tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61112282608753050282024-03-19T12:11:30.735-07:00 Licking Summer Camps Presents: HOMETOWN TEAM OF THE WEEKA special high school volleyball team honored weekly by Licking Summer Camps. High School activities are a valued cornerstone for the foundation of our education system, overseen by hardworking and often unknown hero-coaches. We will tell their stories. Each week we will feature another outstanding program from throughout the Midwest.
Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-27437512528879764992018-10-28T19:49:00.004-07:002018-10-30T12:30:04.130-07:00Hesston, KS<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> At the net</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: black; line-height: 20.7px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> T</span></span></i></b><span style="color: black; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">ake a map of the United States and place it on a flat surface, face up. Fold in half by pulling the right hand side over to match up to the left edge – east to west. Then take the bottom of the map and fold to line up with the top edge – south to north. Open the map and the folds will intersect in the small Kansas town of Hesston. If you have been looking for the elusive “Middle America,” here it is.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The origin of the name of Kansas derives from a Sioux word meaning "people of the south wind." Now, how cool is that? A much needed and welcome boost to a state that needs all the help it can get when it comes to the “cool factor”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most western travelers view Kansas as a seven hour torturous boor that must be endured to reach the scenic Rockies. I, however, digress. Kansas has gotten a bad rap. I prepare for a trip across its prairie with anticipation. I find this drive I have made numerous times to be therapeutically relaxing with its tediousness of sameness. I have learned the landmarks, the towns that pop up from the flatness like an oasis, and when to anticipate the lonely stretches of openness so grand it leaves me with a calmness that I have grown to enjoy. The land is stark but the repetition for one traversing it is reassuring. The simplicity of this route requires developing a taste for its remoteness, but when acquired, the trip has become for me, quite scenic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As harried 21st century creatures we instinctively retreat to our small town roots in search of sanctuary from the craziness too many of us have hypnotically fallen into. However, in Hesston, that all changed two and one half years ago when big city terror invaded the tranquil shield the citizens here had come to expect - as impending as a new day’s sunrise. Horrific and senseless multiple homicides had occurred at a local factory. It was a definitive town changing moment, an innocence lost forever. Hesston had been a burg where parents didn’t worry about where their children were or what they were doing as long as they made it home for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coach Jason Peters</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> On February 25, 2016, Cedrick Ford, a long time factory worker at Hesston’s largest employer, Excel Industries, took the lives of four co-workers and injured 14 others, in a shooting that the locals have never been able to give rationale to. From all accounts of his fellow work associates, Ford was well-liked and a hard worker. No motive. No political agenda. Immediate reaction of the town to the shooting was one of shock and confusion, not anger and retribution. Admirably, the town of 3800 came together in its collective compassion and grief.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hesston is predominantly a Mennonite town, but not Amish, which is a distant relative branch of the church that shuns modern society. There have been many schisms in the Mennonite church since its founding in the 16th century. The branch that calls Hesston home lives a lifestyle and dresses in a way that is indistinguishable from secular American culture. The local church, since 1909, has hosted a two year school built on its teachings. Hesston College has an enrollment of 400 students representing 30 states and 15 foreign countries.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the church’s key tenants is pacifism, they don’t condone violence. At the time of the shooting, Excel Industries employed 1,000 people. Almost everyone in Hesston has a connection to the factory. The result of the shootings created a theological dilemma for the community. When good runs head on into evil; comforting answers can be elusive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Practice announcements</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The Swathers are coming off another record last season fall, finishing with a record of 40-5. They set a school record for most wins in a season, claimed a third place finish in last November’s state tournament, and was a state finals qualifier for the 4th straight year. They ground out a 9-1 mark in the very competitive Central Kansas League. They also won two regular-season tournaments. They have won at least 30 matches a season since 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With four regulars returning for the 2018 season, a first state championship is not a distorted reach for the 2018 Swathers, in fact, it is a very doable goal. Coach Peters takes all of his team’s success in stride.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When a coach is locked in to his craft, in a zone, as they say, as Peters is now, the focus becomes razor sharp. You can never get enough of it, there's no grind to it. Time slows and before you know it, practice is over. And then it is game day. And before you know it, the game is over. And then the season is over. And now the calendar says it is time to get ready for next year. It is a success inspired Zen state of confidence for a coach in charge of a program that hammers out one record setting season after another. Peters is today in that zone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is the last day of summer, Labor Day 2018. Swimming pools and barbecues are on the calendar for most residents of Hesston seeking one final summer blast, but not for the volleyball players now responding to the whistle of Coach Peters. The team has started the year with 10 wins in their first 12 matches. Tomorrow evening they have a big match with Cheney in a contest to be held at nearby Hillsboro.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">The intensity of the holiday workout mirrors the magnitude of tomorrow’s match. At 3:30 pm sharp Peters blows his whistle and 35 girls scramble to a set position on the floor to </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">begin warmups. Peters quizzes them as they quietly stretch. “We really want to emphasize serving tomorrow,” he announces to his athletes. “When are the three times we want to go conservative on our serve, make sure we get it in?” he asks. “After a timeout,” “Correct, give me another.” “Your first serve after you enter,” is the response from within the circle of girls. “Correct, and the third.” “On match point,” several players shout in unison. “Correct,” Peters says. “Other than those three let’s get aggressive tomorrow night and look for some aces.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instead of intimidation, Peters utilizes a quiet emphasis on what he considers the proper procedures to build a championship program. He is meticulous in all he does. Certainly he thinks winning is worth the effort. But victories <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background: rgb(110, 161, 204); border: 1px solid rgb(0, 67, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: white; float: left; margin-right: 1em; padding: 5px; position: relative;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Fundamentals</td></tr>
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come as a result of solid preparation, not a moment's hysteria. But this low-key approach would not count for much if Peters’ players looked on him as some sort of pseudo-babysitter, lacking with passion. Senior captain <b>Rylie Schilling</b> is a four year varsity player who can verify the coach can jerk an errant player back in line with a speed that Bobby Knight would appreciate, while not raising his voice. “He is not a yeller,” she says. “But we know when he is not satisfied with an outcome.” Peters has made such accountability a cornerstone for his program. “There are always consequences for action(s). They need to learn that now because it will be that way all of their lives,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My first couple of years as head coach,” Peters recalls, “were pretty average, around .500. Since then we have done pretty well.” The unpretentious coach has done pretty well to the tune of a career mark 334-153.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span>Peters enters his 14<sup>th</sup> year as head coach. He interned his first three years as an assistant on teams that qualified twice for the state tournament. “I learned a lot from (Head) Coach (Heather) Ferralez. She has a daughter (Harley) that is a freshman player for us and is in our varsity rotation. Coach Ferralez was our junior high coach the past two seasons as well.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peters spends his work days before afternoon practice as a full time member of the Hesston High math department. “I student taught here,” says the graduate of nearby Bethel College who grew up in Goessel, 15 miles from Hesston. “They hired me and I have been here ever since.” Would you ever leave, I ask the married father of two daughters, seven and three year old? “I don’t see why,” he shrugs, “but you never know. I have a very good situation here, comfortable but challenging,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> A coach of high school girls is wise to understand that often solid player-coach relationships are built more on what a coach does not say more than what he does. Peters has figured this out. The Swathers senior captains relate to me t hat Peters doesn't over coach, in essence talking them to death, so when he does talk, he means it—and they listen. “He is low key,” says senior <b>Jules Toews.</b> “And is so organized,” she says with a laugh. “He even schedules extra time for our bus trips just in case we break down,”<b> Jada Mininger</b> says, with a shake of her head. All three say they appreciate the consistency they have grown to expect in the Swather program. “He gives us a lot of feedback,” says Toews. “If we screw up,” says Mininger, “it is our own fault. Coach’s expectations are always clear. And he stays calm. No matter what is happening on the floor, you can look over and coach is just standing there telling us to settle down, everything is ok.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black;">Rylie Schiling</span></b><span style="color: black;"> is a four year varsity regular. In her first three seasons her team has finished in third place twice and second place once in the state tournament. This year’s goal is obvious. “We need to win state this year,” she says.” We are working on a lot of different combinations right now. We are getting used to our new players and our roles.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">“We lost three really good players to graduation from last year, “says Coach Peters. “Three were all state, one was state player of the year and all three are now playing in college. That is a lot of talent for a small school to lose,” he states. “Last year we didn’t really sub much. This year is different. Right now we have a rotation of 12. It is a lot of pieces to fit together. The jury is still out on this team, but we do have potential, just need to continue to work hard.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> All three captains do not hesitate with a strong positive endorsement when asked to rate their hometown. Their body language says they are sincere. Towes and Mininger have families that go back at least three generations in Hesston. Schilling moved to the area as a preschooler when her father became the volleyball coach at nearby Bethel College. “I love it here,” says Mininger. Toews concurs, “It is just a very nice place to live. I might move away for college but my plans are definitely too someday move back here.” The town gets stereotyped, they all three agree. “We are known as a Mennonite town and we are. All three of us,” says Mininger, “our families are all Mennonite. Many times people don’t understand what that means." Toews says that outsiders read more into the religious affiliation of the community than they should. “We have other religions here,” she says.” It really doesn’t make a difference in our lives outside of school.” Mininger can set the ill-informed straight quickly. “When we go outside the area,” she says, "People ask if we are Amish and ride in horse drawn wagons since we are from Hesston. I say, do you see anyone named Yoder here?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I drive around this small town I am quickly struck by its neatness; one tidy and well cared for house after another, street after street of well landscaped properties. There is no over the top subdivision to separate the town’s haves from the have nots. Maybe the locals are all have “enoughs?” No exclusive gated areas, just middle class, no frills, down-to-earth domiciles, a practical town for practical people. In the real estate business, my wife informs me, they call it pride of ownership.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> So how do you explain something as horrific as the Excel factory murders having occurred in such a pristine area? You can’t, the three senior captains tell me. “It was horrible,” says Schiling. The murders took place at 5 pm, so with the exception of a few after school practices, the school schedule was not interrupted. But the resulting trauma cut to the bone, the town went into a collective shock. “A lot of our classmates,” Toews says, “have parents who are policemen and it really affected them. The day after was very eerie here at school. It was overcast and wet all day. It was almost like we were on a movie set of a horror movie. Everyone was just walking around saying did this really happen? But it did.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It has been said that when a blind person carries a crippled person who can see, both of them get where they're going. That is what has happened here in the middle of the Kansas prairie. This community depends on each member to regain the collective strength needed to persevere. It is an ongoing process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When writing about unfathomable pain such as that inflicted by the Excel killings onto the citizens of Hesston, the over use of colorful adjectives falls flat. Small towns, as Hesston has learned, in this day and age are not immune to horrific acts of violence. In fact, these types of small town killings happen so often today that we tend to underestimate the trauma they induce, until it happens to your small town. Has the innocence died, I ask? “It has, in some ways,” says Toews. “But in some ways it has brought us more together. This was always a tight- knit community, but since that day, I feel we care for each other even more, take care of others, don't take for granted what we have here because it can all disappear in a second. This school is good in supporting each other. I think even more so since that day."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I ostensibly came to Hesston to document the prowess of its successful high school volleyball team. That is the cover I use each week to justify this two month on the road journey. Instead, my secret intent is to dissect a community, dig into what it means to live “here.” For an outsider like me, peeking in, the aftermath of tragedy and how the community chooses to react is the fastest vehicle to reach this destination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Hesston High School has a strong tradition in athletics and more success is anticipated for this fall. The boys cross country team finished last season as 11th in the state. The football team took second in the state two years ago and returns 14 starters from last year's 8 win team and the girls’ tennis team will be seeking its second state title in the last four years. Throw in volleyball and a lot of civic pride chest puffing is expected in Hesston's immediate future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ty Rhodes in his 19th year of working in public education, the last 18 spent at Hesston High School. "The first 11 years here I was the boys' basketball coach. I spent two years as Athletic Director, one year overlapping my time as coach. This is my 7th year as Principal."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rhodes grew up as a basketball star at Winfield, KS High School. He spent two years playing for Coach Randy Smithson at Butler County Community College and then followed Smithson to Wichita State University where he played two years of Division I basketball.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rhodes is proud of the across the board achievements of his school. "Our athletic teams are very successful, but so are non-athletic activities. We really push participation. We have over 100 students involved in our Future Business Leaders of America club," he states as an example of a diversified student body. "We don't want our kids specializing," he says. "There is too much of that these days. Our coaches, sponsors and directors are good about supporting each other. They don't want the student caught in the middle. The best interest of the child is always going to be more important than a particular teams’ success."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lanky 6'6" principal remembers clearly the day that changed the community forever. "I had just gotten home," he recalls, "when I had a call from the Superintendent; active shooter at Excel. We went into lockdown right away with the after school practices and activities. None of our students were ever in immediate danger, that afternoon. It was all over very quickly, but the fallout from the emotional side was intense and maybe never will completely heal."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The collateral damage was wide spread. "For example," Rhodes says, "my secretary right here," as he motions with his right hand indicating through his office window the woman in the outer office. "Her husband is the police chief. He is the one who shot the shooter."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The match with Cheney lives up to the pregame expectations. Two years ago Hesston knocked off Cheney in the state semifinals. Last fall the Cardinals returned the favor, defeating the Swathers in a semifinal battle. Hesston would eventually at last fall's Class 3A state tournament finish third while Cheney would bring home second place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The level of play throughout the evening was very high in both effort and skill. The crowd is large and engaged. The attendees are a diverse bunch with good representation from students to parents to local boosters of the home town team. On the plains of central Kansas, they appreciate good high school volleyball.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As promised, Peters uses a 12 player rotation as Swathers spend the evening pin balling from the bench to the court and back at a head spinning pace. The lineup incorporates five seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. Cheney has a very sound team, indicative to their recent state performances, but on this night, Hesston is clearly the superior club.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With 6'1" senior Schilling, 5'11 senior Mininger, and 5'11 junior Talby Duerksen controlling the net and 5' 10 junior Elise Kaiser holding down the back line along with senior Elizabeth Lumbreras and junior Emily Koehn, the Swathers cruise to a 25-17 first set win. With seven players 5'10 or taller, Hesston is constantly on attack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Cardinals are a much more settled team for the second set, prevailing 21-25. Coach Peters reminds his team during the break between the second and game deciding third set to continue the attack on offense but a more focused attention to their defensive movements and anticipation is needed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The rubber set is all Hesston. Their experience shows as the Swathers take control early, limit their mistakes on the back row and play very sound all over the floor defense, to win going away, 25-18.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steadfast in his coaching beliefs, non-negotiable with standards of conduct, with lot of confidence building calm to settle the teenage girls in his charge, the play-it-close-to-the-vest, always stoic Peters is asked before his team’s Labor Day workout if this is the group that will finally bring back the top prize in November. He shrugs his shoulders and blows his whistle. The BBQ might be hot and the pool waters cool, but on this Labor Day in Hesston, KS, it is time to practice. </span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-63852003568262716562018-10-27T20:24:00.004-07:002018-10-31T17:21:49.859-07:00North Little Rock, AR<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Note: for a more in depth look at the historical impact of the Little Rock public schools, see my other blog: https://rollingdownhwy83.blogspot.com/2018/10/little-rock-1957-and-jefferson-street_30.html</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I
am in Bentonville, AR, home of the original Walmart store and still home to the
families of the founders and the world wide headquarters of the giant retailer. The next three days the local
high school will host the Class 6A state girls’ volleyball tournament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Pre-Game Introductions</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Leslie
Joshua-Johnson is the coach of North Little Rock’s volleyball team. She has
become a reluctant pied piper for volleyball in a school and an area that has
shown little past interest in the sport. Fayetteville, AR High School Coach
Jesica Phelan has led her team to the last three large school state titles. She
is well aware of the program being built in the state’s capital. Phelan sees
Joshua-Jones as a tireless worker and spokesman for her program. “She is
everywhere,” says Phelan. “Any tournament I go to, school or club, she is there
with her girls. That is why they have gotten to the level they have. She works
really hard.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Joshua-Johnson
is a coach who leaves no doubt where she stands on any issue. What you see is
what you get.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A
1992 grad of North Little Rock High School, Joshua-Johnson has lived almost her
entire life in the community and doesn't ever see leaving. “To me, it has
always been home,” she states at the completion of a short practice in
preparation for her team’s quarterfinal matchup. After a light lunch at a
nearby Chick-fil-A, her team will in a few hours face the state’s top ranked
team, the Bentonville Tigers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Coach Joshua-Johnson</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“After
I graduated from North Little Rock,” the 45 year old tells me, “I went straight
to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock to get my degree in Elementary Education.
I also joined the Arkansas State National Guard. I finished up college and in 1998 I was hired to teach
first grade in North Little Rock." She held that position for 8 years.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2003, Joshua-Johnson National Guard unit was called up to active duty and sent to Iraq. "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was a surprise," the coach remembers. "They tell you to go, you go. I spent a year over there as a combat medic. When I came back, I went back to my first grade classroom."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2004, Joshua-Johnson was asked by her former high school volleyball coach to take over the program at Ridgeroad Middle School. "I became a career orientation teacher there for the 8th graders and I also started coaching volleyball, basketball and track. We had some very successful volleyball teams."</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2014, the volleyball job at NLR high school opened. Joshua-Johnson applied and was hired "I took over the
volleyball program here at the High School" she states. "I now teach two
classes as an English as a Second Language teacher.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now, with 20 years of teaching experience, Joshua-Johnson has along the way picked up a Masters Degree in Middle School Education and an endorsement certification for bi-lingual education.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Setting up the kill</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Joshua-Johnson starts training volleyball players in the 5th grade. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she moved to the high school, she became the beneficiary of her own labors. “When I came up here
five years ago, I had a lot of the kids I had started with as 5th graders and that helped,” the coach says. “The last of them have now gone
through the program here at NLR, so that has hurt some, be we are building some
interest. We have nine elementary schools in the district and we just finished
our second year on a league made up of just those nine. We had parents as
volunteer coaches and it was very successful, I was very pleased."</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Little
Rock, AR is a treasure trove for the historical study of the convergence of
public education in America and the civil rights movement. In the fight for
educational equality, the name Little Rock will forever resonate through
American history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
1957, after three years of foot dragging resistance by Southern states to
implementing the federal edict set forth by the landmark 1954 Brown v Topeka
Board of Education decision to fully integrate America’s public schools,
President Dwight Eisenhower took decisive action. Little Rock became ground
zero in the nation’s fight over school segregation. The country held its
collective breath as a colossal constitutional crisis of wills unfolded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
lines were clearly drawn: Federal army vs. State police, Federal law vs. State
law, Federal supremacy vs. State sovereignty, Jim Crow separate but equal vs.
the Constitutional guarantee that all men are created equal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRoL66uNpYo0H4TiuUqSnpvNpanwkjus43KGDwG7ZQzu_U4w1SyOWSoB1V_adJyhKrX4FdjL_ABkMVf7ocDANY_aCSJdSl6vhOsUEZxrvBhejJbhXstc3yiNN0NuOHX2AY90wMpN-GranK/s1600/litlrck2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="250" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRoL66uNpYo0H4TiuUqSnpvNpanwkjus43KGDwG7ZQzu_U4w1SyOWSoB1V_adJyhKrX4FdjL_ABkMVf7ocDANY_aCSJdSl6vhOsUEZxrvBhejJbhXstc3yiNN0NuOHX2AY90wMpN-GranK/s320/litlrck2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The Little Rock 9</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On
September 4, 1957, the first day of classes for the fall term, a white mob
formed a human wall to block the front entrance of Central High School and deny
entry to the black teenagers destined to be named by history as the Little Rock
Nine. The Arkansas National Guard, following orders of the Governor, stood
back-up to the increasingly violent mob. For their own safety, the nine black
students were hastily by their sponsors driven away from the school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Future
Supreme Court Judge Thurgood Marshall, on behalf of the students and the NAACP,
appealed to the federal district court to secure an injunction to stop the
governor’s denial of the students’ entry. Dr. Martin Luther King personally appealed
to President Eisenhower to intervene on behalf of the students. King warned the
President that if the state of Arkansas was allowed to defy federal law, the
cause of integration would be set back 50 years. Reluctantly, Eisenhower took
the politically unpopular step of agreeing with King and sent in the Army’s
101st Airborne Division to protect the students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On
September 23, 1957, the black students finally successfully entered the school.
