New Assistant Volleyball Coach Brings Wealth of Experience
Miami Dade College’s newest Assistant Volleyball Coach, Kelly Dantas-McFarlane, brings a plethora of volleyball experience to the Lady Sharks this upcoming season.
A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dantas-McFarlane had an active lifestyle as a youngster, participating in sports like swimming and basketball. She started playing volleyball at the age of 13 and stuck to it.
Two years later, in 1995, Dantas-McFarlane decided to join her high school volleyball team. Soon many opportunities came for the six-foot, 15-year-old.
One year later, she was 6-foot-4.
“I remember in one year I had a growth span,” said Dantas-McFarlane. “It was crazy.”
In 2001, Dantas-McFarlane moved to Miami to play volleyball for Barry University as a middle blocker.
She came to the U.S. without knowing any English. It took her three months to understand what others were saying and about half a year to start speaking English.
“I felt lonely at times,” Dantas-McFarlane said. “English wasn’t my first language, so to read, it would take me like a whole day because I would have to translate everything.”
Dantas-McFarlane aided the Buccaneers on their path to win the DII National Championship in 2004.
She also overcame her difficulty with English, earning her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Barry University in 2004 and her master’s degree in movement science, also from Barry in 2006.
After earning her master’s degree, Dantas-McFarlane moved to Seattle, Washington and worked as an exercise specialist in physical therapy. Two years later she moved back to Miami and started working at a summer camp for children.
Months after working at the summer camp, Dantas-MacFarlane got her first coaching job, helping 16-year-olds at a youth volleyball club named South Florida that no longer exists. She coached there until 2011.
In addition, Dantas-MacFarlane served as an assistant volleyball coach at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School from 2010 until 2015, for the boys and girls varsity teams.
In addition to MDC, Dantas-McFarlane is currently the director assistant at Rebelle Athletics a volleyball skills training program.
“She brings experience both from a coaching perspective and a players perspective,” said Lady Sharks Head Volleyball Coach, Origenes “Kiko” Benoit. “She is able to help the kids because she has been in their situation before by playing at Barry [University] and with the Brazilian National team.”
