IRISH ELITE COACHING PHILOSOPHY
- We utilize the Irish Elite AS ONE culture in our team development process. AS ONE emphasizes:
- WORK – it takes consistent and dedicated effort to improve your game and become a great team.
- IMPROVE – we are constantly focusing on improve and getting to the next level.
- COMMIT – everyone on the team must be committed to success. This includes at practice but also outside of practice ensuring we get rest and nutrition, keep up our grades and mentally prepare for practices and matches. we are also committed to be good teammates.
- COMPETE – we focus on competing for each point, in practice and in matches, regardless of the score.
- SUPPORT – we put our team first and help our teammates become better players.
- We employ positive coaching techniques learned from our PCA training.
- We leverage the skills, knowledge and experience of the entire Irish Elite Coaching Staff.
- We are organized and prepared for practices and tournaments.
- We reach out and connect to each of our players, gaining solid understanding on how to motivate them.
- We are consistent in our approach and message.
- We exhibit the qualities we want in our players.
- We communicate well and often with both players and parents.
2022-2023 Coaches
Emily Udermann
Hi! My name is Emily Udermann. I have lived in Rosemount my whole life. I played volleyball at RHS and continued my playing career at St. Scholastica. I pursued my academic career at St. Scholastica, majoring in education. I am currently a kindergarten teacher at St. Joseph’s in Rosemount. I enjoy hiking with my puppy,
baking, finding fun coffee shops, and spending time with my family and friends. I have coached Irish Elite in the past for a couple seasons and have coached 9th grade at RHS. I love coaching because I am able to create a safe community for girls to make mistakes, learn, grow, and a place to find long life friendships.
Let’s have a great season!
Madeline Hartley
My name is Madeline Hartley and I am a senior at Rosemount High School. I started playing volleyball when I was in 4th grade, and I played for Irish Elite JO from 2015-2019 before moving to Hammerheads for 2019-2022. I also played volleyball for RHS all four years of my high school career. Outside of volleyball, I love running, and I hope to run cross country and track in college. This is my first time coaching, and I am excited to form connections and foster a love for this sport in others!
Josh Behrens
Josh is a new member of the Irish Elite Volleyball coaching staff. He and his wife Kari have two children including a 5th grader and 1st grader at Shannon Park Elementary. He has over five years of coaching experience across a variety of sports, including soccer, baseball, track, basketball, and volleyball. Most recently, Josh concluded an exciting season as a 12’s coach with the RAAA Irish traveling volleyball program. He is a retired member of the United States Army, and is an alumni of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. For employment, Josh serves as a Deputy Director for a Regional Compliance Office with USDA.
Keeley Klose
My name is Keeley Klose. I just finished my first year coaching Rosemount’s High School 9B Volleyball team. This will be my 6th year coaching for JO Volleyball for Rosemount. I have played competitive volleyball for 10 years and have played every position, except Libero. Volleyball has been a huge part of my life. I love sharing my experiences both as a player and as a coach. I’m extremely excited to be coaching another season for Rosemount.
Emily Johnson
Hello, my name is Emily Johnson, and this is my first year coaching with Irish Elite. I played volleyball throughout high school and decided to play intramurals in college. I have continued playing in adult leagues & tournaments since graduating college. I have one year of coaching experience for a middle school girl’s team. I
am currently in nursing school and play volleyball to relieve the stress of school! I also love hanging out with friends and family, being active outside & weightlifting, and doing DIY projects.
Greg Nelson
This is my 9th (or 10th) year coaching 14-2’s for the Irish Elite. Overall this is my13th (or 14th) year of coaching 14s. I used to play mens USAV as a right side hitter a long time ago, starting at the BB level all the way through to A/AA. The main reason I like coaching 14-2s is watching the progression of the girls skills and becoming great teammates from the beginning of the season to the end, and
especially having the parents notice their progressions also. Besides coaching, I like to hang out with my wife Anne of 21 years and our now 3 dogs, golf, softball and hang with friends.
Amelia Gazlay
It is my 2nd year assistant coaching JO Volleyball. I grew up playing volleyball in elementary and middle school but they did not have a team in high school so I opted to focus on swimming instead. Throughout high school and into college I coached many young athletes to learn the fundamentals of swimming. I love seeing our players grow and develop their skills over the course of the season. My family and I love to travel, we visited Montana this summer. I look forward to visiting all 50 states. I have only 4 states left to go! I look forward to the fun year ahead! Go Irish!
Jodi Ciemny
My name is Jodi Ciemny, I’ve played volleyball at various competitive levels throughout my life. I’ve assisted in the Rosemount in house program, the Rosemount boys volleyball and collected stats for both the club and high school environments. Bottom line – I love the game and working within a team to build on developed strengths! In my free time I enjoy being with family and friends, reading, and walking my dog buddy.
Mary Corwin
I have coached a variety of RAAA sports for the past 11 years, including volleyball for the last 2 years. I played volleyball in high school and several sand leagues later in life. I love to coach and see these young players understand the sport and succeed.