In June, 1958, Ernest Green became the first African American to graduate from
Central High School.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
the end, the progressives won. The Governor temporarily backed down and Little
Rock Central High School was racially integrated. Under the heavy shadow of
Army bayonets, federal law held supreme; but the price was steep and the fight
was far from over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
August of the same year, only weeks before the start of the new school year,
Governor Faubus closed all four of Little Rock’s public high schools in an
attempt to derail segregation. The standoff did not last for long. In December
1959, the US Supreme Court ruled the state’s action unlawful and the now
desegregated Little Rock Central High School was reopened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCQ0VEUFrho1_GfedhBctxKrSj2Snntyx_7hJTvGANtXKt7laXiwqX8uoxbE4udJdPHuulyW4CFzHY8HlFXOFZtEgAfUZ6VGWQ7PDesUMgMkKQ-iVjUwWhTrFjuRv4eUK0Ayw5nDzzCkJ/s1600/1957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="1280" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCQ0VEUFrho1_GfedhBctxKrSj2Snntyx_7hJTvGANtXKt7laXiwqX8uoxbE4udJdPHuulyW4CFzHY8HlFXOFZtEgAfUZ6VGWQ7PDesUMgMkKQ-iVjUwWhTrFjuRv4eUK0Ayw5nDzzCkJ/s320/1957.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> 1957 LRC National Champions</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">Lost in history is the performance of the 1957 Little Rock Central football team. The all white squad was the pride of the segregated community. In the throes of a 35 game winning streak that spanned parts of four seasons, the Tigers finished the 1957 season with a 12-0 record. After the season, Little Rock Central was named by the Sporting News as the best high school football team in the nation. The high school national website, Rivals.com, recently named the 1957 Tigers as one of the top 25 teams in the history of high school football. They outscored their opponents by a whopping 444-64 margin. The Tigers were never challenged on the field. </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">The Tigers were so good their second string was recognized by many coaches in the state as the second best team in Arkansas. They took on all (white) comers. When the other high schools in the state couldn’t mount a challenge to Central, the Tigers of 1957 took to the road and beat the best teams from Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Kentucky. They often played to crowds larger than even the University of Arkansas Razorbacks of the day could muster. The No. 1 team in Kentucky, Tilghman High of Paducah, was steamrolled by the Little Rock Central juggernaut, 46-13. "The greatest high school football team I've ever seen," was the assessment of a stunned Tilghman coach Ralph McRight. So dominant were the Tigers that they punted only once during the 12 game season.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ralph Brodie was a star on the '57 team, He was a state track and field champion in the high hurdles and president of Central's student body. In the fall of 1957, he was interviewed by Mike Wallace on the CBS Evening News.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wallace: Would you say the sentiment [among students] is mostly toward integration or segregation?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brodie: We are going to have to have integration sometime, so we might as well have it now.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wallace: Would it make a big difference to you if you saw a white girl dating a Negro boy?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brodie: I believe it would.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wallace: Why?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIWTUD080cuSu0b_op13Vtw7hQeFFsTFIHj1mFK6-H2o3_FtkpY9goyewNdsetzMfRs7ycXsERK_xN5kfoe8MV5EyxphKkbcvRCHeSQKOCxREY1WgIXMn6_ozN7ivDWH3NU4n_ZATu98s/s1600/3c26829u-orvalfaubus+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #00774c; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="1600" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIWTUD080cuSu0b_op13Vtw7hQeFFsTFIHj1mFK6-H2o3_FtkpY9goyewNdsetzMfRs7ycXsERK_xN5kfoe8MV5EyxphKkbcvRCHeSQKOCxREY1WgIXMn6_ozN7ivDWH3NU4n_ZATu98s/s320/3c26829u-orvalfaubus+%25281%2529.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> AR Gov. Faubus</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brodie: I don't know. I just was brought up that way.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wallace: Do you think Negroes are equal in intelligence, and physically, to white people?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brodie: If they have had the same benefits and advantages, I think they're equally as smart.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the interview was aired, the organized segregationists of Little Rock were furious with the sellout by one of their own. Brodie received death threats.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">.</span></span><span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But the winds of change were now blowing - destined to soon reach gale force levels. Legendary Tiger's coach Wilson Matthews was gruff and crude, but also perceptive and pragmatic; he had glimpsed the future. Soon, he'd told his team, "there'll be black boys here so tall they can stand flat-footed and piss in a wagon bed, and you white boys won't even be team managers."</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Under the oversight of army helicopters and howitzer cannons, the 1957 Little Rock Central Tigers turned in what many experts to this day claim to be the most dominant season in state high school football history. However, even in a southern state crazy for high school football, they are today a mere historical footnote, mostly forgotten and overshadowed by nine lonely and scared teenagers seeking an education beyond the stranglehold of Jim Crow.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; padding: 4px; position: relative;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeexiFkkEkIdUnmSAHnzikUIisJXFogta_nIa3aPmCbYSrPGyAU_5h5jK5LKEG5xGCIRx2tUMB9tn0P6NDo3-GZK5vadmeecT2W3D3Xr85pWmTro7po6KVfdslFZx9VqRbY9iS6EpVLMW/s1600/little_rock_central_high_school_arkansas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #00774c; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeexiFkkEkIdUnmSAHnzikUIisJXFogta_nIa3aPmCbYSrPGyAU_5h5jK5LKEG5xGCIRx2tUMB9tn0P6NDo3-GZK5vadmeecT2W3D3Xr85pWmTro7po6KVfdslFZx9VqRbY9iS6EpVLMW/s320/little_rock_central_high_school_arkansas.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Little Rock Central High School</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite Governor Faubus decision to close all of the public high schools in Little Rock, at the time politically and morally just in the mind of the majority of white voters as preferable to allowing black and white children to sit together in the same classroom, he had no problem with Little Rock Central fielding a football team for the 1958 season. The bizarre setting of a high school with no students during the school day rolling out a nationally ranked football team every Friday night, left the rest of the state shaking its head and further weakening the governor's eroding public support .</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> F</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">aubus decreed not having a football team, would be "a cruel and unnecessary blow to the children." Evidently, the Governor did not view over 4,000 students in Little Rock, white and black, with no school to attend was not, "cruel and unnecessary." Game on!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After winning the first two games of 1958, stretching the winning streak to 35, the inevitable day arrived. New Orleans’ Istrouma High School stunned Central 42–0.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: start;" /></span>
<br />
<div style="background: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the 1958 season progressed, many of Coach Mathews’ stalwarts began to jump a sinking ship, enrolling in area high schools where they could both play football and earn a high school diploma. The winning streak and the days of an all-white Little Rock Central football team had both been laid to a permanent rest.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scipio
Jones High School, an all-black school serving the needs of black students in
North Little Rock remained open and segregated. Finally, in 1970, 16 years
after Brown v Board, the schools’ were fully desegregated. The former all black
high school was renamed Ole Main High School, their mascot became the Wildcats.
The former white high school was renamed Northeast High School, housing the
Chargers. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For the next 20 years the two schools were bitter rivals. In 1990,
due to lowered enrollment and financial difficulties, the School Board voted to
consolidate the two high schools into one. The former Northeast Chargers and
the Ole Main Wildcats became the hybrid North Little Rock Charging Wildcats.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoeKW6i1sdcER5K4W3CIlVsQ6xbg9F_egW5AMTaBVVA4JwuCe2DpWkwpFeWFkT9D6ywAS7a4taR-poh2ttQpiyHHlUeSvNz_5hyCz4LwXehoXbkzDw8i4abw10KNCnUr1HiWTd31Mjpb9F/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoeKW6i1sdcER5K4W3CIlVsQ6xbg9F_egW5AMTaBVVA4JwuCe2DpWkwpFeWFkT9D6ywAS7a4taR-poh2ttQpiyHHlUeSvNz_5hyCz4LwXehoXbkzDw8i4abw10KNCnUr1HiWTd31Mjpb9F/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Volleyball
coaches normally display a calmer sideline demeanor as opposed to their
basketball counterparts. NLR Coach Leslie Joshua-Johnson is an exception. A
whirlwind in a perpetual state of demonstrative movement, her chair during a
match always remains empty while she stalks the sidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">State action</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Charging Wildcats break from the gate in their opening set of the Class 6A
state tournament with the same fire and vigor as their coach, scoring the first
ten points before the Rogers Mounties finally tally a point to their side of
the scoreboard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
match is held at Bentonville High School’s modern and spacey new gymnasium.
Rogers is located just a strip mall or two up the road from the game site. The
match begins at 3 pm on a Tuesday afternoon and the Mounties have a whole
section of the south bleachers packed with 500 standing enthusiastic students.
By my count, North Little Rock has 9 parents, a bus driver, an administrator
and his wife to cheer them on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rogers
settles down after an early time out and slowly begins to chip away the deficit
but it is too little too late; NLR rolls to a 25-18 first set win. The Charging
Wildcats are not very big, only one player in their rotation of nine stands
over 5”10, but they make-up for their diminutive size with a constant attack
mode attitude. 5’6” sophomore Jada Lawson is all over the court on both offense
and defense. She never leaves the floor. Coach Joshua-Johnson sings the praises
of her as an up and coming star. “She can do it all. She is a ferocious hitter
from both the back and the front row. She is, for her size, outstanding at the
net.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She can play setter for us. She
covers the floor very well on defense and her best is yet to come. She is still
raw, just needs more court time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Set
two will prove to be Rogers’ most competitive of the evening. After taking a
6-1 lead, NLR’s attention span seems to fade. Rogers pulls within three, 17-14,
but two subsequent service errors are very costly. With overtime just one point
away and holding serve, the Mounties commit an unforced error and fall in game
two, 25-23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> vs. Rogers</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Arkansas
is one of a handful of states who have gone to a best of 5 set format for
girls’ volleyball. In the third set, Rogers takes its first lead of the match,
3-2. NLR remains calm and disciplined and Coach Joshua-Johnson’s crew responds
with an 8 point run behind the serving of senior Erin Butler and the strong net
play of Sophomore Aleya Kennedy. A last unforced miscue by Rogers ends the game
and match in the favor of NLR, 25-21.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior
Imani Jackson had a match-high 15 kills, while Jada Lawson added 9 and Erin
Butler 8. Libero Kaylan Armstrong contributed a match-high 22 digs, while
Butler and Lawson added 14 each. The team shows its collective intelligence
with a heady floor game throughout the match. North Little Rock improves its
record to 21-8.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After
the match, Joshua-Johnson says she is glad to have a state tournament game, and
all of the distractions that accompanies the experience, behind her young team.
“We were very up and down today. I think nerves were part of it, but at times
we looked good. Tomorrow, we had better be a notch higher.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Charging Wildcats win in the round of 16 earns them the right to face off at 3
pm tomorrow with the one of the stronger programs in the state, Bentonville.
The Tigers will be playing on their own home court and with the match being
held at the tail end of the school day, a large contingent of Bentonville
students are expected to be in supportive attendance. Coach Joshua-Johnson says
no problem. “We are used to being the underdog,” she says, with a slight hint
of slyness in her voice</span><br />
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc97820YCgVkvzmKBIv-PdBUygcTpR8mfHCObMzff-dLNiTdLj9DV3E9Z3OtPZgU19KngeyMonzXQkvHkXk22qOue3xGTz_XvsU6c-pOELnopffBSZsivn3OyHVnJzguX8pa1vmWxr8J-2/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc97820YCgVkvzmKBIv-PdBUygcTpR8mfHCObMzff-dLNiTdLj9DV3E9Z3OtPZgU19KngeyMonzXQkvHkXk22qOue3xGTz_XvsU6c-pOELnopffBSZsivn3OyHVnJzguX8pa1vmWxr8J-2/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Imani Jackson’s</b> family moved her
from Little Rock Central High School to begin her freshman year at NLR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She points to the better reputation North
has. “There was not the pride there (Central) that you find here. Also, more
drama at Central, more students wanting to be criminals, just around to cause
trouble, and the volleyball was not good. Nobody cared like they do here.”
Jackson is the only one of the four I speak with who has not lived her entire life
in North Little Rock. Three of the four have parents who graduated from NLRHS.
Their talk of legacy rings sincere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Double Block</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sophomore J<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ada Lawson</b> relates to the school’s
developing volleyball program. “It is a privilege to be on this team and with
Coach it don’t take much to get kicked off,” she says. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Senior </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Kaylan Armstrong</b></span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">quickly agrees. “Not much
at all, for sure. But I need that, in Junior High I was the bad kid. When Coach
got a hold of me, she gave me a reason to straighten up, volleyball and
(membership) to this team. In junior high, to fit in with my group, I had to be
a bad student, always in trouble. Now, I do what is right. I want to be a
dentist and to play volleyball I can’t be in trouble and have to keep my grades
up.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lawson,
only a sophomore with a very bright volleyball future ahead of her, appreciates
the opportunities and accepts responsibility for her own current and future
actions. “I can do it. I just have to stay focused and keep working, make good
decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing is easy for us and that
is okay. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It just makes us work harder.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Taylor Folsom</span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">started playing on
Joshua –Johnson’s club team, Rock City, in the 5th grade. “Everything I know
about volleyball, Coach has taught me,” she states. Folsom aspires to be a
Pediatric Physician.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All
four stress the pride athletics brings to the student body and community
support it cements. Last school year, the Charging Wildcats pulled off a
trifecta that had never happened in the state of Arkansas before; winning the
boys basketball, the girls’ basketball and the football state championships all
in the same school year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
effort was present and at times it looked possible for the upset to happen, but
in the end the Bentonville Tigers were just too good on this day for the
upstarts from North Little Rock, falling to the state’s top ranked team in
three straight sets,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZzcHLLvU74xH6Ua73HPTFb4Tc7muvkohdgFjy8DXadFh3qYusAx36gncWDhEaCiBtlKxiXlrxewmo9lRVHqQgSfl3RgfVmHjBSz8Nhwkv5l90MDgyaXVZjNUG_9PotESohT7iRr1iBeP/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="769" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZzcHLLvU74xH6Ua73HPTFb4Tc7muvkohdgFjy8DXadFh3qYusAx36gncWDhEaCiBtlKxiXlrxewmo9lRVHqQgSfl3RgfVmHjBSz8Nhwkv5l90MDgyaXVZjNUG_9PotESohT7iRr1iBeP/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Battle at the net</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Game
one proved to be NLR’s best effort on the day, leading throughout the first
half of the set. After a 16-16 deadlock, Bentonville’s size took over and they
edged ahead to win 25-22.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Set
number two had a more one sided feel to it. After scratching to a 7-5 lead, the
Charging Wildcats found themselves on the short end of a seven point Tiger run
propelling the home team to a 25-18, 2-0 set lead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For
their season to continue past this day, NLR would now need to win three
consecutive sets against the state’s top ranked team playing on their home
floor. Was not going to happen, but as could have been expected, no Joshua
–Johnson coached team was going to go down without taking a few good swings.
Still up and down the sideline encouraging her team, with a periodic
disapproving glance to an official, the coach drove her team hard. A 20-18 NLR
lead forced a Bentonville time out. It would prove to be the last positive
shift in momentum for this 2018 season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bentonville used two unforced NLR errors to cruise home, 25-22.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Freshman
Trinity Hamilton had 15 digs and 6 kills for Bentonville. Only standing a
slight 5’6”, she will be a talent to watch over the next three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> In game instruction</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After
meeting with her team one last time, Coach Joshua-Johnson summed up the season.
“Not happy right now, at all,” she said. “I thought we could have done better.
Next year is going to be a rebuilding year, for sure. But we are used to that.
We just have to keep working.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Joshua-Johnson
says she wants her kids to know up front that the bar is always going to be set
high and players should not shy from a challenge, but instead, embrace it. “I
don’t even bother to think about what can go wrong,” she says, “and I want our
players to feel the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
think too hard you worry and become afraid of the challenge you should be
looking forward to.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kaylan
Armstrong loves the can-do attitude of her teammates. “We are ready and send
it. We get that from coach. You got to learn how to take her because she is not
going to change, so you got to. But she thinks we should win every game and
will not make excuses when we do not. We are held accountable by her, for
sure.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jada Lawson speaks of the long time
relationships she has had with her teammates. “We know each other well. We
spend a lot of time together.” The sophomore says her teammates are her social
circle of friends. She also speaks of the accountability she is held to, no excuses
if she does not reach self-set goals. “At our school, if you want help, if you
want to do well, it is there but you have to go get it. Teachers will help, but
you have to be (self) motivated. And coach is good at keeping us all
motivated,” she says to the laughter of her teammates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Taylor
Folsom also speaks of the legacy at NLR. “My parents went to school here. We
don’t have that many new students moving in or students moving out. “ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
feels the diversity of NLR gives her a leg up in the real world. “We have a lot
of people here from different (backgrounds). The problem I see is with people
who never have experiences with people from different backgrounds. You don’t
know them and they don’t know you. Once you get to know people who are
different than you, you find out you are okay and they are okay. We are all
different, unique, but we are also all the same in so many ways,” she says of
the melting pot experience North Little Rock High School has provided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
dynamic of social change is not a long marathon; it is many short sprints, one
after another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-87880983380204160612018-10-17T17:46:00.000-07:002018-10-20T08:47:10.998-07:00Pleasant Hill, MO<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forty-nine year old Coach George Creason has been at the helm of
the Pleasant Hill volleyball program churning out one outstanding season after
another for the past 20 years. He never played high school volleyball because
it was not offered to boys in his hometown of Hannibal, MO, best known for its
most famous native son, the American writer and humorist, Mark Twain. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">Always on the Attack</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Pleasant Hill, MO High School Chicks (yes, the boys’ teams are
the Roosters) volleyball team have never been known over the years to cart home
a basket full of post-season individual honors. What they are known for is a
trophy case full of conference and district plaques – 10 district titles in the
last 20 years, plus six state final four trophies, the latest three; 2015, 2016
and 2017, in consecutive years. This year’s senior class has never known a high
school season to end anywhere short of the state tournament. In the past 20
years the 100 or so graduates of the Creason-led volleyball program have gone
on to do great things, but only four have played Division I college volleyball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Congregating in the Pleasant Hill high school gymnasium
on a late fall afternoon and after the completion of the team’s last
regular season practice of the year, Creason’s 29 players, grades 9-12, mingle
and enjoy hot pizza brought in to honor the group of four seniors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span>The coach and I discuss in order: the past, the present and the
future. Creason is a man of meticulous order, he thrives on it. He does not
like his world cluttered with unnecessariness. He has too much to do in his
already 80 hour work week for such frivolity. If it makes us better, we do
it, he explains. If not, we don’t. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Creason says he endured a few frustrating early coaching years as
he learned his craft. He now sees time management as the key to not only final
four appearances but for also preparing teenagers for the reality of
accountability that awaits them like a splash of cold water to the face in
their soon to be adult years. “I have high expectations and I expect us to be
on task when we are in the gym,” he declares.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach George Creason and <br />Asst Codi Winslow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Creason’s tone is a throwback many bemoan today we need more of.
As a society we have created for our children a sterile, structured environment
in which risking adversity is discouraged. In many ways, we have stifled
youthful creativeness. The American child of the new millennium is not
playing catch, hot box or Indian Ball in the back yard, with all the
inherent arguing over the ground rules unique to each yard, like kids use
to do. Today, the rules are made for them with a membership to a select team
playing under the formal rules and regulations of adult organized leagues; as
opposed to the impromptu neighborhood ball playing activities of past
generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Creason tells me he wants his players to know how to play as a team without him
dictating every move. “Our players over the years,” Creason says, “have been
mostly program players. We have had a few players who could get by just because
they had so much talent; but not many. We set clear expectations and then they
have to figure out how to meet our expectations, not the other way around. What
they learn by fitting into the program is how to keep moving forward, no matter
what. If we take a step back, we figure out why and then start moving forward
again. That is a life lesson; you fit into the group plan but you as an
individual are responsible for figuring out what you need to do to help the
team.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By eliminating the unnecessary, you allow the necessary to speak.
The pizza after the final practice, I am told by the players, is a long
standing tradition.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIID_3a9xe-mI84Z28hIULrJJKh83qu5MuATrVxKgfOr5PDbwlrIftwVV2rN_Exbxptws4X2-eTQ0QIyx24MoOv9EIKt-GtzM3TcPIxnQsAoAaXoG3dDOI97WSJ34G8GHqgjwv4yNp0dh-/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIID_3a9xe-mI84Z28hIULrJJKh83qu5MuATrVxKgfOr5PDbwlrIftwVV2rN_Exbxptws4X2-eTQ0QIyx24MoOv9EIKt-GtzM3TcPIxnQsAoAaXoG3dDOI97WSJ34G8GHqgjwv4yNp0dh-/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">George Creason wins as a volleyball coach for the same reason he
would win in any activity he decided to lead. Creason understands the
importance of “The Team.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The adults at the controls of high school athletics have a
responsibility to teach the young in their charge the value of being a good
teammate. If not, the huge amount of effort and resources taxpayers pour into
educational extra-curricular activities is a waste of time for the 90% who will
not play beyond the high school level and the 99.99% percent who will never
make a living competing as a professional. All, will at some point, often in
the peak years of life, have to walk away, even those with god-like talent, the
Michael Jordan types. Then what?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">After practice pizza</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A true “Team” has a common vision which, if brought to fruition,
creates a magical harmony with everyone involved pulling on the same rope, in
the same direction. You don't need to be best friends with every teammate. No
major life long bond is required for a team to drive together towards a common
goal. Attempting to force bonding on a diverse group, with multi-layers of
individual needs, is in the end, always futile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instead, the dynamic needed in any concoction that will produce
team success is for the whole to exceed the sum of the parts. Trust will fuel
the peeling away of the veneer levels of individual selfishness that many
times staggers the forward movement of a group. With its removal, the team is
born. Every championship team possesses it: trust in your own role, trust in
your teammates support and trust in your coaches’ ability to steer the team
through constant outside distractions and divisions. Like a parent setting the
family course, the coach needs the backing of all members. In
Pleasant Hill in 2018, Creason has backing community-wide, because he has
earned it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When it does all come together, when it clicks with all the stars
aligned, the beauty of the team emerges; the 1969 World Series winning Miracle
Mets, the 1980 Miracle on Ice Gold medal winning US Olympic Men’s Hockey team
or the 1983 Jim Valvano led NCAA Men's Basketball National Champion Wolfpack of
NC State - all famous feel good examples of the marvel of teamwork. Don’t ever
give up, don’t ever give in. In the end, history never immortalizes the
individual but instead, the ultimate champion, the team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="text-align: justify;">In the late summer of 1992, the small rural high school in
Smithton, MO needed a science teacher who was also certified to teach a
Physical Education class, maybe two. Whoever filled the slot had to also take
on the head coaching responsibility for the girls’ volleyball program. A more
accurate job description would have been to take on the whole program’s
coaching responsibility. The job posting failed to mention there was no
assistant coaching salary in the budget.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Science teachers in small rural schools are like a Coupe deVille
hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box - hard to find. The mandatory
volleyball coaching duty at Smithton in 1992 further discouraged what was
understandably already a short line of applicants. The Tigers had
never claimed a conference or a district title in volleyball. Support was nil,
interest amongst the 100 or so females of the school, even less. What was
needed was not a volunteer coach-who in their right mind would volunteer
to be put through such anguish-but instead, a conscripted one in
desperate need of a job. The district’s approach to would-be suitors was
simple, if you need a teaching job, you have got to take on volleyball, and
practice starts in a couple of weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reset to 1992: Smithton, meet your new volleyball coach, 24 year
old George Creason, a former college wrestler who had never played volleyball,
was not from the area and really at the time did not want to teach
science. But, Creason needed a job and Smithton needed a science teacher. Thus
was born a shotgun marriage of necessity and desperation, but certainly not one
of convenience. While the ink dried on the contract that day 25 years ago, it
is safe to say that neither side felt as if they had just won the lottery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I ask Creason how he prepared for his first professional job. “I
didn’t have much time,” he says. “My sister played college volleyball, so I was
not totally without any knowledge, but I was pretty close.” While earning his
Physical Education degree at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, Creason
had taken several classes under the school’s volleyball coach. He now knocked
on her door begging for any advice. “She helped me all she could,” the coach
remembers, “But there was only so much she could do in such a limited time.”</span></div>
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I offer Creason my sympathetic acknowledgement of what must have
been a nightmarish way to enter the world of coaching. Good thing, I
rationalize, that the Smithton community had to have low expectations of
what the new coach could do. He confirms that the team had a lot to learn so
they hired a coach that could learn right along with them. “But, you know, we
survived and we did okay,” Creason tells me.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> 2018 Seniors</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span>Creason claims that not knowing much about a sport as a young
coach is not always a negative. There is a syndrome in sports called 'paralysis
by analysis.' Many young coaches fall victim to it, often out of insecurity,
but Creason avoided that pitfall; he didn’t try to overcoach his early teams,
conceding he had not the knowledge to overcoach. However, he was not trapped by
a false sense of security, either. “I learned as we went, I admit. But, I don’t
care how long you have coached, how successful you have been, you must always
strive to improve, to learn more and to get better.” When the innerdrive that now
propels him dissipates, “I will be done,” he says. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"After four years,” Creason says, “I was ready to move on, I
had learned a lot.” Learned to a tune at Smithton, I would find out, of 85 wins
and 18 losses in four years with a group that nobody had wanted to coach. I
asked the obvious question, how did you pull off what sounds like a Hoosiers
type turn-around? “They learned to play and I learned to coach,” he says. The
final year of his four years at Smithton, 1997, this previous rag tag bunch of
four years prior, roared to 33 straight wins before finally tasting defeat in
the state championship match.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1998, Pleasant Hill was looking for a four headed applicant: a
head volleyball coach, an assistant wrestling coach, a physical education
teacher and a science teacher. Creason saw his name written all over the job
posting, the perfect candidate. “I wanted to get to a bigger school. I thought
Pleasant Hill would be a good fit.” It has been, for sure. When Creason
arrived, the Chicks volleyball program was competitive. Twenty years later,
they are a year after year powerhouse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For Creason, the school gym is his laboratory, his testing ground
for the phenomenal successful teams he has guided for the last two decades.
"I spend a lot time here in this gym," he admits. “We don’t talk much
about specific goals,” he says. “It all runs together after a while, anyway.”
