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With her team of coaches firmly established, Kelsey will rely on them not only on the court, but also for instilling in her players a sense of community through volunteer work. Habitat for Humanity is one organization she's partial to. After experiencing the adrenaline rush of working on an all-women's Habitat con- struction team during her time as an assistant coach and recruit- ing coordinator at the University of Evansville in Indiana, she's committed to pursuing opportunities with the organization in the Madison area. "I just pulled my hard hat out the other day," she recounts with " " a laugh. "When I first [worked with] Habitat I remember look- ing around and thinking, 'there's women throwing hammers and cutting and measuring—they're building a house! Talk about girl power!'" "You always have to do different things to stayfresh, passionate. to stay Since arriving in Madison last spring Kelsey has had ample oppor- tunities to get involved in volunteer and charity organizations and only wishes there were more hours in the day to fulfill those goals. From a golf outing with Easter Seals to checking out the programs for young kids and aspiring athletes at the Goodman Community Center, she's excited about the community she's now calling home. With the start of the Badger women's basketball season fast ap- proaching, Kelsey intends to help coordinate programs that empha- size elementary school education and pair them with home games. Her desire to develop her players off the basketball court as well as on encapsulates what truly makes her tick. "I want them all to leave here better people than how they first came in. I'm talking academically, socially and athletically—all the areas in which you grow and develop in college," she says. "You want to tell yourself when you're done [with school] that if you could go back and do it all over again, you absolutely would because you loved it that much," she continues. "Everyone should feel that way about their university. I tell that to kids all the time when I recruit—you go there because you want to be at that institu- tion. Not because it's popular or because a certain coach is there." That's exactly how Kelsey found herself here. While attaining a head coaching position was a career dream for her, UW-Madison was a place she wanted to be. And she plans to make the most of being at an institution like this. The first home football game found her out in the stands along with her assistant coaches hooting and hollering with the crowd of crazed Badger fans. "You bet we [wanted to see] 'Jump Around,'" she says. "I've never seen such crowd interaction during a game and such amazing choreography with the cheers. It just blew me away!" It's no surprise that in only a few months Kelsey has embraced not only the full UW-Madison experience but also a life beyond the intense world on the Kohl Center basketball court. "You always have to do different things to stay fresh, to stay pas- sionate," Kelsey says. Both on the court and off, Kelsey is ready to show what it means to live by those words every step of the way. ••• October 2011 bravamagazine.com 45