Two decades ago, some of volleyball’s most accomplished coaches trekked to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, a small town a stone’s throw from the Minnesota border, to recruit one the nation’s best high school athletes. They sat in Meredith Nelson’s living room and made their cases, bringing big-time volleyball to the smallest of settings.
Though they came to recruit one member of the family, they inspired another. Younger brother Anders Nelson hung on their every word. He answered the phone when they called and assured them that, absolutely, his sister would love to talk—even as she waved him off, weary of the attention. He loved every minute of it, picking the brains of people who mentored national volleyball champions, All-Americans and Olympians. He wanted his chance at that world.
It didn’t matter that Nelson would travel a more prosaic path than his sister, who ultimately stayed close to home as an All-American at the University of Minnesota. He also attended Minnesota, becoming a student-manager for the Gophers, but he eventually transferred to Ball State to play Division I men’s volleyball. Later on, he coached high schoolers in Muncie, Indiana, then helped the University of Kentucky win the SEC’s first national championship. The twists and turns never bothered him. He never doubted his destination.
At Vanderbilt, he has arrived.
The first head coach of a new era, Nelson is relaunching a program that had been dormant since before he was born. But he’s been preparing for such a build for almost as long. Ever since his introduction to volleyball, he’d felt called to coach. He learned to help athletes reach their goals and climb still higher. And while it may be less than a year since Vanderbilt announced volleyball’s return, he is the reason the program is already the work of a lifetime.
“I believe a college athletic career is so sacred and special—my career gave me so much and gave my sister so much,” Nelson said. “The coolest part of coaching is being a small part of that journey for someone and trying to make it the best four years of an athlete’s life up to that point.
“A student-athlete’s college years are transformative years, so getting to be a piece of that and facilitating growth and development throughout those years makes coaching, in my opinion, the most rewarding job there is.”
The Road Less Taken
Like many small-town kids who show natural athleticism, Nelson played a sport for every season…