With a Hall of Fame caliber record of 628-145, the tangible success of
Creason’s career is above reproach. But, as he says, you become numb to the
numbers until “it all runs together.” What stays distinctive, he says, is the
athlete, and that is where his laser sharp day to day focus is
squarely aimed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most of Creason’s players over the last 20 years, when they walk
across the spring graduation stage, have left volleyball in life’s rear-view
mirror. When the last ball of their fourth season hits the floor, the final
point now in the scorebook, most are done with the sport. What they will take
with them are not medals and trophies but the deposits they have made daily for
four years into a memory bank of their high school experiences. That is what
sticks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pleasant Hill is another of many small Midwestern towns that has
undergone a major reshaping in the last two decades. The once safe buffer from
urban sprawl of open farm fields are now swallowed up by the strip malls of
suburbia. As the inner core of the original suburbs that
surrounded Kansas City in the post-war boom years slide into urban neglect,
farther out, with the continued improvement of a system of outer belt roads,
towns like Pleasant Hill have transitioned from an agrarian based rural setting
to a bed-room community of urban commuters. </span></div>
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</span>Located at the intersection of Missouri highways 7 and 58,
Pleasant Hill is 20 miles from the Jackson County eastern suburbs and 40 miles
from downtown Kansas City.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Defensive Intensity</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The racial makeup of the city is overwhelmingly Caucasian, 95% as
of the 2010 census. With a student enrollment of 690, Pleasant Hill High School
offers a modern education in a setting just large enough to offer sufficient
social and academic options, but not so big as to lose
its small town community identity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pleasant Hill is not Mayberry, but it is not the Bronx Zoo,
either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
Living in a small town can be like living in a large family of somewhat
contentious relations. Growing up in a large city is more like being an only
child with lots of secrets. Small towns can suffocate or nurture; in essence
the best of fun times or the worst of awful times - and the flip can be as
sudden as a Missouri weather change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior Middle Hitter <b>Macey Barker</b> tells me she
appreciates the opportunities her lifelong home community has given her, but
she also is eager to test the waters of a bigger world. “I want to major in
pre-vet, see how that goes and then go from there. I will miss volleyball, for
sure. But I am sure I will find other ways (as outlets) for my time. But
playing volleyball all these years will always be with me, (part of) who I am
and I know that it has shaped my work ethic and that will help me my whole
life. So yes, I am glad I have played and all the effort and time has been
worth it, for sure.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior <b>Saylor Zurcher</b> is the only one of the four
volleyball playing seniors who has not lived her entire life in Pleasant Hill.
The “outsider” moved in as a second grader. “We have all grown up with each
other,” she says. Zurcher has missed her senior season due to a foot injury but
intends to continue playing volleyball next season for Baker University in
Ballwin, KS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">Student Body support</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior Defensive Specialist <b>Paige Zieman</b> has
lived in the area her entire life, but endured a major upheaval to her quaint
little world at the age of 12, when her mom remarried. She blended into a
family with four older step-sisters who all played Division I athletics. One
step-sister, Kindred Wesemann, who after her senior season playing
basketball for Kansas State University, won the NCAA women's
three-point shooting contest at the 2017 Final Four. She then, on national
television, topped the men’s winner, Peter Jok of Iowa, for the overall collegiate
three-point shooting title. While only worth 15 minutes of Sports Center
fame on the world of athletics' stage, Wesemann’s feat is locally another brick
in the wall of accomplishments for the first family of Chicks’ athletics. I ask
Zieman if she feels any pressure to live up to high expectations in the
presence of such an accomplished family of athletes. “No, I am not very good
and they know it and so do I,” she says with a giggle. (Coach Creason will
later tell me that Zieman is a solid contributor to his team and an unselfish
teammate, but is “realistic” about her talent, a refreshing occurrence from the
norm, he understates.) “I like sports,” the slightly built senior
says, “and I play three sports now. I don’t think I would have done as
well in high school classes as I have if I didn’t have the discipline my busy
schedule gives me. But, my goal is to get into the medical profession and I am
going to the University of Missouri next year. So I will need to spend a lot
more time on my studies.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior <b>Ana Hanes</b> is the only one of the seniors
who saw considerable court time before this season. She is a four year varsity
player and would like to see her career end with a fourth appearance in the
state final four, with one new twist, “this year,” she says with conviction,
“we need to win it.” At last year’s state tournament, Hanes set the state
record for kill percentage. The 5’10” outside hitter has committed to play
collegiate volleyball next fall for Division II Southwest Baptist University in
Bolivar, MO. “I want to coach,” she says, “and I want to major in elementary
education. It would be really great if I could give girls the same experience I
have had here. It has been great and I will leave with no complaints.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we are now deep into the year of the #metoo movement and on the
cusp of the disastrous and polarizing Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court
confirmation hearings; I can’t help but to ponder how the relationship of an
adult male coaching teenage girls is now evolving in this confusing time?
Always a slippery slope for a male coach to navigate, today, the stakes are
much higher, the appropriate line to not cross, now much closer and narrower.
The issue has become the media fueled social issue of the day and any male
coach with any sense is on guard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span>Codi Winslow is in her first year as the assistant coach to Coach
Creason. She played for him for four varsity seasons, the first freshman
Creason had ever used in the varsity rotation. After graduating from PHHS in 2014
and playing volleyball at nearby William Jewell College, Winslow graduated last
spring with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. She is currently back home,
substitute teaching as much as possible and preparing for grad school. She and
Creason both agree she has been impactful in her first year on the
bench. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">Senior Night</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Winslow says that one of Creason’s strengths is how he handles
each individual girl. “It is different,’ she states of a male coaching females,
“but he does a great job of reading each girl. He knows who he can push and he
knows the ones who will fall apart if he gets on them too hard. He was hard,
pushed me constantly to get better, but I could take it and I wanted to be
pushed. Others would just fall apart if he had gotten on to them like he did me.
It is not something he ever talked to us about, be we (players) all recognized
it and we didn’t take it personal. I think if he had ever stopped pushing me,
that would have really bothered me.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I want to coach the rest of my life,” Winslow says. “I have been
doing some club coaching and now working with the school team, I love it. I am
always trying to learn,” she says. With a psychology background, personal
relationships and how the team is affected by them is a factor that grabs her
curiosity. “It has been really good for me to have played for coach and viewed
him as a player would and now coaching with him and viewing him as a coach.
Things he does now make more sense to me. They didn't always when I was a
player for him. He always sees the big picture, he always stays (the
course). It gives a more insightful view and has made me appreciate
how tricky coaching can be.”</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Set for the Kill</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“It is different,” Winslow states, from a player's perspective the
dynamic of an opposite gender coach could be problematic, but does not
have to be . “I have had both (male and female coaches) and both have their
pluses.” What about “awkwardness,” I ask in regard to the gender? “You have to
be careful,” she says. Comfort can be achieved in time. “When I played, I
obviously knew that Coach was a male but I don’t think I ever really thought it
impacted our player coach-relationship, I just kind of forgot about it. A lot
of that is just coach. He is very dry in his communications with everyone, even
around school with students. He is not real big with praise, but when he is
critical it is constructive. You understand why he is being critical and what
you need to do to improve. I tell the younger girls 'get used to it. He is not
going to change so you need to, if you want to play.' I will tell them
when I see them looking away when I am talking to the team, ‘hey, you think
Coach Creason is going to put up with that? Get your eyes on me.’ They might as
well learn now. "</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Both coaches tell me it is good to have a female on staff to keep
that comfort level, that safe buffer. “She has been very good," Creason
says. "We lost a very good assistant female that took some time off for
her family she was starting. Hiring Codi has kept that balance going. She does
a good job of preparing the younger players for what they can expect when they
get to the varsity level. That is something we talked about and I wanted her to
take on.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">All coaches today, both male and female, but in this day,
especially males, are faced with a professional dilemma of how to devote so
much time and passion to coaching a student-athlete while still
maintaining an appropriate distance?</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">Creason tells me it is
not hard. “It is no different than what is appropriate in the classroom,” he
states. Creason is also the chairman of the PHHS science department.
"You need to have a caring way balanced with common sense.” </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">According to Winslow, perception, especially in a small school
community, is crucial. “Having me here, I can do a lot of things coach doesn’t
need to,” she states. “I know as a player, it was easier to go to a female
coach on some issues than it was the male head coach. The female assistant can
be more (empathetic) with a high school girl than an older male coach can be
and probably shouldn't be.”</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">According to Creason, there are basic rules of leadership that
apply across the educational profession. “Good teaching is good coaching and
good coaching is good teaching. Nobody has a magical secret for motivating
students in the classroom or athletes in competition, but priorities and
expectations should not change. Students want to know what I need to do to get
an A. Volleyball players want to know what I need to do to get playing
time.” </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Talent level and work ethic both factor into the equation, he
says. That is where a coach can set the bar, motivate his athletes. According
to the long time successful coach, it is paramount for the coach to ensure
that, “expectations should always rise above talent level,” he says. If not you
have underachieved. Those around the area’s volleyball scene for the last 20
years know that Creeson’s teams never underachieve.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“When I first started,” the former wrestler remembers, “I thought
you coach them (girls) just like you coach boys. It doesn’t work. I learned
that real quick. A big difference is that girls do not like to be reminded of
how good previous teams and players were. They take that real personal, take it
as a put down. I stay away from that (area).” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I mention to both Creason and Winslow that when I spoke to the
four senior girls they all immediately listed going to state as their goal. I
asked the players, "does coach talk to you about getting back to state as
a goal?" Doesn’t have to, Macey Barker tells me, “We know we have been the
last three years and we are not going to be the class that breaks the string.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">Many times what a coach doesn’t say is more important than what he
does say.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> 2018 Chicks</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The word around the summer volleyball circuit this year was if you
want to give Pleasant Hill some payback for the last 20 years, you better do it
this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forget it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In August, Creason put perhaps the least experienced team he has
had over a 25 year career on the court. “We were going to struggle early,” he
said, “and we did.” The Chicks had graduated six regulars from last
year’s 29-6-1 team. Another regular moved over the summer with her family to
nearby Blue Springs. The Chicks returned only two players with varsity
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the first few weeks of this season, his team dropped matches in
straight sets to St. Pius of Kansas City and St. Michael the Archangel. In a
late August match they lost to fellow Missouri River Valley Conference member
Excelsior Springs, 2-1. At last Saturday’s Grain Valley Tournament,
the Chicks paid back both St. Pius and St. Michael Archangel with wins in
straight sets, 2-0. This evening they demolish a very good 17-5 Excelsior
Springs club in two dominating straight set wins, 25-14, 25-13, improving their
season mark to 23-10-1. Next week, the Chicks will host the Class 3 District
Tournament.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is this a state tournament level team? "That is always a
hard call," Creason says. "Anyone can have a bad (game) and if you
have it in the post season, well, you are done." `</span></div>
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High School volleyball in the state of Missouri has in recent years been
dominated by private schools. In Pleasant Hill's six final four
appearances under Creason, they have been eliminated by a private school
all six times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I think we are peaking at the right time,” Creason says.
“Saturday and tonight were good indications,” he says of the three measuring
stick pay back wins of the past three days. The win tonight guarantees that
regardless of tomorrow night’s final regular season game at Odessa’s outcome,
the Chicks have secured their ninth straight conference title
banner. This year’s stout sophomore class was in kindergarten the last time
someone other than Pleasant Hill wore the crown of the Missouri River Valley
Conference volleyball champs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This year’s team is young, but so will be next year’s as only one
junior is listed on this year’s varsity roster. Five sophomores and a freshman
fill current rotation spots and fill them very well. 6’2 sophomore <b>Tera
Reberry</b> is already a force, a rising star, and the leader of a very
talented and deep class. Coaches from Iowa State were in attendance at this
evening’s game and they got an eye full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The match with Excelsior Springs looked in the beginning as if it
would be a hitting match between the two team’s talented and aggressive front
row attackers. Pleasant Hill lead only 15-13 when, after a timeout, Ana Hanes
and Reberry took over. With sophomore <b>Hannah Joyce</b> serving
seven consecutive points, the Chicks pulled away to 22-13 lead and cruised home
with the first set win, 25-14, on a game winning tip by Hanes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">After running off 11 of the last 13 points of the first set, the
Chicks sprinted out of the gate in set two, notching the game’s first six
points, ran the lead up to 11-2 and were never challenged in the match decided
by a 25-13 final tally.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A good teacher always leaves the student with a question when the
student knows the teacher has the answer. The impacting teacher has
given the student the tools needed to solve the problem and demands the student
does such.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I ask Creason again how far can this year’s team go, a final four
again, maybe? He remains evasive. “I don’t know,” he says. “We will know pretty
soon, won’t we.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the sprint to the finish line now starts, Creason likes the
position for the stretch run his team has placed itself in. He is pleased but
not overconfident. “We are young, but they have (now) had a whole season of
varsity competition under their belt, so we are not the same team we were last
August when we started practice.” Are you better, I ask? “We should be,”
he says, “If not, then I have not done much of a coaching job, have I?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-27231903365999801792018-10-09T12:01:00.000-07:002018-10-28T18:45:39.717-07:00Valle/Ste. Gene, MO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The battle of Ste. Genevieve</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">H</span></b></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">istory abounds in the small
river town of Ste. Genevieve.
Established in 1735 by French Canadian explorers, it was the first
permanent European settlement west of the Mississippi River in what is today
the state of Missouri, even older than its sister city 70 miles upstream,
St. Louis. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The days of the steamboats that
fueled a bawdy riverfront are long gone. However, locals still clutch close to
their collective historic souls the long running rivalry between the Valle
Catholic High School Warriors and the Ste. Genevieve High School Dragons. We are
not talking ACT scores or the National Honor Society here. No, this civil war
manifests itself in the pride of both schools, its athletics prowess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Public education in Ste.
Genevieve has a rich and long history. Ste. Genevieve High School can trace it’s
genealogy all the way back to 1807 when community leaders established the first
school publicly charted by the Louisiana Territory. Valle High School opened in
1925.The school was named for Felix and Odile Valle, long time benefactors to
the parish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWL5bNR7JsZZDKb9LPela_MoD-P2OHwEHU97SzEfJrDw37SIFHl5tFRTzX4TsH7UnuCQ1pk130HqZJvloc9o5UA6k0cniVk1Ycgc6xfu39A5JlUgmYkOxgzDpizrKJwk16TvrSB1P_iUf/s1600/43663906_2034244536633278_1590065801434497024_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="960" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWL5bNR7JsZZDKb9LPela_MoD-P2OHwEHU97SzEfJrDw37SIFHl5tFRTzX4TsH7UnuCQ1pk130HqZJvloc9o5UA6k0cniVk1Ycgc6xfu39A5JlUgmYkOxgzDpizrKJwk16TvrSB1P_iUf/s320/43663906_2034244536633278_1590065801434497024_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> A full house</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With an enrollment of 150
students, Valle takes a David vs. Goliath pride when slugging it out with the local
public school with an enrollment four times that of the private school. SGHS
counters with their own claims of disadvantage in the rivalry, notably a lack
of tradition and a past under-emphasis on athletics. The Dragons, in several
sports, have broken through recently to grab their share of the rivalry’s bragging
rights. Their boosters make the claim that the Dragons have not only caught up
with the Valle athletic machine, but are in the process of surpassing the haughty
catholic school proclaiming it is a new day. Valle backers counter with their tradition
of success, shooing the annoying upstarts with a dismissive wave, back to where
they belong, as a perpetual underling in this family feud. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Football, as can be expected, is
the big stage yearly event. This fall, the Dragons knocked off the Warriors
7-6, for their first win over their neighbors since 2011. Valle holds the record
for state football championships, having been crowned 14 times. It was a big
win for the emerging Dragons whose current players have grown up with the monstrous
mystique of Valle football as a constant looming cloud of torment. But, not
this year, their razor- thin early season win gives the Dragons the town bragging
rights until next season. For the seniors on the winning side, they now hold a
life-long hammer of smugness over their future spouse, boss, employee, golf
buddies, in-laws and any other soul sitting in the losing sides’ bleachers.
Have no doubt; this small town rivalry has meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hold nothing back</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My wife I pull into Ste.
Genevieve on a Monday afternoon preparing to chronicle this evening’s Dragons
vs. Warriors volleyball battle. Although not matching the fervor found on the
boy’s side with football, volleyball has become the major activity for girls in
both schools. Both teams have strung together one strong season after another
for the last decade. Not only is their annual matchup charged with an energetic
atmosphere, but it will be played on both sides of the net at a high skill
level by two of the better teams in the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love high school rivalries. I
think they bring out the best in all involved. Sports should not become
routine. It should be about passion. However, the relationship between any two
top-level teams who are rivals is one of complexity. School administrators are
on constant vigil knowing they're one misstep away from bad blood spilling over
into the educational process. Everyone I speak with in Ste. Genevieve claims
this local rivalry has never crossed the line of civility, has always been a
positive educational experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVM_SrRezlGSSlsS4rnAa80OPLaBgUHYUkerpR9nbQqEOKEaT0C_tyt5dUnZJRD4_4x4t6pJgDEljwa7itUvDKQI3SxBifO9Mdh7qKd1GMOit0cwdCeJ28cgFrj-IdRasuhg0SOccYUpd/s1600/43415506_2034320383292360_6602868951758143488_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="821" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVM_SrRezlGSSlsS4rnAa80OPLaBgUHYUkerpR9nbQqEOKEaT0C_tyt5dUnZJRD4_4x4t6pJgDEljwa7itUvDKQI3SxBifO9Mdh7qKd1GMOit0cwdCeJ28cgFrj-IdRasuhg0SOccYUpd/s320/43415506_2034320383292360_6602868951758143488_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Aggressive on both sides of net</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After the school lunch break I
speak first with a group of SGHS volleyball players, then make the ¼ mile drive
down the hill to Valle to get their take on tonight’s matchup. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All agree it will be a spirited encounter. Dragon senior
Jennifer Humbolt says that in her house the lines are clearly drawn. “My
step-dad is a big Valle booster and he has been letting me have it all week,”
she says. “Be he knows I can give it right back, like when we beat them this
year in football.” Humbolt’s current life is interwoven with the two school’s
rivalry. “By boyfriend plays football at Valle.” I asked if she heckled him
after the game. “No,” she says, “he was pretty down so I didn’t say anything.
But he knows I sat with our crowd and cheered for our team.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valle Senior Lainey Bauman says the volleyball rivalry is more personal amongst
the adults than the players. “We all get along fine. We see them (SGHS players)
all the time and we have all been playing club ball on the same team for
years.” Bauman’s senior teammate, Grace Eftink, relates that leading up to the game both sides ignore each other.
“We are fine with them but this week we don’t associate with them and they don’t
with us. After the game tonight, whoever wins will get their (digs) in, but it
is all in good fun.”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="426" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_NLLap-xOmvsrIgCvgANXHlGlxd6hDSUrg8yBLLcah1AChVtXLY0PnBQ_f9LVfAY4gSWCdrlXx9k7-FOpKGaWLsKcZacoPhkfcYJYBVopqnpks5zAt-4b3eXP8wiBA6ZJTbWM6GL1-iJ/s320/43415420_2034496179941447_1983056395645222912_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach Fallert </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">watches play</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dragon Senior Haley Grass says she and her teammates are
looking to the match that will begin in 6 hours with excited anticipation. “We
were talking about how we like playing the game over there,” she says. “The
atmosphere is great in their gym because it so much smaller. It is really loud
in there and that makes a great (environment) to play in.” Her teammate, junior
Julia McKlin says it will not be just the two teams on the court competing.
“Both student sections will be packed. Both schools' students really get behind
the players. Ours will try to outdo theirs. It is a great atmosphere, always
the most fun one we play in. Playing Valle each year is always a high point of
the season.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I ask both sides if they feel any pressure playing tonight’s
high stakes game. To a player, both sides say they are ready to go and let the best
team win. I ask the Valle contingent if they feel any undue outside pressure.
The consensus from the Warriors is a hesitant, “yes.” "So your parents may
ground you if you lose tonight?" I jokingly ask. Junior Rachel Loida tells
me that will not be needed, “If we lose tonight,” she says, “I am going to
ground myself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They all agree that you might love her deeply, but the
person you never want to lose to is your sister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="292" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzIXu7KzWSPGoCC5DOg-zb-vt36pYY6pZ5IDjdb3vnZmUmH8BPG00zjJLrqAi9eL2aWCskF9425dz-VkVZJAXOjawZ-l-EBJauXICbYgJxC2DgM02Mdtia0H25TOznvqxA8zKQJbVpaaN/s320/43467124_2034280979962967_5062487903234424832_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="148" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach Fallert</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Warriors and the Dragons may
be geographically neighbors, but tonight, dependent upon which side’s colors
you wear, it is time to beat those damn cocky Catholics; or it is time to put
those jealous son of a guns back in their place. I am attired in a plaid Dragon
green and Warrior blue shirt with equal distribution of each color. This will not
be my first rivalry game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most in the community claim the
competitive climate based on athletics is not bitter. The two sides support each other, often as
economic and social allies. Most from both sides are members of the same
Catholic Church congregation. Marriages between
a Valle grad and a SGHS grad are common, splitting a family’s allegiance and at
times making the choice of where to educate their offspring complicated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The two camps may come together
to sit side by side for Sunday morning worship, but tonight, they will be
at their tribal best as the Dragons and
the Warriors renew what has become a hotly contested battle for local volleyball
superiority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Intentionally, they do not
schedule any regular season tournaments against each other and are placed in
separate classifications for postseason play. The two teams could possibly meet in the conference tournament to be held next week, but all agree that if they
do, it will be anti-climactic. Tonight’s match is winner take all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dragons head coach Jessica
Fallert finds the rivalry steeped in tradition. “I am from here,” she says. “I
grew up with this rivalry.” The 2001 graduate was a Dragon herself. “I don’t
think we ever beat them,” she recalls. Fallert is in her 5<sup>th</sup> season
as head coach. She spent her first four years of coaching as an assistant to coach
Dennis Drum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCk57OTbEQCjK7eu0umkAvXIyOEn51Yu5xYOdTQo4Srnf1ZrTUsJXkyQrByTUm6_IOfKmLehWgECRSLzhpFjdyUDDn-rVri5yZWGDixkEmgZJNcbG_lAkLJbI-U98l5mljgRhE23bIozK/s1600/44948161_2061679737223091_6671670114477146112_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="334" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCk57OTbEQCjK7eu0umkAvXIyOEn51Yu5xYOdTQo4Srnf1ZrTUsJXkyQrByTUm6_IOfKmLehWgECRSLzhpFjdyUDDn-rVri5yZWGDixkEmgZJNcbG_lAkLJbI-U98l5mljgRhE23bIozK/s320/44948161_2061679737223091_6671670114477146112_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Support for the serve</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Drum, the Dragons head coach for
sixteen years, is in attendance at this evening’s game. “Isn’t this great,”
Drum says about the game’s high energy atmosphere. “I have been through this a lot,” the retired coach says, “and it never gets old. It is always a big
positive for not only the kids, but the community as a whole. We don’t ever
want to lose what you see here tonight.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Often troubled former heavyweight
boxing champion Mike Tyson once announced at a post-fight interview, after
losing his crown to Lennox Lewis, that it was time for him to “fade into
Bolivian.” Tyson’s most famous quote, though, was when he told the world how he
fueled his pre-fight rage, “I’m just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to
eat his children.” There are no cannibalistic intentions on either side of this
local rivalry. But, I can sense, neither side would hesitate to grab the last
piece of barbeque at the town picnic, leaving the other standing in line with
an empty plate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJc7YnjCH4rOtiQX2-0d7whJKpzlEIFH860pagsOCgbj0BVJAB3birMmlWMrotMtxErDQfUKNA8yHjFjv2aeMiA6fkOeQLOxC_xSjR95Ip1uH1zTUbTTqsTx-a2JMT7I97MNBI3P0pjcf/s1600/43497179_2034496459941419_7663835275277107200_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJc7YnjCH4rOtiQX2-0d7whJKpzlEIFH860pagsOCgbj0BVJAB3birMmlWMrotMtxErDQfUKNA8yHjFjv2aeMiA6fkOeQLOxC_xSjR95Ip1uH1zTUbTTqsTx-a2JMT7I97MNBI3P0pjcf/s320/43497179_2034496459941419_7663835275277107200_n.jpg" width="188" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Former Coach Dennis Drum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Ste. Genevieve Dragons are
having another strong season, entering tonight’s match with a 12-7-4 record.
