William & Mary head field hockey coach Tess Ellis announced the hiring of Jacki Bolt as an assistant coach today, completing her staff heading into the spring training season. Bolt will assist with all aspects of running the Tribe's nationally-recognized field hockey program, in administration, recruiting, and on-the-field coaching where she'll take personal charge of goalkeeper development.
"I am very excited to welcome Jacki and her family to our field hockey family here at W&M," said Ellis. "Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching Jacki grow from a collegiate player into a very well respected coach among her peers. New hires bring a new level of excitement and experience to the practice and playing field, and our young defense is looking forward to working with Jacki and continuing to develop our program into one of the strongest in the conference."
Bolt comes to W&M after spending the past five years at Liberty, helping start the Flames program from scratch. She served the Flames as recruiting coordinator and goalkeepers coach, and helped Liberty win three conference titles while earning two NCAA Tournament bids and a top-15 national ranking. Her players earned a pair of top-three national rankings in goals-against average, as well as 19 shutouts and a pair of all-region honors. Bolt also served as a Site Director and Head Coach in the USA Field Hockey Futures program from 2011-14, helping training and select athletes for the USA U-21 and under teams. In 2015, she was invited to serve as a Presenter of goalkeeping coaching strategies at the USA Field Hockey Coaching Clinic. Bolt is a certified NFHCA coach, and also holds a Level II Coaching Certification from USA Field Hockey.
Prior to joining the Flames, Bolt was a standout goalie at Richmond who graduated third all-time in career GAA. She had six shutouts during her senior season en route to the Atlantic-10 title and NCAA Tournament, both the second championship performances of her career. Bolt also earned three NFHCA All-Academic squad mentions before graduating in 2010 with a B.A. cum laude in both Leadership Studies and Journalism, while minoring in Studio Art. She then earned her Master's degree in Theology from Liberty in 2014. Bolt and her husband, Jordan, currently reside in Yorktown.