Kailee Stiff
My name is Kailee and this is my second year coaching at Irish Elite! I have been coaching volleyball for 7 years and have been playing since I was 12! In my free time I enjoy spending time with my friends, family and 3 dogs, exercising, cooking and planning my wedding! My favorite thing about coaching volleyball is having
the opportunity to an encouraging, challenging, and positively
influential character in the players volleyball careers!
Brycelyn Paquette
I am a recent college graduate from Baylor University. I have 8+ years of playing experience, which includes being a Captain at Apple Valley High School. This will be my first season as a coach, and I am extremely excited!! I have led summer youth training camps and look forward to applying my love for volleyball into
coaching. In my free time, I love to read, travel, and enjoy time with my family.
Jillian Palazzo
Jillian Palazzo is a Rosemount Irish JO Coach and Program Director and has been with the program since 2019. She has completed several training and certifications for coaching youth players on and off the court. Jillian is a homeschool mom of 4 and has always enjoyed coaching and mentoring kids.
Courtney Mike
Courtney Mike has been with Rosemount Irish Volleyball since 2014. She has coached the 14-1s and for the past 2 years has been running the skills sessions for all of the teams. Courtney is the Assistant Varsity coach at Rosemount High School. This is Courtney’s 13th year coaching overall. She enjoys teaching the
players not only volleyball skills, but how to be a team player, helping them build confidence and have fun with the game. On the rare occasion Courtney is not in the gym, she likes to spend time with her husband, family, her dog and being outside.
Angela Leach:
I’m a mom of three girls. I have a senior and a sophomore at Rosemount High School, and Elaina is a 7th grader at Valley Middle. I am engaged, my fiance’s son is a 4th grader at Cannon River Stem School. We live on the far southwestern side of Rosemount (sometimes called the Bermuda Triangle/Valley Park) and I am self employed and work in Apple Valley. I was born and raised in a small town in south central South Dakota and grew up playing volleyball, basketball and participating in track & field. After injuries made me miss all sports my senior year I went on and played volleyball and basketball at a junior college in southern Minnesota and I coached 13’s JO volleyball during that time as well. More recently, here at RAAA, I helped coach two seasons of my sophomore daughter’s teams when she was younger. I still play volleyball on a league in Apple Valley with friends on Thursday nights but that’s about the only thing I have time to do for myself. I am known for taking fast and furious road-trips and being an open book with good listening ears. I look forward to coaching your daughters, helping them grow and learn the game, and hopefully have some fun and make good memories while doing so!
Mandi Ison
My name is Mandi Ison. My husband and I live in Rosemount. We have 7 kids. Ages 17,15,12,12,11,7 and 6. We have homeschooled for 6 years but this year we have kids all over! 2 at Eagan High school, 2 at FIT Academy, 1 at Heritage Lutheran and 2 homeschooled. Our family has been licensed for foster care for 6 years. We have adopted 2 kiddos from care. I’m a PCA for one of our kiddos. We also do foster care for No Dogs Left Behind. We’ve had around 30 dogs we’ve helped throughout the years. Our family attends Homestead Community church in Farmington. For 3 years I’ve helped coordinate a Loaves of Fish site in Farmington. I love to help and serve communities and now I’m joining the JO board and co-coaching the 13-2’s volleyball team! I was born in Winona MN and grew up in Eagan. I played many sports including soccer,softball and volley ball. I don’t have a lot of time to have hobbies but I love to read, spending time with friends and taking care of our dogs, ducks and chickens. I’m excited to connect with the girls and further their love of volleyball as well as help them with confidence building skills and friendships on the team.
Ariel Behnke – SAQ Trainer
I currently work at Life Time as a trainer and have been for over 4 years. Currently I work with athletes of all ages working on strength and speed. I started playing volleyball at the age of 11 and played competitively for 11 years. I got the chance to play at all levels; fall league, club, high school, and a year at college. I loved getting to know new people and getting to play a sport that I loved. I loved getting to travel and stay at hotels with my friends and family. Looking back at it now I love all the lessons that I learned about perseverance and not giving up when things got hard or did not go your way. I do get to apply those lessons every day at work and keep teaching that to other people. Life will always have barriers of why not or how much easier it is to stay home, but it’s when we get to the building that change happens- in the mind, heart, and the physical body. Currently, when I am not at work I spend my time training myself. I just completed my first Ironman in September. I also love to mountain bike and read a good book. If I can be outside you betcha I am!
Amber Johnson:
I live in Eagan with my husband, two daughters and our puppy. I love to spend time with family, play card games, take trips to Schulze Beach, the cabin up north, paddle board and play volleyball. I am a middle school teacher in Apple Valley. I grew up playing a variety of sports, volleyball has always been my favorite! I was the libero for my team in college, I still play weekly, year round and have been coaching for 20 years. My favorite part about volleyball is that it is a team sport that can be played lifelong. I love to encourage others, help develop and fine tune skills, and share a passion for the game!