Fallert’s teams have put together solid records in each of her first four
seasons. Fallert is viewed in area volleyball circles as a young and upcoming talented
coach who has, to this point, slayed the dragon of returning to her small
hometown to coach. Unfortunately, SGHS
has been sent each year to the St. Louis area for the district tournament,
eliminated all four years by teams who go on to claim the state title. This
year’s district assignment is kinder. “We got moved south this year,” the coach
says. “There are some good teams in our new district but no one I don’t feel we
can compete with.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Valle Warriors are having a rare
down season. Always state contenders, this year they enter the stretch run of
the season with a 16-9 record, pretty solid for most school's, but the bar at Valle is set pretty high. Head Coach Nancy Fischer is unconcerned and
says her club is rounding into shape, jockeying for position to make a strong
postseason run. “We have so many injuries this year,” she states. “We get one back and another goes out. We
will have a new lineup again tonight. Still, I think this team has not played
its best, yet. No pressure on us now, I have told the girls. We are just going
to play loose and see what happens.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Under the 36 year reign of Coach
Nancy Fischer, Valle has become a small school volleyball juggernaut. With 700
wins on her resume, she shows no sign of slowing down. A 1979 graduate of
Valle, Fischer embodies all the characteristics that personify the fierce pride
that radiates throughout Valle High School: confidence, energy, consistency,
loyalty and patience. She has led the
Warriors to 8 state final fours. She says the state hand she now holds is
composed of deuces wild. “We have been first twice, runner-up twice, third
place twice and fourth twice,” she laughs. In 2017 the Warriors finished the
year at 33-2-4, taking third at state. Spring graduation hit Valle hard.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6T82pnfZ4LHn8tJSxkZJd3WCl3Cvw3UOMoHO7HXxtnzYt-yxaL0PllEmwlSvQiyJk8ojicMXlhjYMmXhX1rsM3TlDtWPWfNwCU_tUg3H6mdyCK5iwLkmjJFXXeh3Jb8pQ8-kJ2d0qNi7D/s1600/43663430_2034320379959027_50538893056933888_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="649" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6T82pnfZ4LHn8tJSxkZJd3WCl3Cvw3UOMoHO7HXxtnzYt-yxaL0PllEmwlSvQiyJk8ojicMXlhjYMmXhX1rsM3TlDtWPWfNwCU_tUg3H6mdyCK5iwLkmjJFXXeh3Jb8pQ8-kJ2d0qNi7D/s320/43663430_2034320379959027_50538893056933888_n.jpg" width="288" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Big time block</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fischer was fortuitously born at
just the right time for a girl who was not content with checking her athletic
ambitions at the school house door. She belongs to the first wave of girls who have
benefitted from the landmark federal legislation, Title IX. The 1972 law stated
that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be
excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance." Until 1972, it was perfectly legal to discriminate
in any education program against someone based solely on gender. Title IX has
been to female athletes what the 1964 Civil Rights Act has been for African-Americans.
Neither would create instant equality, both movements, extremely unpopular with
the public at the time of their creation, would have long years of battle ahead
to see legitimate change. However, both did put federal law on the side of
inclusion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fischer says if she had been born
a decade earlier, a 1969 grad of Valle instead of a 1979 one, her life would
have been much different. “Oh no, no way would I have had the opportunities I
have had. We owe those who pushed for girls sports a lot of thanks. The girls
today have no idea what it was like back then. They don’t know because their mothers
never knew either, and I have coached a lot of mothers and daughters here, they
never had to fight for equal opportunity.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fischer is correct, a great load
of gratitude is owed by today’s female athletes and coaches to those 1972
visionaries on the front line of a revolution championing a society changing
movement. Many are today passing from the coaching landscape. Many paid dearly
for their activism. Their causes led to the upsetting of the status quo and were
not well received by the powers of the time. Despite the personal and
professional peril they placed themselves in; they lobbied loud and hard for
equality for the nation’s female athletes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEift26fA2pArEs7P-ta5jYlfBBpH_TkhPgTFh_aN9ArCrnq3jKL9XbylPb4RdKmv9cCtXLi1WYoSmfXu6hpE-wXfY3HypnqC1UBKbz7jtwO4NvcHvjc1vx3uc7aMnb0BxeE88YdOVGrLwNE/s1600/43415506_2034320383292360_6602868951758143488_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="821" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEift26fA2pArEs7P-ta5jYlfBBpH_TkhPgTFh_aN9ArCrnq3jKL9XbylPb4RdKmv9cCtXLi1WYoSmfXu6hpE-wXfY3HypnqC1UBKbz7jtwO4NvcHvjc1vx3uc7aMnb0BxeE88YdOVGrLwNE/s320/43415506_2034320383292360_6602868951758143488_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Intense action in set 3</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our educational institutions have
never been bastions of democracy. Without the militancy of these trailblazers,
the first wave of beneficiaries, like Fischer, would not have had the opportunities
that have shaped not only their lives, but also
the succeeding generations of girls they today mentor as coaches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Title IX at its inception sent
tidal waves of fear through the established men’s athletic programs, in
particular, football. "A girl just can't do those things and still be a
lady," one of the nation’s most well-read sportswriters wrote in a 1972
newspaper column. Other law makers were gallantly progressive in their often
unpopular support of the intent of the law. History has now labeled them as heroes.
Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana defended and supported the law as simple fairness
and equal opportunity. "I do not read this as requiring integration of
dormitories between the sexes, nor do I feel it mandates the desegregation of
football fields. What we are trying to do is provide equal access for women and
men students to the educational process and the extracurricular activities in a
school," he told a suspect nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqzTW-9kGSfkTDlZravN_ol-YOP2FWmpHfOduWNOifu_x04ST6ZnGltYQHyCB8Ajvfy1iwtjwxe_dQ8OurqXHKn-gCewSLZwrwGzFZXE5_wQN5RWH99GnHDs8pJdZesDC9e2NiUGCYs-l/s1600/43402098_2034320386625693_8517256869109039104_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="725" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqzTW-9kGSfkTDlZravN_ol-YOP2FWmpHfOduWNOifu_x04ST6ZnGltYQHyCB8Ajvfy1iwtjwxe_dQ8OurqXHKn-gCewSLZwrwGzFZXE5_wQN5RWH99GnHDs8pJdZesDC9e2NiUGCYs-l/s320/43402098_2034320386625693_8517256869109039104_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Well placed kill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rumors of the demise this left wing
radical law would cast on a society still reeling from the social chaos of the
1960’s spread terror through grass roots America, especially in small towns. I
recall the rumor that went through my small Missouri high school as we broke for
Christmas in 1973, that when we returned in January, because of Title IX, all
PE classes would be co-ed and so would the locker rooms. Of course, we know now,
much to the chagrin of high school boys everywhere; that never happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We need to always make sure our
female athletes realize how lucky they are, that it was not always like it is
now, the opportunities that girls today take for granted. A lot of sacrifice
laid the ground for what we have now and we are all better because of it,”
Fischer states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Neither of this evening’s head coaches had the teaching
profession as their first choice of occupation when they entered college.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNBdxRtCnUZueI2-8XQLTnLhZpzBntNIzD0Lfcd4fUQRrQ6COrFuw77Kkz9xihIkPJSZzZQ16quyarr8FM7dP-85jCd-NHAOtnFZ6F8-vPV7h2eU4lRcQXDmK1WzKyNCMIaqIw427_sDv9/s1600/43406054_2034280946629637_6407796596645298176_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="439" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNBdxRtCnUZueI2-8XQLTnLhZpzBntNIzD0Lfcd4fUQRrQ6COrFuw77Kkz9xihIkPJSZzZQ16quyarr8FM7dP-85jCd-NHAOtnFZ6F8-vPV7h2eU4lRcQXDmK1WzKyNCMIaqIw427_sDv9/s320/43406054_2034280946629637_6407796596645298176_n.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coach Fischer in warmups</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Fallert graduated from college
with certification as an athletic trainer. She got her master’s degree at
Columbus State University in Georgia. During her two year stay in grad school she
served as the athletic trainer at a local high school. With her masters’ degree
in hand she moved back to the St. Louis area taking a trainer’s job at St.
Charles High School, 90 miles from her Ste. Genevieve roots. “I wanted to get
back closer to home. I never thought much about teaching and coaching until I
went to St. Charles,” she remembers. “The second year I was there the freshman (volleyball)
coach came down with cancer and since I had a volleyball background, I
volunteered to help out. I decided then that teaching is what I wanted to do
for a living. I was hired the next year here at Ste. Gen and I have never regretted
it. I learned a lot from Coach (Dennis) Drum as his assistant. I have also
found Nancy (Coach Fisher) over at Valle to be a great help and resource.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nancy Fischer was put on this
earth to coach volleyball at Valle High School. She is a perfect fit. Yet her
long and successful career at Valle may have never come to be without what
seemed at the time to be mere passing comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I planned on going to medical
school,” she relates to me as we sit in her just vacated Chemistry Lab 30
minutes before her 3:00 shift change when the 36 year veteran teacher/coach
will trade her lab coat for her coaching whistle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“When I was in high school, I
played basketball and ran track,” she recalls. “No volleyball,” I ask with a
raised eyebrow. “I was the manager for the volleyball team,” says with a laugh.
“I went to Southeast Missouri State,” she says of the school located one hour
south of Ste. Genevieve in Cape Girardeau. “I played field hockey. I wanted to
be involved in sports and at the time, at that place, it was the only choice I
saw available.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Father Nemeth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">During her four years in
undergraduate studies her future was destined by two life changing advisements,
both coming as sudden and unexpected bolts of lightning from the sky – true Paul
on the Road to Damascus life changing epiphanies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I really wanted to coach,”
Fischer tells me. “I knew that from a young age. But, I let a school official
my senior year (of high school) talk me out of it. I was basically told I was
too smart to waste my time as a teacher. I needed to do something impacting
with my life, like go to med school. I listened. Then, the summer after my
second year in college, I was home playing softball and I broke my wrist. When
I went back to college I still had the cast on and my advisor saw it and said,
‘you either need to be a doctor or be a jock. Make up your mind.” ’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fischer says she knew the comment
was laced with sarcasm and a sublime academic put down of athletes. Regardless
of the intent, she took his arrogant advice and changed her major to Education
with an emphasis on Biology and Chemistry. A remark meant in sarcastic jest
turned out to be sage wisdom. “Best choice I ever made.” Now, 38 years later,
she says, “The man will never know how much his off the cuff remark has molded
my life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Fischer’s college graduation approached,
her anxiety rose exponentially with each passing day. “I was in with a group of
eight others who had the same degree as me and by graduation everyone but me
had a job. I applied everywhere and got nowhere. One school even sent me a
rejection letter on a post card,” she says. “Today, it sounds funny, but at the
time I was getting desperate. I wish I had kept that post card.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach Fischer</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rejected time and time again,
Fischer finally found not one, but, two suitors. “I interviewed on Thursday at North
County High School (located in nearby Desloge, MO) and they offered me the job.
They wanted an answer by Monday afternoon. That Friday we had a track meet at
Farmington. I was student teaching at Farmington and helping coach the track
team. Valle was at the same meet that day and their Athletic Director told me
that the Valle job was now open and I should apply.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fischer’s job search had suddenly
gone from famine to feast and she needed to quickly make a decision. “All that
weekend I thought about it and I told my Mom Monday morning that I was going to
take the job at North County. I was going to call that afternoon and accept.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“That Monday morning at school I
ran into Coach (Becky) Noble. She was a well-established coach in the area and
was the track coach at Farmington. Now, this is where if gets weird,” Fischer
says. “I always worked with Coach in the afternoon after school with track, but
I had never seen her before school, ever, until that morning. She asked me what
I was going to do and I told her I was going to take the North County job and
turn down Valle. She said, ‘I think that would be a mistake.’ That is all she
said and (then) she turned and walked away. Those few words from her instantly
changed my mind. I changed my future plans that fast. I called Valle and
accepted the job. At 22 years of age (four years removed from the school’s
student body) I was the head coach of volleyball, girls’ basketball and girls’track,
all the girls’ sports Valle (at the time) offered. If I had not run into Coach
Noble by chance that morning, my life would have taken a much different path.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Have you ever thought about the road not taken, I ask? “Never,”
Fischer answered without hesitation. ‘My mom asked me once when I was in my
30’s if I had ever regretted the decision not to go into medicine? I
immediately said no. I did not even have to think about it. It is probably the
only time I have ever even thought of my decision. I have never looked back. I
am where I need to be and I get up every morning excited about school and
thankful for those two chance encounters
that changed my life.” And, I would add, changed the lives of two
generation of Valle Warriors who have had the good fortune to be the recipients
of her guidance.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The Anvil</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coach Fischer gave me two pieces
of advice as we parted at 3 pm: Go to the Anvil on the town courthouse square
for dinner, the onion rings are worth dying for, she assured me, and be at the
gym by the start of the freshman gam at 5 pm, if I wanted a seat for the 7:30
varsity match. The coach was dead on, accurate on both.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We arrive in time for the
freshman game at 5 pm. The Junior Varsity game has a start time of 6:30. The
gym is loud and full. The visitors will claim wins in both of the preliminary matches,
but both are close and go three sets. From the first serve in the freshman
battle until the ball hits the floor for match point in the varsity tilt, the
fans are treated to over 4 ½ hours of spirited play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In between the varsity and JV
match,Valle holds a dedication for its newly remodeled gym foyer where full
trophy cases are home to the Warriors numerous state championship awards. Fr.
Edward Nemeth is the head of both the Valle school and the parish. He has been
on the job for one year and is widely given credit for jump starting the parish
and the school’s finances. Coach Fischer tells me the priest has built a reputation of openness and
communication within the community. He addresses
the crowd while blessing the remodeled foyer. He makes a point of welcoming, “our
neighbors from up the hill.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The raucous atmosphere I was
promised that afternoon by the players from both teams lived up to the pre-game
hype. Both student sections were filled to overflow, even for the freshman game. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIc0CG3HrAmg3mCA41CtSGe5WKFkBRy4NqbqIxGrafLx0hqiz8CSSVyHEDBhsa29bUejsR6ySgP7UUa-PhyphenhyphenUMkC8SmhXjbOVpTDp6OhA91QHpmvr7BF4_BxddtDv99hAqgvxnTLaLVTtGc/s1600/43408203_2034255143298884_2272387507490390016_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="699" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIc0CG3HrAmg3mCA41CtSGe5WKFkBRy4NqbqIxGrafLx0hqiz8CSSVyHEDBhsa29bUejsR6ySgP7UUa-PhyphenhyphenUMkC8SmhXjbOVpTDp6OhA91QHpmvr7BF4_BxddtDv99hAqgvxnTLaLVTtGc/s320/43408203_2034255143298884_2272387507490390016_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enthusiasm abound</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Dragon cheer contingent was
big, loud and edgy. They came prepared and remained focused with their support the
entire evening. There was more competition this night besides just on the
court. Both sections were in an obvious duel with each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was a match that from the
first had the feel of one that would go down to the wire to determine the night’s
winner. It sure did.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Not this time</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Valle started fast from the gate, grabbing a 9-3 lead in
game 1. Ste. Genevieve rallied, taking their first lead at 15-14. The remainder
of the opening set was back and forth with Valle rallying from a 17-22 deficit
to 23-24 on a double block by Valle freshman Ella Bertram and senior Lainey
Bauman. But not to be denied, a kill by Dragon sophomore Sydney Bumgardaner
sealed the visitor’s win, 25-23.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second set was also played to
a mere standstill. The score was tied 9 times before the Dragons grabbed their
first lead of the game, 22-21. Valle secured back the ebbing momentum and took
the second round, on a Dragon miss hit, 25-23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The rubber set, as the first two,
was a back and forth struggle for both teams. Much like two exhausted heavyweight
boxers staggering into the final round, both teams seemed to be lying
back, conserving energy. Valle jumped to a 12-9 lead, but had to bemoaning a
lost opportunity. The Warriors were their own worst enemy as five of the
Dragons first nine points had come on service errors. Down 21-24, Coach Fischer
called time out to rally her team from the brink of a loss. The Warriors came
out of the huddle invigorated and staved off three match point Dragon opportunities,
tying the deciding set at 24-24 and fittingly created the necessity of extra
play. The last momentum swing, however, went the way of the green jerseys,
securing the Ste. Genevieve win with two aggressive attacks, 26-24. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> No losers, tonight</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After the gym had emptied and
quiet sanity had returned, Coach Fischer, who had just seen her team drop a
close and emotionally draining volleyball match and faced an early starting, full day tomorrow of teaching Chemistry and
Physics, graciously thanked me for attending. “I hope you saw what makes this
community special,” she said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the future, when I think of
this evening, I will not remember the play on the court, perhaps even letting
time erase from my mind the final winner. What will be etched in my long term
memory will be the uplifting holistic experience. I will smile when recalling
the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by the Valle student led “unofficial
choir.” I will envision Chief Touchdown leading the Valle faithful in cheers. I
will appreciate the no shortcuts job a young coach is doing so well in
building a culture of success at Ste. Genevieve High School. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Post game congratulations</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I hope you witnessed what our
kids are fortunate to have modeled for them every day by the adults around them
as well as by their fellow students,” Fischer summarizes for me. “What we stand
for here is an unparalleled work ethic, a general concern for others, and a
desire to be all that God is calling us to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Vince Lombardi is acclaimed by many
to be the greatest coach in football history. The long time Green Bay Packers leader
has the Super Bowl trophy named after him. He is widely remembered for his most
famous quote, “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing.” If the crusty
old gridiron coach had been in attendance at tonight’s game, he would have
softened his tone with admiration for the effort on both sides. Tonight, there
were no losers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-90241928867103285012018-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:002018-11-12T19:46:46.608-08:00Jonesboro, AR<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Afternoon practice</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span><span style="font-size: large;">he road
that has deposited 61 year old Craig Cummings in Jonesboro, AR this October,
2018 evening has been broken, fateful and audacious. He stalks the sidelines
while coaching a high school girls’ volleyball game. Adorned in his trademark
Hawaiian shirt, he is the pilot of a team nicknamed the Hurricanes in an area
more likely to witness Noah’s Ark floating by before it will ever be ravaged by
a tropical storm. This whole perplexing scenario can be clearly explained by
the teaching of a two pronged history lesson. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">But, first
be warned, Cummings personal journey to his current place and time has more
twists and turns than the Ozark Mountain logging roads I passed through today
on my southern sojourn to Northeast Arkansas. To understand the career coach’s
blissful current state of professional contentment as he watches his powerhouse
team roll to another three straight set victory will necessitate persistence on
my part; when a well-placed poke or a timely prod of Cummings becomes
necessary.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now, for the above
mentioned history lessons: First, go back 1200 years and read up on the Four
Temperaments of Avicenna. Second, fast forward to the last three generations of
modern America culture and picture in your mind a product of the Baby Boomer
Age of Aquarius – a California transplant, no less - coaching a troupe of Arkansas teenage Millennials, the off-spring of the much maligned demographic cohort of their parents,
Generation X. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bear with
me, please. I promise, it all fits together in the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvLwgi7MKYyW_EuIeIzWdAUsjQQ3AypHqtyw9mQNFR4RV1A16MwEvP4qBe_D_CCil_0oAiQa7yGaNCUcQ-EFyLcDoPuYSmPFLlPY-mRDbviUISE2-aKIsnhxbuYg-jHRMJNiOQ8D3gOLR5/s1600/gym.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvLwgi7MKYyW_EuIeIzWdAUsjQQ3AypHqtyw9mQNFR4RV1A16MwEvP4qBe_D_CCil_0oAiQa7yGaNCUcQ-EFyLcDoPuYSmPFLlPY-mRDbviUISE2-aKIsnhxbuYg-jHRMJNiOQ8D3gOLR5/s320/gym.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Pink Out game for cancer research</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvLwgi7MKYyW_EuIeIzWdAUsjQQ3AypHqtyw9mQNFR4RV1A16MwEvP4qBe_D_CCil_0oAiQa7yGaNCUcQ-EFyLcDoPuYSmPFLlPY-mRDbviUISE2-aKIsnhxbuYg-jHRMJNiOQ8D3gOLR5/s1600/gym.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the 9th
century A.D, smack in the middle of the Dark Ages, the Persian scholar Avicenna
authored a medical text book entitled the Canon of Medicine. In it, he
established his theory of the Four Temperaments. It became the medieval world’s
standard for medical wisdom. To maintain the physical and mental balance needed
to live a long and happy life, according to Avicenna, one must balance the following
four mental areas: emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes, and
self-awareness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I remark to
the almost 40 year veteran coach of the
talented Jonesboro squad, that it seems to me, to motivate teenage girls and
drive them to achieve a high level of success all one must do is teach his
chargers to master the Four Temperaments of Avicenna. Cummings cuts me short
and explains it is not that easy, waiving off my endorsement of this ancient nugget
of wisdom before I can even name drop the long ago Persian. I feel deflated for I had spent a good deal
of time on my drive down today rehearsing its proper enunciation, four
syllables: "AV" + "i" + "SEN" + "uh". <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cummings
tells me he intentionally avoids playing mind games with teenagers who are
young enough to be his granddaughters. “It would not work,” he flatly states.
“They are here to play volleyball and I am here to teach them the proper way to
play volleyball. Once we establish this base of our relationship, when they
figure out that is what I do, it takes the edge off and the girls can become
comfortable with me because they know I have set boundaries that respect their
life outside of volleyball. They know I care, that if they need help or support
or advice, I am here, but they also know I am not sticking my nose into their
personal lives’. I don’t need the drama.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="808" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZXFN5SzcILOdAatBVBvXVwSM9rXjE2U5oHsq8qFaUISLWnRCpGbCtnenNwNyj8EkYnag9LdVEFzJnfL7lTQfjRFXCKkluvaKX27F9kN9aWAisbXDlZwHnWeSqUVapGksiOkgrlz4j_AZ/s320/defense.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Solid wall</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZXFN5SzcILOdAatBVBvXVwSM9rXjE2U5oHsq8qFaUISLWnRCpGbCtnenNwNyj8EkYnag9LdVEFzJnfL7lTQfjRFXCKkluvaKX27F9kN9aWAisbXDlZwHnWeSqUVapGksiOkgrlz4j_AZ/s1600/defense.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To
underscore Cummings dismissive rejection of my favorite 9th century Persian
philosopher’s work, Avicenna died by suicide at the age of 37 years. Obviously,
his demise accentuates that his four “simple” temperaments are easier to
project than to conquer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Good
coaches, regardless of gender or age, watch and listen; empathetically
remembering how at times being in high school can really suck, low self-esteem
so prevalent it is almost a rite of passage. Cummings may without doubt or
hesitation let it be known to me he is not a social scientist or a child
psychologist, but a volleyball coach. His players and his own words will tell
me different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Prior to his
current tenure on the high school level, Coach Cummings spent thirteen seasons,
1996 to 2008, as the head coach of the Arkansas State’s women’s volleyball
team. He led the Division I Jonesboro School to 245 wins and was named the Sun
Belt Conference Coach of the year three times.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Before his
stint at ASU, Cummings spent nine years as an assistant coach, followed by six
years as the head women’s coach at Cal Poly-San Luis
Obispo, at the time, a program competing on the Division I level. He was named
to the coaching staffs at three straight U.S. Olympic Festivals from 1993-95.
