’ll just go up and use them,” Formico said. “She gets out there and starts ripping balls, and just makes us want to work harder.”
The men both credit Nielsen as being the task-oriented one, managing the details and deadlines to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
“If I had to make it a political term, Kaitlin’s like the chief of staff of the place,” Sealy said. “She’s so organized and can see how to get things done efficiently. I think I’m big-picture-oriented, so I see the forest – but she helps me see the trees.”
As the recruiting coordinator, Nielsen interacts with high school players displaying both the athletic and academic potential to someday become Bruins themselves, and often checks in with them during the simultaneous high school and college seasons.
“She’s incredible on the phone bridging that gap,” Ker said. “She can take that recruit and make them feel at home, like they have someone to talk to all the time – it’s amazing.”
Ker takes on all of the scouting reports, which often means charting swings and going through each opponent’s films to formulate game plans, much like a football team strategizes against another team’s offense.
The coaching staff also relies on the former libero’s tactical knowledge to generate the right questions to help the team enhance its abilities and overall game.
“There’s a lot of volleyball brains on staff, and if he’s coming up with the right questions, he can help us have the dialogues.” Sealy said.
Ker had been a starting libero from his freshman season onward, playing under legendary volleyball coach Al Scates during his career. He said that Scates let him experiment instead of pegging him into a certain role, which would later ease his transition from playing to coaching.
Scates, the long-time leader of the men’s program, called Ker a back court general who needed very little teaching when he came into his program, thanks to his father’s lessons.
“Tony was an immediate starter for me, so I gave him the freedom to take as much court as he wanted and move people around,” Scates said. “He just started taking charge of the back court as a freshman.”
Ker is now a mentor for all the athletes on the team, particularly Formico, who was recently voted by FloVolleyball as the best libero in the nation. The senior captain said that Ker’s guidance has greatly contributed to her growth and leadership on the court.
“(Ker’s) had a huge role in my success,” Formico said. “I think we see volleyball the same way, and he understands what kind of a player I am. I was so lucky that he’s an amazing libero, one of the best at UCLA.”
Nielsen also boasts an exceptional career during her time as an outside hitter for UCLA. She ranks 11th on UCLA’s all-time kills list, and is only the 12th Bruin to ever record at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs over a career.
After graduating in 2009, Nielsen took some time off from indoor volleyball to play on the professional beach volleyball circuit. Sealy asked the former hitter to join his staff as a volunteer coach in 2013, hiring her as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator the following season.
Nielsen was recently recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2016 Thirty Under 30 Award, which recognizes the talent of up-and-coming volleyball coaches at all levels of volleyball.
The former hitter says she always wanted information and support during her collegiate career, which has heavily influenced her interactions now with the team.
“I do coach players as if I would’ve wanted to be coached,” Nielsen said. “I’m not a yeller and a screamer – I don’t think anybody on our staff really is.”
As the only coach who has actually gone through the women’s volleyball program, Nielsen shares similar experiences with the girls on the team, serving as a role model figure for them in many ways.
“I feel like the guys have a lot of pride in our program, but I think there’s something to be said that this is, like, my program,” Nielsen said. “I played in that jersey and this is the legacy. I really try to stress to the girls that you want to leave the jersey off better than you found it.”
As a result, the Bruin says her current position helps her appreciate how fast the four seasons go by and tries to emphasize the fleeting nature and unique college-athlete culture to her players.
“She does a really good job of having an open door in her office if you want to talk about nutrition, body image or other struggles that females go through,” Formico said. “Some people can talk and say, ‘You should do this,’ but she’s actually been through it, so everything she says is very valid.”
Nielson also helps the players focus on life after volleyball, taking time to help players with their academics, internships and resumes.
“The No. 1 thing we’re trying to do for them is self-efficacy,” Sealy said. “They’ve got to be able to take care of themselves once they graduate. If we haven’t given them the tools to survive on their own, then we haven’t done our due diligence.”
Ker hangs customized coffee mugs for each player on the team to use whenever one of them comes to his office to chat. Each mug becomes a graduation gift when its owner’s time on the team comes to an end.
“We want them to actually know we care about them as individuals, not just what their stats say.” Ker said.
Formico said her coach’s coffee talks are a much-needed resource for girls on the team.
“He’s definitely a glue to our team. So many people can relate to him, so they just need to go in and vent, and he’s there to hear it.” Formico said. “It shows how much he cares, and really appreciates relationships on and off the court.”
With all three coaches sharing the common experience of being a Bruin athlete, Ker said it reflects to the team how they believe in this program and its values so much that all of them were here and still want to be here.
During Ker’s time away from campus – playing professionally in Kuwait and coaching at Cal State Bakersfield – one thing became apparent to him. While everyone at UCLA exhibited a constant desire for improvement, Ker said that this drive was missing at other universities or in other cities.
“You go out to the rest of the world, and there’s a lot of complacency. Most places you go, people are just okay with status quo – it’s not like that here,” the former libero said. “Everyone here is striving to get better in one way or another. It’s this incredible environment to be a part of.”
From playing to coaching, Ker and Nielsen discovered UCLA was the one place to which they just couldn’t say no.