Annemarie Hickey is in her eighth season on the Wisconsin staff. The former Badger defensive standout and captain returned to the program in 2017 as the team’s technical coordinator, was named assistant coach and director of scouting and player development in 2022.
“First of all, being a former player, Annemarie knows the program and the staff," said head coach Kelly Sheffield. "Secondly, she has a great passion, skill set, knowledge, and necessary experience for this position. Advances in video and statistical technology have really had an impact in our sport. It’s great that our administration shares the same vision on the importance of having someone on staff that is dedicated to this and can keep up with the advancement of these technologies.”
Leading with innovation
Hickey is responsible for data collection and analysis, developing game plans for all opponents, and live-coding matches while providing in-game tactical adjustment. She utilizes cutting-edge statistical analysis from practice and match play to identify areas for team and individual player improvement. Hickey assists in a coaching capacity on-court during practices for small-group tutoring and position training. She’s a diligent performance analyst with five years of experience in organizing dashboards, reports, and data collection.
From Madison to the world's stage
Hickey has worked with USA Volleyball indoor national teams serving in various capacities. She has provided Olympic-level insights and trends, built custom dashboards to enable coaches the ability to manage interests and planning by monitoring and collecting performance data as well as athlete tracking, and conducting in-depth analyses of the world’s top teams. Hickey provided detailed reports prior to matches with key metrics, in addition to capturing and distributing video footage throughout tournaments for USAV staff.
Award winner
Hickey was the only person in her role to be recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Thirty Under 30 class of 2022 for her hard work, passion for teaching and growing the game.
Hickey was a four-year letter winner for the Badgers from 2010-13. She served as a team tri-captain in 2013, aiding UW to an appearance in the NCAA championship match. Hickey ranks third on Wisconsin’s career digs record list with 1,849 digs and tied for second in career average digs with 3.98 digs per set. In 2013, Hickey became the first Badger to win the “Bring-It!” Award, which is one of only two accolades voted on by members of the Wisconsin volleyball program and awarded at the end of each season, honoring the player that best embodies the “Bring It!” attitude, this award has grown to be the most prestigious honor of Badger Volleyball.
She graduated from UW in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and spent the 2014-15 season as the Badgers’ volunteer assistant coach, before transitioning into the technical coordinator role.