His 19 years Division I coaching record tapped out in 2008 at 326-283. His
record to date at Jonesboro High School is 201-77. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Growing up
in the San Jose, CA, area, Cummings spent his high school years playing the
more traditional male sports of basketball and baseball. After his 1975 high
school graduation, Cummings learned his athletic career had hit a talent roadblock. “I enrolled in the local community college and knew quickly I was not
big enough for basketball and the curve ball at the college level was much
better than at the high school level,” he remembers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="794" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWbfN_fTJt6vE_aFgmCSg3-YlIPshfYQo7RR05mQ2jvfo_sjwaDYALDmcQkDR01b1vGN1Vf2JU169J_FAkiZSXWcfYIbl864DoziN_k42MWkk_d15lGGFY7bPmwK1OSh6DThgx15SGBhWG/s320/after+game.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> After game hugs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Volleyball
became his athletic outlet by default. “I had a few friends that played on the
college’s men’s volleyball team and I gave it a shot. It was a fun team to play
on and I followed a few friends to Obispo,” the coach says. He stayed for 20
years. “I played three years there, graduated with a degree in Physical
Education.” In 1981, the year following his graduation, Cummings began his
coaching career as an assistant on the men’s team. The next year, at the tender
age of 24, Cummings became the team’s head coach. His tenure was short lived as
at the completion of his debut season; the university disbanded the men’s
program.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Finding
himself again an athletic orphan, Cummings returned to his roots, coaching
females. “I went back to the women’s side and spent nine years as an assistant
and six years as the head coach,” Cummings recalled. In 1996, with San Luis
Obispo’s administration sending out signals that the school’s commitment to a
division I women’s volleyball program was waning; Cummings took a big
professional leap of faith, packed up his wife and two sons and headed for
Northeast Arkansas. “This was a program that was just what I was looking for,
the right place for me at the right time” he says of his ASU experience. “It
was a great 13 years.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Some major
health issues surfaced for Cummings in the spring of 2007. He was admitted to the hospital for a tumor
discovered on the outside of his colon and underwent
surgery on May 14, 2007. He then began a
lengthy recovery process that allowed him to finally return to his duties as
head coach for the start of ASU’s 2007 pre-season fall camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="681" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3XNica0t3Tx8xvsgUupidD72Rxkpm1jxUHW34aOOBeg7NfuHpveu_3tJ4Kih9NQDjVNzGq7Q0M3N693XeN6G-FUJoBZ-Gr4U4J_frnzUmNdLKjpDhlPXfqcb6y0zshhxA3Y5qb-KI3Ps/s320/fans.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Student section</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That year,
the Red Wolves recorded a 21-12 record and Cummings was rewarded with a
contract extension. But the grind of coaching at the highest level of college
when fighting a tough medical foe had taken a toll on him, draining from him
the high energy reserve he had for so long depended upon. “The demands of
college coaching had grown exponentially over the years to include more than
just the on-court requirements,” said Cummings.
“I found myself lacking the energy to get the job done at the level the
players deserved.” So, with absolutely no idea of where he would now go,
Cummings took one for the team, resigned from a long time secure job that
brought him both respect and purpose, stepping now blindly into an abyss of
professional, personal and medical uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To teach
high school students in a classroom subject, say math, is for sure a daunting
task, but, compared to coaching, it is a mere foothill to scale. In the
tangible world of academia two plus two is always four. But, when the coach steps into the gym, onto
the track or the playing field of competitive high school athletics, in addition
to teaching skills and schemes, he or she finds themselves precariously perched
on the slippery slope of motivating teenagers. A coach must find a way to reach
the soul of those in his or her charge. The successful ones do. (clue:
"AV" + "i" + "SEN" + "uh”).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span><br /></span>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="609" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rEvggEzy3lOUadoXxi9uOL01A8Q1NfdrGPDPg8ZRAx_rXYPDFFW7TvfXJwPh6pfpHAwldYKARHIzZT-EQb6HuouGVw9FyR6pbLoZrf6JU4Kxm0irhFG1JpOKBBfvUH7JRd409niDStxf/s320/43059058_2027245300666535_1773360505818185728_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="238" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> All practice drills are scored </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3XNica0t3Tx8xvsgUupidD72Rxkpm1jxUHW34aOOBeg7NfuHpveu_3tJ4Kih9NQDjVNzGq7Q0M3N693XeN6G-FUJoBZ-Gr4U4J_frnzUmNdLKjpDhlPXfqcb6y0zshhxA3Y5qb-KI3Ps/s1600/fans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fortunately,
within the universal set of constraints placed on today’s coaches, there is
still variation, some wiggle room, that creates slots for conflicting beliefs,
philosophies, and coaching procedures. Some coaches take on a disciplinarian
role, especially autocratic and demanding while others find success deploying a
more democratic and humane tint in their relationship with players. Coaching
really is an individual philosophy. Most interesting, what propels one coach to
a long hall-of-fame career can be grounded in failure for another who emulates
the same methods without the personal conviction to follow through with the
unwavering implementation of the chosen methods and philosophy. This is the
crucible for all coaches and it is a front loaded challenge, faced in the first
year or two of the coaching lifespan. The few who understand this will succeed.
The majority, who do not, are destined to careers in insurance sales. Techniques
differing to the extreme can still find a confluence of success if the coach
can motivate athletes while taming unchecked emotions. Even though he denies
it, Cummins has figured out how to level the emotions of his teenage players
(it is pronounced: "AV" + "i" + "SEN" +
"uh"). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I once
worked for a superintendent who thought so little of the impact of a coach that
he would routinely suggest hiring an applicant who fit our classroom needs but
knew nothing about a sport we were going to ask him or her to take on. “The
kids will love him” he would say, “just let the old boy read up a little on the
internet and he can do it.” In other words; coaching by YouTube was now our
school’s philosophy. It was maddening. After several territorial fights I had
won, I resigned myself that this was not a hill worth dying on and I hired his
endorsed “old boy” and assigned him as an assistant baseball coach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hsejBKl535Xu3eQ_9gSsXQr_1MK04n47aIYGOPib-6OCJIdpxSWh17bKAekZwgNaqqzG4frRI9D8O6AzWbK6xQPHG_ZukcOrScvXAikJrMTcsNyysx6-ZUvOV6nNSXVnTTfQX77qc05E/s1600/45024630_2061629573894774_8201774173844930560_n+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="685" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hsejBKl535Xu3eQ_9gSsXQr_1MK04n47aIYGOPib-6OCJIdpxSWh17bKAekZwgNaqqzG4frRI9D8O6AzWbK6xQPHG_ZukcOrScvXAikJrMTcsNyysx6-ZUvOV6nNSXVnTTfQX77qc05E/s320/45024630_2061629573894774_8201774173844930560_n+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Believe the warning</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">O</span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">n the other
end of the spectrum, I once played for a football coach whose discipline was so
draconian that his players' war stories became myth, classic beer drinking lore
amongst us at periodic reunions. Forget your jock strap? Athletic tape will
adhere just fine and no under wrap ever needed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Surprisingly,
in time, both had very successful coaching careers. The former admitted to his
players he didn’t know the difference between a bunt and a fly ball, but he was
willing to learn. His candor and honesty was more effective than an ego-based
authoritarian approach his players would have immediately seen through as laughably
hollow, guaranteeing him no respect. The latter was consistent and made sure
his players knew it, “I don’t like any of you so you all get treated the same;
like shit birds,” he told us often. We loved his moxie. We ran four plays,
three running and one pass play; but we ran them very well. Like the bland Penn
State football uniforms, there is sometimes beauty and efficiency in
simplicity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Visitors beware</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The calendar
has just turned to October, the most glorious of months to be found in the
nation’s heartland, as I roll down Highway 61, headed for Jonesboro, just a
short leap over the Missouri border. Highway 61, with a nod to its rep as
birth place of the Blues, is now officially known as the Rock and Roll Highway.
Due to the adjoining Arkansas counties ban on distilled spirits, as I
leave Missouri I pass a gauntlet of liquor stores hugging just north of the
state line. The area is peppered with a like number of Free Will Baptist
churches, leading to a thought that runs through my head as I drive: with such
a small population and so many churches, how many of these disproportionate to
the population liquor stores have back doors?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH00KVgSlz8ztXLOSJxVU8lSJYl86uhurccq6s7vT4bxBPNudGLzUu4RML4No7wOA1VN2Mrfc3CCiYAio5vSod1yC0ewkgZi_-8sHxkVmdLvn5OfyarfsFPn_HJAaOQCjNaCaEcKKSl8N/s1600/44830450_2061690250555373_861143781821382656_n+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="576" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH00KVgSlz8ztXLOSJxVU8lSJYl86uhurccq6s7vT4bxBPNudGLzUu4RML4No7wOA1VN2Mrfc3CCiYAio5vSod1yC0ewkgZi_-8sHxkVmdLvn5OfyarfsFPn_HJAaOQCjNaCaEcKKSl8N/s320/44830450_2061690250555373_861143781821382656_n+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Over the top</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: large;">his
evening, Coach Cummings and his Hurricanes will take to their home court to
tangle with the Greene County Tech Eagles from nearby Paragould. The 'Canes are
on a roll, sporting a record of 20-2. They have won to date 53 of 60 sets
played. With a roster full of returnees from last year’s 28 win state runner-up
squad; this season’s success was not unexpected. In nine seasons, Cummings has
led Jonesboro to 8 state tournament appearances and two state titles; 2013 and
2016. “Right now,” he tells me, “we are in an up cycle.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Greene County
Tech falls in three straight sets, 25-20, 25-10 and 25-13. After the game
Cummings is chintzy with any praise for his team. “At times,” he says, “we
struggled. Greene County Tech has a nice team and they really competed hard tonight. I
don’t know, you look at the scores and
it looks we dominated, but then you sit back and watch the match, we didn’t
play with any consistency. We have got work to do, for sure.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I compliment
the home fans on the gym’s fun and rowdy atmosphere. A good student section is
on hand and they are here to cheer, not gossip, one informs me. Several parents
quiz me in a subtle way as to why I am here. I am evasive with my answers. I
make sure to periodically move my tote bag as to leave it too long in one spot,
I fear, could provoke a 911 call and the appearance of the local SWAT team. I
make sure for the duration of my stay to not mention the name of the state’s
least favorite son and daughter-in-law, Clinton. We all agree that the
Hurricanes are rounding into top form and as a mother tells me after the match,
“no way,” will these girls be denied top honors at next month’s state
tournament. It's refreshing to see the faithful linger long after the match is over
and the net is down, soaking in the good late season vibes their team is
sending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Northeast
Arkansas is a long time hotbed for high school girls’ volleyball. The
non-school clubs here are organized and have a long time success rate. The high
school coaches in the area are very hands-on, involved with player development
year round. Several years recently, when
the state title weekend’s dust had settled, the majority of the state’s
classification champions hailed from the Jonesboro/Paragould area. In 2014’s
Class 5A title game, neighboring districts and fierce rivals Paragould and
powerhouse Valley View played what many consider the best match in state
volleyball history. Paragould pulled off an upset in a five set nail-biting
classic tilt, prevailing in razor thin fashion, 23-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22, and
15-12.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Coach Cummins, 2018</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Situated on
the postcard worthy Crowley's Ridge, Jonesboro is the seat of Craighead County
and the home of Arkansas State University. According to the 2010 Census, the
city had a population of 71,551 and is the fifth-largest city in Arkansas.
Crime and the cost of living are low while the influence of the town’s numerous
churches is high. The political lean is bedrock conservative with a pinch of
liberal thought on economic disparity issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jonesboro is
both the cultural and economic center of northeastern Arkansas. The city’s
population has exploded, more than doubling between 1980 and 2010. No letup in
growth is expected as local civic leaders marketing efforts purport the town as
a regional center for manufacturing, agriculture, medicine, education, and
trade. The area embraces, at least on the overt surface, its diversity. The
latest census figures show the racial makeup of the city as three fourths White
and 19% Black. The growing Hispanic community claims a 5% slice of the
population. Twenty three percent of the
city’s residents live below the poverty line. The iconic author, John Grisham
was born in Jonesboro in 1955, son of a cotton farmer/construction worker and a
stay at home mother. At age five, his family relocated to Mississippi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am up
early my second day in Jonesboro with the intent of hitting several popular
coffee shops to speak to locals about life in Jonesboro. The coffee is great,
the conversing not so great. At 11:00 am I head over to the Western Sizzler
Steakhouse and hit the jackpot, the local Touchdown Club is setting up for
their weekly meeting. I explain to a member of law enforcement what has brought
me to town. He extends a hearty welcome and introduces me to several other
early arriving club members. An insurance salesman is proud to point out to me
the diversity of the group, running off
a list of the various occupations of club members. I am impressed, I
congratulate him. But in my mind, I am thinking, what diversity? Every one of the 40
or so members seated in the banquet room is white, male and pushing or
exceeding middle age. But, I remain a gracious visitor, bite my tongue and note in my mind that us middle aged white guys get beat up enough in today’s evolving society. I thank everyone and head to volleyball practice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"What ya doin here"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
Jonesboro school district opened its first school in 1899. JHS lays claim to a
“highly awarded performing arts program.”
The high school campus houses a Performing Arts Center that seats over
1000 people. The girls’ volleyball team has been a torch bearer of achievement
for the athletic department, laying claim to a state-high 12 state
championships between 1978 and 2016. The Hurricanes volleyballers won three
consecutive titles in 1994, 1995, 1996. In 2002, the team has its most
successful campaign with a then state-record 39 wins in a season. In 2013 Coach
Cummings squad defeated Benton for the Class 6A title. In 2016, after losing
three regular season matches to area rival Marion, the Hurricanes found their
groove at the most opportune of times, pulling off an upset in the state title
match. Last year, 2017, Jonesboro took second at the state tournament. The goal
for the next month’s post season tournament, which Jonesboro will host, is not
up for debate. “We are good enough to win it,” says Cummings, but cautions, “so
are several others in our class.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is a
different approach needed when coaching girls as opposed to boys?</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Legendary
University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summit was once asked at a
clinic she was giving by a male coach of a high school girls’ basketball team
if she had any advice when it came to coaching girls on the hardwood as opposed
to boys. “I leveled him with a death-ray stare,” said the coach with a
reputation for gruffness that would rival a grizzly bear, and told the male
coach, “Go home and coach basketball.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cummings
disagrees with the legendary hoops coach. He says it might be different for a
woman coaching men, but for him, gender is a factor that cannot be ignored when
a man coaches teenage girls, that the Psychology of Coaching applies equally to
both genders. “Of course, I have been on the women’s side for many years but
when I did transition to women’s volleyball (from men’s’), the physical size
and strength were different and had to be adjusted for.” But what about the
mental side, I ask? Cummings softens now some from his answer to my original
questions of the importance of the mental side of coaching, admitting that the
girls tend to be more motivated by compliments than by derogatory criticism,
than boys.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Assistant Coach C C Smith</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Assistant
Hurricane Volleyball Coach C.C Smith is an institution at Jonesboro High
School. He moved to the city from his birth place in rural Arkansas in 1971 at
the age of 1. He has spent his entire 25 year teaching career in the Jonesboro
school system. He started in alternative education and now teaches high school social
studies. He has been an assistant volleyball coach since 2003. He is also the
girls track coach and a few years ago when approached by a group of students,
started a school step team that to this day he still sponsors. Consider him
Coach Cummings' alter ego and staunch supporter. Senior setter B<b>ailey Tequpa</b>
says that the longtime assistant coach is invaluable to the team’s chemistry.
“He always knows the right thing to say at the right time,” the three year
varsity starter confides. “I couldn’t imagine him ever not being here. They
will never replace him. Someday they will have to bring someone new in, but
they will never replace him.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Coach
Cummings, at 50 years of age, had no choice but to reinvent himself. The year
after his ASU resignation was long and trying. “I did some subbing in the district,” he
recalled, “and I officiated volleyball and helped out with the area club teams.
The whole time I was dealing with health issues, related to the cancer. I did
everything to keep busy and not go stir crazy. “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fortune
would soon smile on the former beach boy from California when Jonesboro High
Coach Jo Beth Mathis resigned after the 2008 season. In her two years as the volleyball program’s head coach, Mathis won a state title in her first season and reached the state semis her second. “She lived in the Valley View school district,” says Cummings, “and her son and
daughter both went to school there. Her kids did not want to leave their school
and Coach Mathis did not want to coach against her daughter. She had a chance
to go to Valley View as an assistant and she took it. She called me to tell me
the job was to be open and that I should apply. I did and I was hired.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Cummings 2007</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigE7MCD8aiXbD97I_NgOcQuyrQoyod-Cf48mTSGlh-G7fo0Rf96abyh1FCIhuuXzzdkJWMWQ4GuAPDnAZM26BXqXdl7kvvV1x3QRrR-y6SN-zf9z5Y5h1IXpG5dzah5eejJTTKS_E87b1M/s1600/download+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Most jobs
are open for a reason. Not the case in
2009 when Cummings stepped on to a high school court as a coach for the first
time. It was a fortuitous set of circumstances he readily admits. “It (the last
nine years) have had its bumps, but I have always felt supported here.” After
years of coaching college athletes whose parents were not at every practice,
not on the school board or related to half the town; often times college
coaches who move to the high school level are blindsided by the nuisance of
parental influence and demands. Not here, says</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cummings. “You saw after the
game tonight how the parents were on the floor congratulating the kids. I have
never felt parental pressure or interference here. We have always both pulled
in the same direction.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cummings
spends his days teaching elementary physical education and moves over to the
high school each day at 1:30 to drill the Hurricanes. I think to myself that if wears he game day Hawaiian shirt to teach teach physical education, do the kids call you Magnum P.E.? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I fast tracked through the
state department to get my certification. I enjoy working with the younger
kids,” he says of his class rosters comprised of first through sixth graders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coach
Cummings shows stoicism when he denies to me any altruistic based intent with
the two hours he spends each afternoon with his 20 Varsity and JV players. So,
I decide to ask some of his</span><span style="font-size: large;"> players. Does he only care about volleyball, I ask?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><span style="text-align: justify;">Avicenna,</span> he would have<br />made a fine volleyball coach</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Senior setter
<b>Bailey Taqupa</b> is a three year
varsity player. Her older sister was a valued member of the 2013 state
championship team, Coach Cummings first. “It seems like I have known the man my
whole life,” says the self-confident Taqupa. During the 2013 season, at a
weekend tournament, Cummings felt a discomforting tightness in his chest.
Between matches he sought out Bailey’s father, a cardiologist, for an opinion.
“He thought I was coming over to tell him to stop yelling at his
daughter-Bailey’s older sister. I ended up with two stents,” said Cummings. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Coach
encourages me to be a leader", says Taqupa. “Knowing he believes in me means a
lot and gives me confidence to take a leadership role (<b>self-awareness</b>-one
down). He and I get into it all the
time. I like to ask questions but he doesn’t always like to answer them and
when he does, often, I don’t like his answer,” laughs the senior. “I tell him
all the time that when I leave he is going to miss me more than I (will) miss him.”
The academically blessed senior will mothball her volleyball knee pads after
the end of this season and concentrate on her life goal of becoming a dentist.
“I have played (volleyball) year round since I was 7 years old,” she says, “It
is time to move on, but I am going to miss it and I don’t regret any of the
time I have devoted to volleyball. I really am going to miss coach but please
don’t let him know,” she pleads. I promise her it is our secret.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cummings
points out to me before an afternoon practice that he has learned to be flexible
with the outside needs of his players. This afternoon; two of his mainstays will
miss practice as they are playing as a doubles entry in the state tennis meet. Two other current volleyball players run cross
country and occasionally miss practice for meets. In past years, some members
of the volleyball team played in the marching band that required the juggling of daily practice schedules. "In college, says Cummings, "if we had practice, you were at practice. That doesn't work here and besides, I want them to have a good well rounded experience. They are only in high school once." A current JHS volleyball player confides in me that if she had wanted to continue a promising basketball career she would not have been allowed to play any other sports, it had to be basketball year round. She dropped out of basketball. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Junior <b>Kellen Church</b> is a rarity in this age of
specialization; she competes in four varsity sports for the Hurricanes: cross
country, track, softball and volleyball. “It keeps me busy,” the junior understates,
when I asked how she finds the time. She also maintains a grade point average
of 4.0+. Her parents were both former college track coaches and her father is
currently a professor of exercise science at ASU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"It does get
crazy," Church admits, "but coach never pushes me farther than I want to be pushed. The school
here is real good about supporting each other. Coach Cummings can challenge me
without loading more on me, if that makes sense. I guess a better way of saying
it is that he challenges me to challenge myself.” (<b>mental toughness</b>- halfway there)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Breanna Moore</span></b><span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> is, by her own words, a very short but very
productive hitter. “I moved here from Georgia two years ago,” she says “when my
mom got a job at the university.” She is also an honor student with a 4.0+ plus GPA. Her senior year, to this point, has been
smooth sailing, “I had no trouble getting into things (when I moved here). Volleyball has been
a big part of life. I just jumped in and pretty soon I was accepted. This team
is just one big melting pot.” Her teammate Church shoots her a quizzically glance, Melting
Pot? But Moore is now on a roll, a steady stream picking up steam. “You know,” Moore says, “You're white, I am black, Bailey, I am not sure
what she is, Asian something, maybe, but volleyball brings us all together.
Melting Pot, yeah that is it.” I mentioned
to Moore it was a safe bet she is seldom called shy. “Never," she
says with a big smile.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Church says volleyball has taught her to roll with punches of high school. “Sometimes,” the soft
spoken athlete says, “it can get overwhelming, not just with all of my activities
but also with school work and just everything that goes on in and out of
school. I like it that Coach is not a yeller and overly emotional with us. By
being that way, it not only takes the stress off me but also his low key
approach makes me settle down.” (<b>Emotional
stability</b>-one to go)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moore, says
Cummings, is “approachable.” “I never feel I am asking a dumb question,” she
says while her friend Church is losing a battle trying to suppress a grin. “Ok,
sometimes he says it is a dumb question, but he will give me (an) answer. Sometimes, I think Coach tries too hard to be fair and patient. He doesn't tell us how old he is, but we figured it out. He comes from a whole different time and age. But we keep him current," she says with a laugh. "I (get) more fired up than coach gets. Like, some
girl messes up in a big match and I am like, ‘darn coach, get her out.’ Be he will say ‘no, no; she
just needs some time to get it figured out,’ and I am like, ‘darn,’; but then I think
about it and I am starting to see his point. If it was me I would want another
chance, to be supported.”(<b><span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">moral attitudes</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> –
BINGO.) </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“But, hey,
when we get to state," Moore says as she shakes both index fingers for emphasis, “no,
no coach, she is screwing up, she is going to have to sit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Two years
ago, Cummings’ cancer returned, this time as two tumors in his abdomen. “We
found it in August,” he remembers, “but it didn’t seem to be growing as fast
this time, so we decided I would coach the season and have it out the week
before Thanksgiving and I would be back to work the next week. I knew we were
in for a good season so, the decision to wait was not that hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The volleyball
season went better than the medical procedure. Two weeks after defeating Marion
for the state title, Cummings was back in the hospital. “It didn’t go as well
as we had hoped,” he nonchalantly informed me. “Taking the tumors out went
fine, but in recovery, I had some infection problems. I didn’t get back to
school until the second week of January. But, I am fine now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cancer, says
the coach, has changed him. “It scares you,” he admits. “But I have learned to
deal with it in a positive way. I have kept my faith and just push on. I can’t
worry (cancer) away. It is a mental challenge, for sure.” (<b>Emotional stability and mental capacity</b>) ” You learn to live for
the day,” he says, “do the right thing and make each day count. I believe everything
works out. There have (been) some things happen in my life that were not good, but
those circumstances are what has brought me here now, and it is a good place I am now,
so I focus on doing things that have an impact. That is important to me.” (<b>self-awareness and moral attitudes)</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I asked Cummings if he thought his players learned to model the positive behaviors he
had just mentioned by the way he interacts with them, in essence to develop
strong character traits through their high school volleyball experience. “I
hope so,” he says, “that is why I am here.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, chalk
one up for my Persian friend, after all. It is pronounced: AV" + "i" +
"SEN" + "uh”.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In November, the Hurricanes capture the state Class 5 state championship. They sweep all four state matches 3 sets to none.</span></div>
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<br />Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-913088429315802492018-09-19T13:43:00.002-07:002020-11-01T15:07:18.049-08:00Fayetteville, AR<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span> </i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">p</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">all of dread and doom, in disregard of what had
been a gorgeous Indian Summer day, greeted my late afternoon arrival.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Last Saturday night, for
the sacrilege it proclaimed to the college football world, the monstrous new
state-of-the-art scoreboard at Donald W. Reynolds Stadium in Fayetteville, AR
could not be turned off fast enough: North Texas State 44, the Arkansas
Razorbacks 17. No way. Ok, but how?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGvS54u8Feguu9anckefCp_P2zTXpabV7PWXpr3oiukyG7F-RjmahSyl5mP6GoqiTKo05GiaC4MXc4R8EBYbUlkusoOHPJXMtpIU6Q9Bure7D8CGT0M25pV1mpHHnDQTR6P6UGo3x2s0b/s1600/banners+2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="661" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGvS54u8Feguu9anckefCp_P2zTXpabV7PWXpr3oiukyG7F-RjmahSyl5mP6GoqiTKo05GiaC4MXc4R8EBYbUlkusoOHPJXMtpIU6Q9Bure7D8CGT0M25pV1mpHHnDQTR6P6UGo3x2s0b/s320/banners+2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Three in a row</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I fear I have picked a
most inopportune time to visit Fayetteville, AR, home of the University of
Arkansas Razorbacks. Even on Monday afternoon, when I arrive 48 hours after the
weekend debacle, a suffocating cloud of disbelief and shock still hung over the
Ozark mountain valley that harbors this quaint college town. Last Saturday,
the faithful had sat stone silent through a very real old southern style butt
kicking. You could have heard a mouse piss on cotton that night in Reynolds
Stadium, it was so quiet, a heavily bearded waiter at the downtown Power House
Restaurant informs me. Heaped on top of
this night of humiliation for the Hog faithful was another, hard to swallow, one
touchdown home field loss to Colorado State the Saturday prior, not the way for
a South Eastern Conference heavy weight to open the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The last two Saturdays
were supposed to be mere tune-ups for when the big boys of the SEC come a
calling, nothing but a fine excuse to tailgate before a walk over win. These
early season mismatches for the powers of the big dollar college football club
are called win-buys, in other words, pay a weak opponent for a guaranteed win. Give a small school, like
North Texas State - that really needs the revenue - a nice paycheck, at times
in the seven figure range. It is win/win for both parties. This tidy fiscal
arrangement allows for the power conference schools to work out the kinks
against a sacrificial lamb that leaves bloodied - but richer. Somebody forgot to
get the memo to North Texas State. Losing decidedly to the Mean Green of NTSU
elicits the obvious question from the Hog loyalists: So what happens when the
Crimson Tide roll into town?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">But, the Coach is new
this season (his predecessor was given a multi-million dollar buy out of the
last three years on his contract to send him quietly on his way out of town) I
point out, and the locals will be patient, I assume. Don’t bet on it, a motel
desk clerk tells me Monday evening. “We lost a season opener at home a few
years ago and Frank (Broyles, the Hogs late, long time and legendary, crusty Athletic
Director) met him in the tunnel coming off the field at the end of the game and
fired the old boy on the spot. It was the first game of the season,” he laughs
“Now, what was that ole boy’s name,” he inquires of his friend loafing at an
adjoining table?” Neither have the long term memory to recall the banished
coaches’ name, only his sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This is Hog Land and
don’t patronize the locals with talk about the Razorback’s baseball team that
finished last season second in the nation, albeit with a roster full of
California and Florida imports; or the cross country and track teams who have
won multiple national titles, albeit with a cast of foreign Olympians. Don’t
matter. Ever seen a tailgater at a cross country meet?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">******<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrttspjClevsRLwAVY4aXdhaI4u64mwLLGukMoTHR8XA_fekjRd8pw653hH3fxKQ7x4XaHC0sPQavHJrRDbFqTCiBBIMj1yzApj7oIkDCbRxQplsDUTekQrkZNyVe6SrNW9H21WLMxdlH/s1600/banners.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="691" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrttspjClevsRLwAVY4aXdhaI4u64mwLLGukMoTHR8XA_fekjRd8pw653hH3fxKQ7x4XaHC0sPQavHJrRDbFqTCiBBIMj1yzApj7oIkDCbRxQplsDUTekQrkZNyVe6SrNW9H21WLMxdlH/s320/banners.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">State POY four straight years</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I was in town to
document the long running blue ribbon Fayetteville High School girls’
volleyball program. However, an underlying
reason to make this late summer journey was the opportunity to study and
experience a community with both a successful college athletic program blended
with a long time successful high school athletic program. I was not to
leave disappointed in the insights I gained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Located literally in the
shadows of the Razorback’s gluttonous Taj Mahal of a football shrine (stadium),
currently undergoing renovations that by next fall will add 4,800 seats
(raising total seating capacity to over 80,000), including new luxury suites,
club areas and loge boxes, Fayetteville High School has built an eye opening
athletic dynasty of its own. Recently, Sports Illustrated recognized the 2000
student high school as possessing one of the nation’s top 20 high school
athletic programs. Since 1996, the purple and gray clad Bulldog teams have won
a state best 90 combined state wide athletic titles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The volleyball team at
FHS over the past 15 years has patiently and methodically chiseled out its own
niche in the local sports world. Under the direction of Coach Jessica Phelan
and, despite competing in the fall directly with the Deep South’s obsession with
football, the volleyball Bulldogs have built one of the nation’s top programs, at
times ranked in the national top 20 polls. The Bulldogs enter the 2018 season
as a three time defending Arkansas Class 7A state champions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The last four Gatorade State Player
of the Year awards have been scooped up by two Bulldogs, both who graduated last spring. Haley Warner won the honors in the years of 2014 and 2017;
teammate Ella May Powell was the recipient in 2015 and 2016. Warner now plays
for the powerful Florida Gators while Powell as a freshman is the starting
setter for the University of Washington. Both had been offered Division I full
ride scholarships as 8<sup>th</sup> graders. It is hard, if not next to
impossible. on the high school level to lose cogs of that caliber and not endure
a bumpy next season.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The 2018 Bulldogs enter
the home stretch of their schedule with a very un-Fayetteville mark of 10-12.
This is a program that has played for a state title seven of the past eight years,
bringing home top honors four times. I had followed online the progress of the
season and as the losses piled up, I from afar, grew concerned about my
impending visit. How do I put a positive spin on what I anticipated finding - a
dispirited team grinding through to finish a forgettable season as soon as
possible, a traditional powerhouse that had fallen off the rails, now simply
going through the motions before throwing dirt on the carcass of the 2018
season, was the question I pondered on my five hour drive down from St. Louis?</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****</span></div>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Error, I have learned,
is the ultimate inside job, and I have assuredly perfected this skill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">As I tend to do often,
my preconceived vision of what I would find at the 2:15 Bulldog practice I was
scheduled to attend was off by only a mere 180 degrees. The whole package:
energy, focus, organization, supportive teammates; all ingredients that make
for a championship level practice were this day vibrantly on display. This team
practiced like a three time defending state champion; not a team with a losing
record just mailing in the remainder of the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoiADnhS3ugYuDTNRaTKL9LoYTF18BMXOA13B7LVt7hah7PppQ8alFV6ME_TMZ1FD9OUEsiJUQ6Xphe8Q77ir6Vr3us9MIMSqqO_EdC8qMZu9qqvXNduqiBJ4ebF2KnUnitQ1KcEJMdJee/s1600/spike.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="794" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoiADnhS3ugYuDTNRaTKL9LoYTF18BMXOA13B7LVt7hah7PppQ8alFV6ME_TMZ1FD9OUEsiJUQ6Xphe8Q77ir6Vr3us9MIMSqqO_EdC8qMZu9qqvXNduqiBJ4ebF2KnUnitQ1KcEJMdJee/s320/spike.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Practice Drills</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I asked Coach Phelan why
all the positive vibes from a team seemingly anchored in the dire straits of
mediocrity and a disappointing season? “I have three great seniors,” she
explained in blunt response to my blunt inquiry. “They have been out front in
keeping the focus sharp. All three are just outstanding kids. This is a very
small class of seniors. The ones, who have stuck it out, these three, knew
early that they were behind several outstanding classes and their opportunities
as underclassman for varsity court time could and probably would be limited.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Phelan took objection to
my gloomy assessment of the season. “We play a very, very tough schedule. We
have lost some close matches, but there can be such a thing as a-”good” loss, I
have over time accepted this, when you know you are getting better. We have a
lot of volleyball to play yet (this season) and you could see for yourself
today that this team’s morale is high. They are having fun.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The watershed effect of
the strong players now graduated is a double whammy to this year’s seniors.
“There was never much pressure on this group, they had a comfortable supportive
role to play and they did it well,” the fifteen year Bulldog leader says. “All
three were contributors to last year’s state (title) team, but they didn’t have
to be leaders, until now. And that is tough.” Locked now into a role that
requires this trio to quickly gain the respect from the underclassman, to be
viewed now as pace setters, is a daunting task.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">But, according to their
coach, they have conquered well the crucible thrown at them. “I couldn’t
be more satisfied with all three,” is the evaluation Coach Phelan gives. “The
positive mood and focus to get better each day, what you saw today (at
practice), it is because of the attitude of my three seniors. It gets to the
heart of what it takes for a group to be successful, to thrive: you have to
work really hard and really embrace the power of being a teammate.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMvAWK5W198kOBH1mr4TggbL5mITMvUXa__fRmAS6Fm0L6zboNXegPutpfNFNRtA-5dRC6kJ02gPRZ10UsL44bKGDsP7tyUhdnLHpIpw1CtMffAfhS2fDuqJME11YI9ZQnV-8QSAUTkxg/s1600/seniors.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="851" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMvAWK5W198kOBH1mr4TggbL5mITMvUXa__fRmAS6Fm0L6zboNXegPutpfNFNRtA-5dRC6kJ02gPRZ10UsL44bKGDsP7tyUhdnLHpIpw1CtMffAfhS2fDuqJME11YI9ZQnV-8QSAUTkxg/s320/seniors.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Senior Trio</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">There is no pressure on
this group. All three seniors tell me in a post practice interview that they
are comfortable with the lower expectations for the current season, that they
can play loose and have fun, but come state tournament time, you just never
know who can catch the hot hand. <span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">A big part of </span><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">c</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">oaching is that you have
to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled. This will be
the main mental focus as the team heads down the season’s home stretch with a 4<sup>th</sup>
state trophy waiting at the finish line. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">In other words, the hunted has now become the hunter and that,
Coach Phelan tells me, is in some ways a welcome role reversal from the high
expectations of the past three years. For a team that knows what it takes to
win championships to be lurking in the mid-season shadows is not a bad place to
be. "Don’t count us out yet for this year,” a confident Coach Phelan
warns me. “I can see the pieces coming together."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Claire Cooper, Carly
Unruh and Jaden Weller</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> are
enjoying the twilight moments of their Bulldog careers. Unruh intends to play
volleyball next year in college. Cooper and Weller plan to be full time
students next fall, giving up the sport on the competitive level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">All three point to the
resilience of this year’s team with pride, in effect, their footprint on the
program’s legacy. They see their “no quit” attitude as a badge of honor they
have earned the right to wear. But the goal of resilience is not just to live
to fight another day, but, instead, to thrive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LULiU4b6J8ThMUDjR3YESLu2itwsiy7rQJ98KBZBwv4KHBytxI0ZHOuw4ZdTx9ABPJBdD9k5qZXTfGL5tg7028T6K3ykFgxNePUNbUrGMDWq875msDnzywrKE9EpRdFYQuy4vrfhyphenhyphenvr8/s1600/ACTION.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="676" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LULiU4b6J8ThMUDjR3YESLu2itwsiy7rQJ98KBZBwv4KHBytxI0ZHOuw4ZdTx9ABPJBdD9k5qZXTfGL5tg7028T6K3ykFgxNePUNbUrGMDWq875msDnzywrKE9EpRdFYQuy4vrfhyphenhyphenvr8/s320/ACTION.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Game action vs. Heritage</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Adversity can tap
unexpected strengths. “I am not naturally outgoing,” says Weller. “It has taken
some real effort on my part to become more of a vocal leader.” She feels a
strong obligation of duty to give back to a program that has given her so much.
“Last year, I was the back-up setter to Ella May (Powell). She was an
All-American, but she was just so good to me, taught me so much. For a player
of her ability to be so supportive of her backup just meant everything to me. I
can never begin to fill her shoes as a player, but I can strive to do my best
in setting an example and to be the best teammate possible, like she was to
me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Cooper and Unruh grew up
as friends in Branson, MO, over the state line and an hour north of
Fayetteville. “We knew each other all of lives,” says the gregarious Cooper. “I
moved here in 8<sup>th</sup> grade and Claire in 9<sup>th</sup> grade,”
says Unruh. “It was just coincidence it happened this way, but it was nice to
have a friend already here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">All three were involved in
multiple sports through their elementary school days, but all concentrate now
on just volleyball. “We pretty much have to,” says Cooper of the specialization.
“It takes a lot of time to drill to be able to play at this level. If we
are not involved in the school season, then we are getting ready for club
season,” she says of her year round commitment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">All three agree
wholeheartedly that the school team takes priority. “We spend the club season
trying to get better with the goal of winning the state championship for our
school,” states Weller. “I cannot describe how good it felt when the ball hit
the floor on the last point last year and we knew we were state champions. It
seemed like the ball was never going to come down. It is something I will never
forget; always take with me and it makes all the work worth it.” Cooper says
that defining moment in the state title match still, "gives me
chills."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I am impressed that the
Bulldogs seniors have figured out that a failure in life will never be
greater than a life’s regret. They all three inform me that when in a few weeks they peel away their sweat socked Bulldog game jerseys for the last time,
they will do so with no regrets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The Northwest Arkansas
region has seen an explosion in growth over the last generation. Fueled by the
world headquarters of the retail giant, Walmart, the towns to the north of
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigGGZJJmpExGdDjJ6M6oudVB5xMnD9I4Ta4jcKT02e1bJPb8N1FAp9aLvzrDWcrxMgncASzA8reTlYb5HFleCA-hHhKSIF_IZ-RHBI1R5c5s7ofjDqkDWrymBp1MVN6xMfHHi2roSnBgtH/s1600/drill.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="774" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigGGZJJmpExGdDjJ6M6oudVB5xMnD9I4Ta4jcKT02e1bJPb8N1FAp9aLvzrDWcrxMgncASzA8reTlYb5HFleCA-hHhKSIF_IZ-RHBI1R5c5s7ofjDqkDWrymBp1MVN6xMfHHi2roSnBgtH/s320/drill.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">After school practice </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fayetteville - Bentonville and Rogers, have been inundated with so many new
families the local school districts are stretched to their limits with constant
building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The four-county
Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, with 463,204 residents, is
today ranked as the nation’s 105th most populated region. Fayetteville in 2010
was home to 73,580 people, a growth rate of 26.8% from the year 2000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Fayetteville has all the
ingredients that make college towns a desirable modern habitat. Locals enjoy a
cultural identity from the University of Arkansas found nowhere else in the
state. The area is a prominent arts and music center with a vibrant college
entertainment district, anchored by numerous trendy and exotic bars and restaurants.
And of course, there are the Razorbacks. Fayetteville's passion for the Hogs
earned the city a #15 ranking on Forbes' latest "Top College Sports
Towns" list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">When you are honest,
sans the blinding pageantry, there is no logical educational defense for
America’s obsession with intercollegiate athletics. But, its imminent demise
has been proclaimed for almost as long as the existence of intercollegiate
athletics itself. Like some pollution resistant carp, the beast continues to
not only exist but to thrive in the very toxic quagmire itself has created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The National
Collegiate Athletic Association, who
oversees major college athletics, is a text book example of a Cartel. By
enforcing rules that prevent paying players (euphemistically called
student-athletes by the NCAA) what they would make in a competitive labor
market, they have created a slave labor pool of students who own
high in-demand skills, but have no rights under the current system to share in
the incredible wealth their labors produce. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">A superstar athlete in
the two sports that are responsible for almost all of the revenue produced in
college athletics, men’s basketball and, of course, football; generate
literally millions of dollars but will receive only scholarship assistance and
a small additional spending allowance in return. Wealth that would under a
capitalistic system go largely to players flows instead to those who recruit
them, namely coaches and athletic administrators. When Charlie Ward, a
quarterback at Florida State University, won the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHCXiBEqOIt5t3XGP7y9UO93kgFBE0uFJ1ocwiVsJUN74homVWA6k6BaxSNCJBVx8MoM7MIRp-soSYArbqqO3QKxtqZhEzC6qUcKT6KRXeZ81Gpkh9hcs3zubg1mLD2TwK8Og7u2sRdEJ/s1600/action+2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHCXiBEqOIt5t3XGP7y9UO93kgFBE0uFJ1ocwiVsJUN74homVWA6k6BaxSNCJBVx8MoM7MIRp-soSYArbqqO3QKxtqZhEzC6qUcKT6KRXeZ81Gpkh9hcs3zubg1mLD2TwK8Og7u2sRdEJ/s320/action+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top flight facilities</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
1995 Heisman Trophy as the
best college football player in the nation, the FSU owned University book store
made tens of thousands of dollars selling replicas of Ward’s number 7 game jersey. But Ward himself, he
testified, could not afford the $50 asking price to buy his own jersey. Today,
23 years later the throwback jersey is still a hot item on the FSU book store
website. The now 47 year old Ward has never received any of the proceeds his
image still to this day generates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The University of
Alabama’s football coach, Nick Saban, makes over $11 million annually to
oversee the dynasty style Plantation he has built in Tuscaloosa, earning about
as much in a month as his boss, the University of Alabama’s president, earns in
a year. Today, in 41 states the highest paid state employee is a collegiate
men’s basketball coach or a football coach. The starting Quarterback who led
the Crimson Tide to a national football championship last January, Tua
Tagovailoa, with his “salary” scholarship, is receiving less than one percent
the earnings of his coach. Contrast that to professional sports where in a true
free market capitalistic system the true worthy commodity, the players, have
salaries that dwarf that of their coaches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In the 1950s NCAA bylaws
stated: “Student participation in intercollegiate athletics is an avocation,
and student-athletes should be protected from exploitation by professional and
commercial enterprises.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In today’s athletics
arms race universities, despite a stated mission to create a place of higher
learning and intellect, have commercialized athletics to the point where they
are essentially running professional teams. Not burdened to pay market driven
salaries while exploiting hundreds of athletes by using their images and skills
for profit, the colleges hold all the bargaining chips, with the player’s
scholarships dependent on participation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">According to data from
the University of Michigan, one of the nation’s largest athletic revenue
producing institution, the educational journey of a college athlete will often
suffer a dismal crash landing. Nearly one-third of the recruited athletes to
its Ann Arbor campus in the class of 2011 — 70 out of 221 — had quit their
sports by November 2010, according to a report submitted to the provost by the
Compliance Office. U of M’s Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger said the
numbers are very similar year to year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Major college athletics
is fundamentally based on a mercenary system that one must believe will
eventually cannibalize itself. The out of control spending on facilities to
stay in competition with fellow institutions of high learning is insane. It is
a system that cannot be maintained and will eventually cave under the weight of
its own greed and the hypocritical treatment of its most basic and
indispensable revenue source – the athletes themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUT0UXnRaryK-hcJlkTTZEBLM7Hd95wfpcqxYV3uVjxslglUvjpOYLYy8AfUr3VlvoPw2EctjSHWBPE0SyD5t3cyU1xiG2B7FGFcbJ_rqaOpmkbi7TDxKnn28bVWAN3pKQNwkEqXZMuvy/s1600/razorbackstadiumexpansion.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="1200" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUT0UXnRaryK-hcJlkTTZEBLM7Hd95wfpcqxYV3uVjxslglUvjpOYLYy8AfUr3VlvoPw2EctjSHWBPE0SyD5t3cyU1xiG2B7FGFcbJ_rqaOpmkbi7TDxKnn28bVWAN3pKQNwkEqXZMuvy/s320/razorbackstadiumexpansion.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">High on the Hogs</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In 2015, when the
players at the University of Missouri threatened to not play in a home football
game against Brigham Young University unless the University President resigned,
their demands were quickly met. The mostly white alumni were infuriated with
the thought that such a small minority had seized such power, in effect, the
patients running the asylum. The mostly black athletes on the Mizzou football
team were almost giddy with the empowerment their threatened boycott, a work
stoppage in labor terms, had so quickly sparked an unconditional surrender from
the school’s administration. Shock waves rolled through the office of every
Athletic Director of a major university in the land. Was there a revolt brewing
on the plantation? Have the athletes finally figured out they are the valued
commodity, not the coach, and without them there is no show, no need to expand
stadiums and build new luxury boxes at Fayetteville’s Reynolds Stadium?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">They have not, yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Coach Phelan has a loaded
volleyball resume that is of a five star caliber. Growing up in the
small and picturesque Missouri River town of Hermann, MO, she learned the sport
under the tutelage of legendary Bearcat mentor Linda Lampkin, the winningest
volleyball coach in state history. To go along with Lampkin’s 900+ wins and
counting are 12 state championships, two on teams led by Phelan. “I grew up
wanting to be a Hermann Bearcat,” Phelan says. “It meant everything, to try and
keep the program going strong. I so looked up to the older players ahead of me.
I like to think we have instilled those same traits, and the work ethic (needed)
to make it happen, here at Fayetteville.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Phelan matriculated to
Northwest Arkansas in the fall of 1995 as a top recruit of a program in its
infancy. The Razorbacks had started an intercollegiate volleyball program in
1994, the year before her arrival on campus. Known as Jessica Field in her Hog
undergrad days, she was a true trailblazer. “It really appealed to me to come
in on the ground level, to be a leader early on and to be part of building a
strong program,” she says. Phelan’s accomplishments in her four year collegiate
career are impressive. She left as an All-American, the first volleyball Razorback
so honored. Her junior and senior seasons both ended with successful NCAA
national tournament runs. She was honored as an Academic All-American for her
work in the classroom. She was also a two time All-SEC first team selection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">After graduation, opportunities
to continue her playing career were few. “I trained between my junior and
senior college seasons with the US National team, but there was not really a
professional league to move on to,” Phelan states. “I didn’t really give it
much thought; these were the days (when) no real options were out there. I just
accepted my playing days were over. I married after my college graduation and
it just seemed like it was time to move on. My husband is from Fayetteville and
played on the tennis team here so it was just natural to stay here and begin
our careers. I earned my Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling and we just got
on with our lives.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Phelan spent four years
working in the rehab field. She also volunteered to coach on the area’s
expanding club volleyball scène. “The schools in the area had never had
volleyball, but when the University added the program in 1994, it spurred the
interest and area high schools started to add the sport,” the coach says.
Fayetteville High School added volleyball to its athletic offerings in 1995.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">“I, at first, was not
interested in coaching,” Phelan says. “But with starting a family, I realized I
wanted to coach at a level above just helping with a club team.” For one year
she took a teaching/coaching job at nearby small school, Prairie Grove, with the
assigned task of starting up the school’s volleyball program. The following
year, the job at Fayetteville High opened and Phelan jumped at the opportunity
to become the head coach of the volleyball program. Her reputation as a
Razorback player gave her instant credibility. “The first few years we did
struggle,” she shares. “We have always had good kids who will work hard, they
just needed to see how much and how hard they had to commit. By the third year
we were in the state tournament.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The Bulldogs demolish this
evening’s competition, Rogers Heritage High School. Heritage is a relatively
new school, a by-product of the Walmart infused area population growth. The War Eagles, in existence for only a
decade, have nowhere near the tradition of Fayetteville. From the boom area
just north of Fayetteville, Rogers is still a school looking to mesh in the
midst of so much upending growth. Tonight, they fall like dominos in three progressively
widening straight sets; 25-19, 25-12 and 25- 9. Rogers has a young
energetic coach determined to build a competitive program. But, on this evening
they are not yet ready to compete with a program the caliber of Fayetteville.
The home team is clearly too big, too strong and too skilled for the upstart
opposition. However, to give the War Eagles some hope, the great thing about
high school sports is that in the near future, with the hard worked needed, the
fate of tonight’s adversaries could easily in a few years flip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This is a young but
talented Bulldog team. The VolleyDogs, as they are introduced in the pregame by
the school’s professional sounding public address announcer, start two
sophomores and two juniors. They rotate in two more juniors and a sophomore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The Fayetteville program
supports five teams; two freshman squads, a sophomore team, a junior varsity
squad and the varsity. Over 70 girls are currently in the program. Phelan has
four full time assistants. The younger squads are able to insert an athletic
hour into their class assignments, but with the school employing a two hour
block type schedule, the classes for activities do not meet each day. Some
before and after school practices are necessary for the younger squads to get
in adequate in-season court time. The varsity and JV both practice together,
starting with the last class block of the day at 2:30, finishing each day at
4:30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">All five teams play full
season slates necessitating a travel nightmare of cross scheduling. It is not
unusual for some of the five teams to be at home on the same night others are
traveling. Despite accommodating such a large number of student athletes,
season starting roster cuts are still an unpopular chore for the coaching
staff. “We have two feeder junior highs that come to us as freshman,” explains
Phelan, “and they all have multiple teams. There are a large group of girls
right now in Fayetteville wanting to play volleyball.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">As I pack the car on
Wednesday morning, headed home, I ponder Coach Phelan’s upbeat attitude about a
season that on the surface the hard core critics would call disappointing. I
look for a parallel I cannot find when reading the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sunday morning on-line edition’s obituary on Saturday’s Hog’s football loss. No
one in the current Fayetteville volleyball program wants a season derailed
anywhere short of a 4<sup>th</sup> consecutive state championship trophy
and they will continue to pay the price to compete on the highest level their
skills will take them to. But, they will not be held up to public ridicule if
they fall short. That is the difference between student centered high school
athletics and profit centered big time college athletics. I cannot as a
lifelong educator logically defend the passion I (admit), like a majority of
Americans, invest in college athletics. I can, however, climb up on my soap box
and staunchly defend the resources we commit to high school athletic program
such as the one at Fayetteville High School. Unfortunately, I can find no noble
confluence of the two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I ask Coach Phelan why
she is not coaching at the collegiate level. With her background as an
All-American player and multiple state titles on her coaching resume, it seems
it would be a natural progression up the coaching ladder for a still young
coach. “The competitive me would enjoy the college level," she told me.
"But I would have to give up too much to go that direction and I am not
willing to do that. I am a mother of three and a wife. Even coaching high
school it gets hectic, but not like the time demands would be on the college
level.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">“And,” the well
decorated and cerebral coach says, choosing her words carefully, “I would miss the academic classes I teach. I teach three Advanced Placement Psychology
classes. I love the mental stimulation I get from the academics here. It is a
very nurturing environment we work in. The faculty really supports the athletic
program and we coaches feel an obligation to produce players who achieve both
on the court and as good school citizens. As you can imagine, we have students here
who thrive when challenged in the classroom. That would be missing if I was a
coach first and foremost, like I would be in college. For me, high school
coaching is a much more impacting fit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Amen, Coach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-962134444618549822018-09-12T17:30:00.001-07:002018-10-20T08:54:14.187-07:00 Luth. South, MO<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Up to this point, my volleyball
road trip has taken me to the rural wide open spaces of Oklahoma, Illinois and
Kansas. Small towns, especially those who have strong athletic programs – like
the three I have just finished with – soar or crash on the wings of their
teenage warriors. These are communities where on your way to Lighting Up Friday
Nights you will, in order; turn off
Willie, Waylon and the Boys, water the dog and hit the Tasty Freeze drive
through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3Ge2CsDaa18P_abUrcyq20wcjlTggwYLIVdkeW4l0hENpg8lJ5JWbYxG4IVn22-ksWp3i0zTGlBR-NBBdu9umGHopyChDJCG5RIGvlaNHd7I_myZI5pD1gHCtFn6akrMZ_toW7rTFUe2/s1600/SENIORS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3Ge2CsDaa18P_abUrcyq20wcjlTggwYLIVdkeW4l0hENpg8lJ5JWbYxG4IVn22-ksWp3i0zTGlBR-NBBdu9umGHopyChDJCG5RIGvlaNHd7I_myZI5pD1gHCtFn6akrMZ_toW7rTFUe2/s320/SENIORS.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">2018 seniors. A deep <br />and talented group</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This week, I am staying off the
road and spending some time here in my home town of St. Louis, MO with the
Lutheran South Lancers. What I unexpectedly found was a small town cozy feel in
a modern suburban setting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We live in a world today, fraught with inconsistencies, unpredictabilities and galloping variables. It
matters not if you approve of the technology induced 24/7 chaos our lives have
become. The reality is, unless you seek drastic measures – like, disconnecting
from the internet, a move off-grid to a remote Montana mountain cabin while bunkering
down with a good stack of firewood, risking the possibility of having the Unabomber for a neighbor - you cannot escape modern life as a whirlwind of
“new and improved.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about this for
irony:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>today, change is the only
constant we can latch onto. What was state-of- the-art at the conclusion of
yesterday is now this morning tossed on the trash pile of the obsolete. The
world, somehow, has gotten itself in one big hurry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, it was refreshing for me this
week to find at least a sliver of dependability by investing my time into a
couple of days with the Lancers volleyball program. Consistency and the calming
effect it induces is the cornerstone of the south St. Louis power Coach Carol
Reinitz has built.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reinitz is in her 22<sup>nd</sup>
season as head coach of the South volleyball program. She is a graduate of Fox
High School in Arnold, MO; just a short distance from the Lancers’ quaint and
cozy 60 year old gymnasium. Reinitz spent her first year in education teaching
and coaching at the public school in DeSoto, MO. The following year she was hired
on at Lutheran South as PE instructor and assistant volleyball coach. She has
been at the parochial school ever since, claiming today that she has enjoyed
every minute of her time here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga44tNCAwT6gtD-Q_-lCmOh6wQupE1EJM-7c_1roYH2KbFVwf3Slw75Om0C4Sh6s2XTBlmnP010KRm2Rtp-ImEwaSiO7FmF_N7-ao5oFN7L0xqaa9NNapF_2kNV8FJi6GKYkt9lnpN62l3/s1600/action+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="479" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga44tNCAwT6gtD-Q_-lCmOh6wQupE1EJM-7c_1roYH2KbFVwf3Slw75Om0C4Sh6s2XTBlmnP010KRm2Rtp-ImEwaSiO7FmF_N7-ao5oFN7L0xqaa9NNapF_2kNV8FJi6GKYkt9lnpN62l3/s320/action+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Action vs Francis </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Howell Central</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reinitz moved over to the South head
coach’s seat after her first year internship as an assistant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has proven over time to be a comfortable
fit for both her and her beloved school. She is currently on the verge of her 600th win. In 22 years, her Lancers have won 16 district titles and
have qualified for 6 State Class 3 Final Fours. In 2016, LHSS came home with
the state championship trophy, the first in Reinitz’s tenure. Last year, her
young squad exceeded all pre-season expectations by taking second place at the
state meet. To a player, the Lancers feel they should have won. They say this
year, come November, there is unfinished business to attend to in Cape Girardeau,
home of this fall’s Missouri State Championships. With a solid returning group
of 8 seniors, it could well happen. The 2018 edition of this black and gold
clad powerhouse, I can attest to, is very good, indeed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I asked Reinitz for the secret to
churning out such a consistent winner. She informs me I have answered my own
question. “We are consistent,” she says. “We start and end each practice with a
prayer. I see that as very important and as a Christian school we have not only
the right to do so, but an obligation to our faith to do so. Also, we have very
clear expectations, both on the court and off. There is a long tradition here
of representing ourselves and our school in a positive way. We are committed to
each other and our mutual goals. It is the Lutheran South way ”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Watching a mid-season
practice, it is obvious that this team is focused, their pace sharp and
efficient. The drills are run with little explanation from the veteran coach. A
whistle and a short coaching command propel the athletes scrambling to their
next assignment. “We drill the same most every practice,” explains Reinitz. “We
do not have to waste time with explaining a drill, they already know the drill
and most important, they know why we run the drill, how it builds on the skills
we feel are important.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We spend a lot of time and we
begin every practice with (an) emphasis on ball control,” explains Reinitz. “Everything
we do builds off of this. As we move longer into practice, it goes unsaid that
everything is based on ball control.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lutheran High School South was
founded in 1957. Today, the suburban campus is home to 540 students. Unlike
many of its neighboring private schools, LHSS is currently in a vibrant state
of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="text-align: start;">steady enrollment.</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhJScvvnJnKaFobSqsP3jRKcBsAOipMJm2kSI_RxFxzwpiUP59irMusP6k7XNXq8YlNFc9gFlJTZ7Gmw5uvQV_OPpd7lSW7gTdo1Hg4Q_kYoRdIWlmQf8q11wEGxOeRhTbX9RKctRKxOD/s1600/bench.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="592" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhJScvvnJnKaFobSqsP3jRKcBsAOipMJm2kSI_RxFxzwpiUP59irMusP6k7XNXq8YlNFc9gFlJTZ7Gmw5uvQV_OPpd7lSW7gTdo1Hg4Q_kYoRdIWlmQf8q11wEGxOeRhTbX9RKctRKxOD/s320/bench.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Team First, the bench <br />gives its support</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of three Lutheran high schools in the St. Louis area, it’s student population is overwhelmingly white, reflecting the makeup of its
surrounding neighborhoods. The St. Louis secondary education landscape is
dominated by many strong and tradition rich private schools. The Catholic
Church sponsors several nearby highly decorated all girl high schools. <span style="text-align: justify;">In a city known for the introductory question of “where did you go to high school,” parents willingly pay $25,000+ a year in tuition at some of the area's prestigious schools to give their daughters an elite education and connections to the area’s higher social class. South fights hard aganist schools deeply entrenched with large endowments to maintain its south side foot hold.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lutheran South’s innovate
curriculum is a component the school actively promotes. The instructional day
is divided into modules or MODS. Students study in Large Group, Laboratory and
Small Group settings. The flexibility this scheme produces is the basis for the
label, FlexMod. Time is available for the additional teacher contact time,
group project time or individual study time. The school’s web page touts the cutting
edge schedule mode as allowing students, “the opportunity to develop
organizational and time management skills you will need to be successful at the
university level.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">LHSSproudly labels itself as a
school for the children of working class families. The school stresses in its
marketing that its graduates are prepared for college success at a tuition rate
more in line with the budget of a middle class family. School leaders are proud
of a hard earned reputation for high academic standing. Lutheran South’s
college preparatory curriculum results in 98% of graduates attending colleges
and/or universities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrD0IKxauJz7rfGX2gBw_dksLGKb6VtpHOre95eaK5COtuj5K48vL6ypZ010qGawVACbK5M4wW5XD1wjdV8VGpJ6x9ibdJJHILtSC4ypAeXvVkUF1jez_iIlneY-lIMJSp-0lQJ7LEuBj/s1600/coach+croped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="348" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqrD0IKxauJz7rfGX2gBw_dksLGKb6VtpHOre95eaK5COtuj5K48vL6ypZ010qGawVACbK5M4wW5XD1wjdV8VGpJ6x9ibdJJHILtSC4ypAeXvVkUF1jez_iIlneY-lIMJSp-0lQJ7LEuBj/s320/coach+croped.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach Reinitz and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">injured <br />senior Danielle Bishop</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Johnathan Butterfield is in his
first year as LHSS’s principal. Previously, he was an elementary principal at a
Lutheran school in the suburb of Kirkwood. I catch him at 3 pm as he is trying
to switch hats from principal to dad. “Heading off to another game,” he says.
The father of five, two who are students in the school he oversees, is in a
perpetual “heading to game,” mode. “It keeps me busy,” he admits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Butterfield is well
aware of the role athletics play in the overall health of his school. ‘Sure, it
is important,” he says, with a nod to a solid athletic program’s enhancement in
convincing potential student’s parents that the tuition required to attend LHSS is a good investment in their child’s future. “It is a carrot, but it should
never be the primary reason for choosing a school,“ he states. Most athletes at
South are multi-sport athletes and many also participate in non-athletic
co-curricular activities. “Participation in roles outside of the classroom is
so important not only for fun, but also for developing a well-rounded
individual,” he states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lutheran South has made a
noticeable investment in its athletic facilities. The modern, on campus sports
complex is impressive. A new all turf field with upgraded bleachers and press
box, surrounded by an eight lane all-weather surface track, gives visual proof of the
financial commitment to athletics. Results are now becoming tangible. For
example, in the past, the Lancers football program suffered through perennial doormat status, year after year being a favorite homecoming game choice for
neighboring schools. No more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We have to make a commitment to
compete with other schools, both private and public,” says Butterfield. “There
are many good options for parents in this area when they are choosing a high
school. Athletics often will come down to what tips the scale. Our kids are
students first, but we also are proud of our teams and we give them the support
they deserve.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We are fortunate that we have most
of our head coaches on staff as full time teachers,” Butterfield notes. “That
does not happen much anymore, a majority of high school coaches in this day are
not on staff, they just come in and coach. This is normally out of necessity,
so we are fortunate. We have a very dedicated staff, always willing to do the
extra, if it benefits our students. Coach Reinitz, for example, was here at 7:15
this morning and will go home about 6:30 this evening, when her practice is
over. We have a lot of dedicated staff like this and that is why our athletics
are so successful, but also so beneficial to our students.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhqM8cP6t4t-_wLCvZeMk6BNdNzXv7UWwJfbDCtxPQNX4YyCAs2BdTqOi1enCIAQsuXuJbk0iUTQzLrOLGvUqB25JSMt7PaoEF24APBBWNF1iNuenH_xolomurV-_McaYWQoOaWP23Dk8/s1600/field.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="735" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhqM8cP6t4t-_wLCvZeMk6BNdNzXv7UWwJfbDCtxPQNX4YyCAs2BdTqOi1enCIAQsuXuJbk0iUTQzLrOLGvUqB25JSMt7PaoEF24APBBWNF1iNuenH_xolomurV-_McaYWQoOaWP23Dk8/s320/field.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Upgraded game </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">field and Track</span></span></td></tr>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Senior </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Danielle Bishop</b> is, unfortunately, one month into the season
sidelined by injury. She broke her foot over the summer playing with her club
team. The blood of South volleyball runs thickly through her veins. Her sister
played for the 2016 state championship team. “I played some varsity as a sophomore but, because of injuries, I didn’t play at state,” she shares. Her
older sibling was instrumental in her grade school decision to play volleyball.
“She told me I had to,” she says with a laugh. “My parents told me in fifth
grade that I had to make a choice between volleyball and soccer. Both school
seasons were in the fall and I couldn’t make a commitment to both, so I
followed my sister and have never regretted the decision,” she says of her
choice to stay indoors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bishop says the time the sport demands,
to play at the high level South competes on, can be daunting and at times
overwhelming, but, “It has all been worth it,” she states with conviction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coach Reinitz says Bishop has
Division I talent. “She is so court savvy,” says the coach about her hobbled outside and middle back. “You cannot teach what she does. She is a natural.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In spite of her coach gushing
over her skills, Bishop says that after this season’s completion, she will hang
up her volleyball shoes for good. “I don’t plan on playing in college. I just
think it would be too much like a job, not something I am doing for fun, like
high school. Right now my focus is on rehab and I hope to be back playing by
October. I got my boot off last week and so far, everything is good. Sitting
and watching has made me realize how much this (volleyball) means to me.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Practice Drills</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Senior <b>Natalie Robinson </b>mans the positon of Libero. Coach Reinitz describes the three year varsity player as, "amazing." This is a very good class, the coach evaluates of the deep and talented senior group.. "They have played key roles here, going back to the state tournament," in 2016.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Seniors <b>Peyton Van Nest</b> and <b>Livie Sandt,</b> with Bishop currently out of commission, are now the unquestioned experienced
team leaders, the engines that drive the Lancers on their state-bound quest. Both
are accomplished setters, allowing Coach Reinitz to employ a 6-2 offense.
Neither leaves the floor for rotation reasons as both are dual hitting threats,
as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The two long-time friends are
both committed to next fall play Division I volleyball; Van Nest at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City while Sandt will take the court for the
University of Dayton Flyers, having<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>committed
to the Atlantic 10 Conference member after her sophomore year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many private high schools who
find success on the athletic fields and courts do so at the constant torment and
loud complaint of their public school rivals by employing a mercenary approach
of recruiting based solely on athletic ability, often with free or reduced
tuition rates. That is not the case at South. Over the years most Lancer
volleyball players grew up in the area’s robust Lutheran elementary schools.
That has been instrumental in developing the year after year powerful teams LHSS is known for. “We seniors all grew up playing against each other in the
elementary league,” says Van Nest. “We became friends during the summers by attending
camps up here (LHSS).”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sandt, a four year
starter, says what she will miss most when she transitions to college will be the
relationships with her teammates. “We have been real successful here with
winning, and we will not settle for anything less this year than a state title,
but what I will always remember, and will really miss, are my friends on this
team.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Under the coaches' gaze, <br />ball contol practice drills</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Legacy
is a phrase that arises often when painting the portrait of long time
excellence that is today Lancer volleyball. The roots run deep. Sandt, for
example, is a double legacy, both of her parents being graduates of South. Both
seniors feel duty bound to pass on the torch. “When we leave here,” says Sandt,
“we will make sure to leave the same program in place that was here when we
were freshman.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her former grade school
rival and now good friend, Van Nest agrees. “This has been such a great
experience and honor to play with my teammates. Coach always stresses doing
things right and treating each other right. It gives us a lot of confidence
when games get tense. We know we are a team and have each others' back.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both standouts appreciate the
balance in their busy lives Coach Rienitz allows for. “We play volleyball pretty
much year round,” says Sandt. “We will get a couple of weeks off at the end of
the school season and a couple of weeks off at the end of July, when club
season ends and before school practice starts. Other than that we are always on
the court. It can become a grind, but coach knows how hard we push ourselves.
She is the one telling us to not over do it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The night’s
opposition, Francis Howell Central, is located in St. Charles County, the fastest
growing area in the St. Louis Metro region. The corn fields and gravel roads of
a generation ago have been replaced with strip malls and multi lane limited
access ribbons of concrete. As parents with the resources make the westward move, highly
acclaimed schools, well supported with high citizen approved tax rates, await
their children. The Francis Howell school district is one of the state’s
fastest growing educational entities. The suburban growth has necessitated the current
need for three 2,000 enrollment high schools within its boundaries.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Spartans have shown
improvement over the past few years but this evening they put up little
resistence to the powerful Lancer juggernaut, falling in two book end sets,
25-16, 25-16. After an 8-8 tie in the first set, the outcome was never in doubt
as the Lancers roll to their eighth consecutive match win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lutheran South is not a
physically imposing squad, not the kind to strike fears into an upcoming
opponent who has not seen them in game action. But such an initial appearance,
in this case, is deceptive. This team is very athletic and has the volleyball
skills to play with a level of confidence that grinds down an opponent. With no
player over 5’11”, they depend on court IQ and savvy to spearhead a relentless
attacking philosophy. The Lancers play to their strengths with little concern
for the opponents’ style of play. This “we do what we do” philosophy results in
a consistency of play that is a long standing staple of Coach Reinitz coached
teams; a strategy ingrained into Lancer volleyball players from the first day
of practice of their freshman year. “We always feel we are prepared,” says the
coach. “We devote a lot of time to scouting the opponent. But, we also stress
that if we execute the fundamentals, winning will take care of itself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coach Reinitz readily admits to
her addiction, she is a “coaching lifer.” “I can’t see myself ever stepping
completely away from volleyball,” she says. “The kids make it all worth the
effort.” Reinitz always knew she wanted to coach and had the blessing of a strong role model to guide her. “My dad quit college to go into the Army and
fight in the Korean War,” she shares. “He always wanted to be a coach but he
had to support a big family of us. He was a police officer first and then became
a car salesman, but he never lost his desire to coach. He coached his kids all
the way through our childhood. I saw what a difference he made in so many young
lives. He has passed away, now, but his passion was passed on to me. He is a
big part of who we are as a program.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With young athletes, it is not
the words a coach says, but the energy her message brings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reinitz has a wide reaching and growing
coaching tree. All three of her very capable assistants are her former players.
The area Lutheran elementary league is today stacked with coaches that played
at South, learning the nuances of the game under Reinitz's guuidance. “That is so
important to what we do,” she states. “I am so proud of what we have built here
and not just for the winning we do, but even more so for the character of the
players who have made us what we are.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most girls who have passed
through this elite program came from good families. Still, adolescence is a
tough time for even the most grounded teen, wrought with pitfalls that can tragically
derail the most promising of futures. Often times, the catalyst to provide a needed
gentle nudge, a timely point in the right direction while giving the
unconditional support paramount to unlocking youthful potential, is a coach. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When this happens, like it has been for the
last 22 years with Lancer volleyball, a legacy will grow. In today’s hectic and
evolving world, it is, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think, a neat
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-76792154911259439572018-08-28T17:38:00.001-07:002018-10-20T09:08:14.038-07:00Payson, IL<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9Gj4qyf5H62Ng-ZrMidGTzDOAzEzcqM6Qc8t9Q74jotof49aTRgLrnpCHr7hVK9n_4fl4CgxLEEQEBa34QvpeLa5gHfI9k5RRYyis25iO5D7CUwgL1miVf1Xnkh5S6V_TeGvqpFYzFH2/s1600/melons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9Gj4qyf5H62Ng-ZrMidGTzDOAzEzcqM6Qc8t9Q74jotof49aTRgLrnpCHr7hVK9n_4fl4CgxLEEQEBa34QvpeLa5gHfI9k5RRYyis25iO5D7CUwgL1miVf1Xnkh5S6V_TeGvqpFYzFH2/s320/melons.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Honor System</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Payson, IL - populated
by 1,632 hearty Midwesterners - if it is happening, it is happening at the E-Z
Stop convenience store. The well patronized establishment is located smack
in the middle of the town’s five block long main drag, EZ is the town’s undisputed
commercial hub. Here, patrons can buy their daily staples, indulge in
social vices – cigarettes, booze, and
even four slots machine in the back corner – buy gas and even sit down for a
home cooked meal. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpmCqbW4OLmWVKjhMKNPww-NtT5aBQdVJaRGB9c7ecq5qcDDvOZ5Y_4NTFTwopWQW0La04QUFPmE5-18DrhTeOgsa3Wy6zdJwKMW7TQdxuAxas2QogBckOF0wXpDjwKYXT_mfyUY2O_44/s1600/payson+money+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpmCqbW4OLmWVKjhMKNPww-NtT5aBQdVJaRGB9c7ecq5qcDDvOZ5Y_4NTFTwopWQW0La04QUFPmE5-18DrhTeOgsa3Wy6zdJwKMW7TQdxuAxas2QogBckOF0wXpDjwKYXT_mfyUY2O_44/s320/payson+money+box.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">One of the self-described “loafers”
hanging out at the E-Z on a late summer afternoon tells me about the town’s
unique produce distribution system, in specific, </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> t</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">he self-service sale of watermelons. I walk
the block and a half west and see a wagon bed holding a dozen watermelons of
various sizes, each adorned with a written price, 2, 3, or 4 dollars. On the front of the wagon sits a cash box
where buyers dutifully deposit the cost of their purchase. The sign above the
wagon announces “TITTSWORTH RAISED MELONS.” </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I arrive as a woman is studying the
available </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">stock. She is a nurse at a local hospital and is on her way home
after just completing her shift. “Old man Tittsworth fills the wagon each
morning during the season,” she tells me. “Tomorrow morning this will be stacked
this high with melons,” she gestures raising her hand to chest level. “People
use to go out to the farm to buy them but he figured it was easier to bring
them into town and it would free him up to get his farm work done. Been doing
it this way for years.” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Nobody takes advantage of this honor system, I inquire?
“Of course not,” she says. I say to her that at least the money box is
padlocked to the wagon. “Well, we do have out of towners that go through here,”
she informs me. I note the slight irritation in her voice.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I am sure it is a response to this out of
towner’s pessimism.</span></span></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">Coaching in any
small, one stop light town can be a slippery slope to navigate. Success does
not make it any easier. In comes with “the support” in a community that gages
its collective worth over the performance of teenagers. The coach played this
kid too much, this kid not enough, this kid the coach subbed into the wrong
position, or put her in at the most inopportune wrong time. The coach was rude
to a member of the board or the president of the Booster Club. They were just
offering good advice. The coach is too soft about this and not hardnosed enough
about that. The coach should have scheduled this team, shouldn't have scheduled
that team. You get the picture: Gene Hackman at the Hoosier’s Barber Shop
meeting. The prairie of west central Illinois is dotted with towns like this,
where high school sports are embraced as the main social activity and musty
gymnasiums are the centers of community life. Payson has had its share of such
intense scrutiny. </span><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What makes a coaching job like Payson Volleyball attractive is the town's tradition and longtime avid support—also makes it one of the most treacherous. At a school like Payson, a coach is entrusted not with a group of unpredictable teenagers, but with an heirloom. It's the town's team. Is this love affair the obsession of a town in a time warp? Perhaps, depending on one’s view of support and over emphasis.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSSUEWh5edFs31KlMTUuDYvj71CsD1SpA770Qqy2Sv8RVUb7bodj9j0DH_as7eAEjyeQ0fO97wcXPVyE5Z_3z7tXHFGcV2m1-mTQRVziJOXvK-1l67UmknRIdygbSisa473piOkZJQ-T1/s1600/payson+team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSSUEWh5edFs31KlMTUuDYvj71CsD1SpA770Qqy2Sv8RVUb7bodj9j0DH_as7eAEjyeQ0fO97wcXPVyE5Z_3z7tXHFGcV2m1-mTQRVziJOXvK-1l67UmknRIdygbSisa473piOkZJQ-T1/s320/payson+team.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> L to R Cassie Eidson, Riley Epperson, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lauryn Hinthome and Tori Schieferdecker </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rita Speckhart spent 30 years coaching in Payson, 17
years as head volleyball coach. Her teams won </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">385 matches. Her 2009 team
finished 4th in the state tournament and for her efforts she was named the
state volleyball Coach of the Year. In the summer of 2016, six weeks before the
start of the season, the local school board, with a 4-2 vote, fired her.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: justify;">This
type of action is not unusual in small towns. Some will scream “unfair.” A like
number will scream “about time.” Often the ones caught in the middle and
eventually scarred by the decisions of adults are the student-athletes. I
wanted to visit Payson to see how the Lady Indian volleyball team had endured
over the past two seasons. It turns out, quite well: 80 wins against four
losses and and the school’s first state championship in any sport.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, it is wise to give the coach a break,
promote longevity. In any high school athletic program, coaching stability and
community support will sustain excellence and reinforce good character. Those
two goals, the current Indians head coach Teresa Loos-Tenbow says, go hand in
hand. “I spent seven years coaching the junior high program here, so I have
been here for ten years. I have never worked in the school system, but I am a
graduate of Payson High School (Class of 1988) and both of my parents went to
school here,” she shares. “These girls know me as I have had the seniors
starting with club ball when they were 8 years old and the younger classes when
I was the Junior High coach. They know I have high standards. Volleyball is the
small window, but life is the big picture.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WBdXEej4-j8l2Ur12sWc_jbYM-T6C8nXOMPr3RalFW38QCXVllKVmewwIsceiM12ySx9Rax8SBWwcTqnAmq926GIdHqQkH8RhkScCLhK9rLKGs-kFjOkCOSPt9ZOJhg72BXwXoSssYpT/s1600/payson+coach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WBdXEej4-j8l2Ur12sWc_jbYM-T6C8nXOMPr3RalFW38QCXVllKVmewwIsceiM12ySx9Rax8SBWwcTqnAmq926GIdHqQkH8RhkScCLhK9rLKGs-kFjOkCOSPt9ZOJhg72BXwXoSssYpT/s320/payson+coach.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coach Teresa Loos-Tendrow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When you peel away the ego, there's no such thing as
bragging. You're either lying or telling the truth. The Payson, IL girls’
volleyball team was preparing last November to take on the girls from
Steelville in a Class 1A state quarterfinal tilt. As the opponents chartered
bus, full of fans, unloaded an overflowing gang of high spirited faithful at
the front door of Lincolnwood High School, one of Payson’s more avid fans gave
some bubble bursting but sage advice. “Leave the bus running,” he </span><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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the driver, “this will not take long.” Thirty five minutes later the rout was
mercifully over, Payson the winner, 25-13, 25-10.<span style="color: blue; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Teresa Loos-Tendrow, in her third year at the helm
of Payson’s volleyball program, loves that type of confidence. “We have great
support and we have a responsibility to live up to that support. We don’t back
off the challenge. There is too much entitlement in today’s society. We try to
teach them that if you want something really special then you have to work
really special hard to get it.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">After knocking off Steelville in the round of 8 last
November, the Indians stormed through the state tournament, topping Newark 25-21,
25-12 in the semifinal and Strasburg in the championship match, 25-12, 27-25;
to complete a 41-1 season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The Indians started off the 2018 season last weekend
with a tournament in Macomb. They finished the day with a mark of 3-2. I point out
to the coach that she had in one day doubled last year’s loss total and that in
her first two years the team had lost only four times (to be fair, this type of
high standard expectation is like batting 8<sup>th</sup> for the 1927 Yankees
Murderers Row). Is the sky falling I ask? “Not at all,” she says with a laugh.
“We played all bigger schools and both losses went to three sets and they were
all close.” The coach falls back on her bedrock principle of coaching,
consistency. “We are still experimenting. We lost four good seniors from last
year. All four are now playing in college, two on the Division 1 level. That is
hard for any small school to lose that kind of talent and not have an early
season drop in success. We have some seniors back with experience and our
junior class is strong. They (the juniors) played little varsity last year, but they were
pushed really hard in practice. We are going to be fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Game action against </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the Western Wildcats</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Riley Epperson</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">
is a four year varsity starter who has, as an Indian, seen very few losses.
“This is going to be a different year, a different team, but we will find
ourselves and we know we can repeat,” she says. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Coach Loos-Tendrow stresses the mental
aspect of the game. “We are devoting practice time this year to making the
mental aspect of the game a big part of our development," the coach says. "It is so important.
Practice is 90% physical and 10% mental. But games are 10% physical and 90%
mental. That is not only true in volleyball but also in life. You have to be
mentally tough. You have to have a short memory. Forget about a mistake. Focus
on what you can do now.” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b>Lauryn Hinthome</b>
has seen the value of this year’s focus and stresses patience. “It is a
process,” she says. “We are now still learning to play with each other and
experiment with different lineups.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The four seniors have all attended school
together since the first day of kindergarten. The Class of 2019’s total class
enrollment is less than 40. With such a small number, the student body and
players become, for better or worse, parts of each other’s lives. The athletes
are not just a representative of the school, they are the school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">“We have all four
gone through school with each other,” says <b>Cassie
Eidson</b>. “Thirteen years, we have grown up together. I like living here,”
she states. “We are leaders and we take the responsibility seriously. The town
really supports us and we don’t want to let them down.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; line-height: 115%;">Tori Schieferdecker</span></b><span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; line-height: 115%;"> likes the feeling of toughness she sees now percolating
in this team. “Losing the two matches
on Saturday like we did, it shows we need to focus better. As Coach said, ‘If
we were good enough physically to beat both of those teams in one set, then we
are good enough physically to beat them a second set.’ When we get the metal toughness we need, we
will win those types of tough matches.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Payson is located 15
short miles from the 40,000 populated Mississippi River port city of Quincy,
IL. The larger neighbor is viewed by locals as a big bully. A couple of elderly
men passing time at the Easy-Z defiantly tell me that Quincy does not dwarf
Payson’s town pride. “Will not play us basketball. Been that way for years,” says
one in mock disgust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; line-height: 115%;">The animosity felt towards
the bigger neighbor has deep historical roots that predate any claims to hoops
superiority. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In 1860, on the eve
of the American Civil War, brother against brother raised its ugly head in Payson in a violent way. In what became known
as the Stone Prairie Riots, a skirmish erupted over the passion raised by the
upcoming 1860 presidential election. Democrat was the dominant political party
in Payson and supporters of Democrat nominee Stephen Douglass erected a 140-foot
pole on the town square, “bearing an unflattering effigy of Lincoln. It
depicted him astride a horse with a maul in his hand and wearing pants described
in one newspaper account as ‘too short for boots.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This was insulting to
a group of Lincoln supporters in Quincy. They saw no choice but to come to the
defense of their candidate’s honor.
According to local newspaper accounts, approximately 50 well lubricated
Quincians made the march into Payson. Those in the front of the parade carried an
insulting banner of a caricature of Douglas portraying him as drunk and falling
down.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">When the outsiders
arrived they were confronted by 100 Payson citizens guarding the now hotly
contested pole in the town square. The Lincoln partisans attempted to tear down
the offending pole and several shots rang out. One of the Quincy raiders was
hit twice in the arm. Cooler heads then prevailed and both sides backed away.
Payson’s distaste for Lincoln aside, he went on to win the election, seen as a
precursor to a civil war that did break out one year later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> First round action in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the Lady Suns Classic, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">held in Augusta, IL</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1a19;">It is painfully, even
in the warmup, evident that this evening’s opponent in the first round of the
Southeastern Sun Classic, Western High School, is overmatched. However, the
Wildcats are gritty and seem to grow more and more confident as the opening set
grinds to an 8-8 tie. During a Payson called timeout, Coach Loos-Tedrow calmly
- but intensely - rallies her troops. With six roster spots </span><span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">filled by girls
over 5’10’’, she has a bevy of attacking options. After the strategic timeout, things
begin to click for the Indians. Six foot </span><b style="color: #1b1a19;">Epperson
</b><span style="color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">hammers home several blasting kills. The Indians prevail in the first set
of a best of three contest, 25-18.</span></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In the second set, 11
straight points served by <b>Epperson</b>
turn a 4-4 tie into a commanding 15-4
lead. It is s more than a now dispirited Western club can bear and Payson
cruises to a 25-12 match clinching set win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">After the game’s completion,
Loos-Tendrow admits her team didn’t play up to her expectations. “We looked
nervous,” assess the coach. “The game was pretty rough.” But there is no time
to pout, the coach points out. “We have to make four trips here this week in
five days. Tomorrow night we have a 5:00 match with West Hancock, so we have
more chances to figure out where we need to be.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">For a coach who
prides herself on keeping an even keel, she will take from this evening’s
effort; the good, evaluate the not so good and adjust. Senior Libero <b>Hinthome</b> has bought in to the concept
the team needs to get mentally stronger. “In the game we lost our sophomore
year,” she relates to a regional final 2016 three set loss to West Prairie, the
eventual state champs, “We should have won that match and today we would be
looking at three state titles in row. I wish we had started focusing on the
mental part of the game back when we were freshman.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This team is oozing
with confidence, of that there is no doubt. Defensive Specialist <b>Hutchinson </b>tells me, “We know the post
season is what counts and that is what we focus on every day. We will not be
distracted from what matters the most and that is to get better each practice,
each game.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Players point out to
me that the lessons they learn in practice carries over into their lives. “I
(transfer) what I learn in volleyball,” says <b>Eidson.</b> Her teammate, 5’6 OH <b>Schieferdecker</b>
concurs. “I am learning to take things as they come. We stop, we step back and we
evaluate. I am doing the same with my future. Where should I go to college?
Should I play volleyball in college? I
am going to just let things play out and see where it takes me.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">It is nice, as a coach,
to have experienced players who are capable of being coaches on the floor.
Coach Loos-Tenbow knows she has a cerebral crew to mentor. She views this as a non-tangible team strength. “They are a solid group,” she says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg84eoyeUTf9gRFdXD0S0Kxs1yTh1HZtc-yyZrypQAS_2qtl1JWOOrhUuTPxKtjS5EQePDS-OzR9Og4ghPldh38RPBDy2AipKxENiU_AZph9nJPF4TD3usCwojDBxzVV539e4E6FpnpKw/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Hollywood panders to
the clichés of small town life, constantly projecting an aura that just does
not exist in reality</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">, that of the </span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">quintessential setting for the Great American Dream, the
ideal Rockwellian hometown. I hope I have avoided that halcyon induced pitfall.
But, indulge me just this once. Today, I must admit, was a welcome respite from
reality. </span><span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">As I leave
Southeastern High School and depart Augusta, IL, population 600, I drive due
west into the setting sun. The locals who know this type of stuff tell me the
corn soon to be harvested will be of an abundant crib busting level, those
nasty tariffs coming from DC be damned. The land I drive through is flat and
bountiful. The wind is non-existent, a pleasurable change from the hot gusts of
my late afternoon arrival. Even the incessant summer humidity has taken a
break.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1b1a19; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Every so often, if
you are patient and wait for it to find you, a slice of a simpler lifestyle of
long ago drops into your lap, a timeless
reminder of the high quality of small town American life. That is where I now briefly reside. I know it
will not last. Soon, the 24 hour news cycle will again invade my tranquil state,
bombarding me with the crazy reality we have come to accept. But this is nice. Let
tomorrow bring what it may. Thanks to a day focused on small town volleyball,
my world is spinning in greased grooves.</span></div>
Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111228260875305028.post-68917119097018415872018-08-24T19:25:00.001-07:002018-10-20T09:19:10.224-07:00Catoosa, OK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">The girls’ volleyball squad at
Catoosa OK high school is mentored by the winningest coach in school history, a
coach who is quick to point out she also owns the dubious coaching distinction
of suffering the most losses, as well. “I started the program here 20 years ago,” the
veteran and lone coach to ever pace the post Title IX Indian sidelines states. Without
a doubt, Carolyn Replogle IS Catoosa Indians volleyball. “I will continue to be
here until I don’t enjoy it or I am told my services are no longer needed,” she
nonchalantly states. With a factual nod that her 20 previous seasons’ have all
reached the trail’s end with a winning record, it would seem to be a safe assumption
that the low key and unassuming coach will be the one to decide when the time
to step down has arrived. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">“</span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Year to year is what I commit to now,” she says. “I
quit teaching ten years ago but I have stuck with the coaching. But, I have
grandkids growing up fast, so you never know.” I know to not waste breath asking
for her career won loss record. I was told by a player’s parent it would be a
rhetorical question. “Bet you week’s pay she won’t know,” says the parent.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4TluCtFSQ80GZsLNlE2yetuPl1uvielWEdo8M-pHjIDO1Zk33KQGJMGz9Ub1W1o1DoKC2w2vZ78rBPGZc3hK0SHSXrmZ5JofDl4ttpo0DB7SSGTrTt7xSiYuaM-ARigiL3zFq1oLFJko/s1600/Replogle+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4TluCtFSQ80GZsLNlE2yetuPl1uvielWEdo8M-pHjIDO1Zk33KQGJMGz9Ub1W1o1DoKC2w2vZ78rBPGZc3hK0SHSXrmZ5JofDl4ttpo0DB7SSGTrTt7xSiYuaM-ARigiL3zFq1oLFJko/s320/Replogle+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: large;">Head Coach Carolyn Replogle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Catoosa is a small
town proud of its student athletes and that overwhelming support is paramount,
according to Replogle, as to why she is still coaching as she nears her 65th
birthday. Her personal heritage is deeply embedded in the school’s long time
winning sports teams. Her husband and high school sweetheart, Larry, recently
retired (for the second time) from CHS, completing a 40+ year coaching career.
Her daughter and son both were standout Indian athletes and both played college
basketball. “I graduated from here in 1972,” she says. “We had volleyball back
then but nothing like we have today,” alluding to the dawning days of Title IX
and equal school athletic opportunities for girls. By the 1980’s volleyball had
been dropped from the offerings for CHS girls. “I coached basketball for 25
years and returned home here in 1998 to start back up the girls’ volleyball
program.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Rumblings of non-compliance with Title IX mandates were starting to seethe
within the community. School leadership, by hiring the hometown Replogle, threw
its critics a bone of equality- the restart of a volleyball program. History
has proved it a wise board decision. “The first year we played Junior High
only. The next year we moved up to JV and the third year we went with a varsity
team,” Replogle recalls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">With gallons of her own blood
and sweat flowing into the program for the last two decades, Reploge has built
a program from scratch, literally. “When we started in 98,” she says. “We were
given $15,000 for startup expenses. For the next 13 years, except for
transportation, we raised every penny of our budget. I have had great parent
support over the years. We run a 28 team summer league, I could
not have done it alone. This commitment gives our players and their parents the ability to buy into the
program, to have a stake. You will see, when you have been here a while, that
there is an inherent pride in our program and it seems to be passed down each
year to the younger players from the graduating seniors.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtAv5AAmtv8sMUGgxoOkEO5shyphenhyphenaTytrdTh_ov2KrR6ZGKtoA5ZnYxJfBJXHwqYSIlPnnC6UNvCG1W_aFcjQCGVrSZTPtMHJ8ZR4dJjXR9zRdN6UFLSFREEFUiDovF01AhdX7KOLMe7Kp9/s1600/seniors.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtAv5AAmtv8sMUGgxoOkEO5shyphenhyphenaTytrdTh_ov2KrR6ZGKtoA5ZnYxJfBJXHwqYSIlPnnC6UNvCG1W_aFcjQCGVrSZTPtMHJ8ZR4dJjXR9zRdN6UFLSFREEFUiDovF01AhdX7KOLMe7Kp9/s320/seniors.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext;">L to R: Baylee Calico, Desiree Bates, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Tiffany Maxey,
Sara Chalupa, <br />Kathryne Parrish</span> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Replogle is putting her 30+ roster
of players through a late August after school Wednesday practice, a spirited
but rare in-season occurrence. “We don’t practice much once we start playing,
and in Oklahoma that is the start of August. We are done by the end of
September (with the regular season) and state is the first week of October,”
she states. “Right now the kids are tired. We play three nights this week and
then a big weekend tournament. Right now, rest is as important as practice.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The next night’s opponent,
Corsica Hall of Tulsa, will be a stiff test. “We play a very good schedule,”
the coach shares. “It can wear you out, but it can also get you ready for the
post-season and that is always our goal. I have eased up some over the years,
more patient” she says. “But I have never lowered our behavioral standards, on
an off the court and our own court goal is to always to do well at state.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The name Catoosa is
from the Cherokee language meaning “between two hills.” In a 40 year period from 1970 to 2010 the
city’s population boomed from 970 to 7,159. Locals attributed the growth to
three factors. In 1971, the Tulsa Port of Catoosa opened and today provides for
2,600 local jobs. The opening of the waterway port connects the landlocked area
through the Arkansas River Navigation System to the Mississippi River and
eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Second, due to its location of only 15 miles
from the suburban area of Tulsa, the town has attracted a large contingent of
commuters and is today demographically viewed as a bedroom suburban community,
no longer just a small town outside of the Tulsa metro area. School officials
are quick to point out the high ratings of the local school has been a major
lure to many young couples in choosing Catoosa as the town to raise their
family. The third factor, and the most physically prominent, is the opening of
the Hard Rock Casino that lies just to the north of the modern high school
campus. “Ten years ago that was all pasture,” a local tells me, gesturing to
the large Indian owned gaming
facility. Today barns and steers has been replaced by the anchor of the resort,
the Toby Keith owned <i>I Love This Bar and
Grill.</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The Grave of Blue Duck</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An interesting anecdote to the
town’s Sooner state’s Wild West heritage
that community leaders have worked so
hard to maintain; Catoosa is the final resting place to Bluford "Blue"
Duck, the infamous bad man immortalized in the western classic Lonesome Dove. He is entombed for eternity in
the Dick Duck Cemetery located at the corner of 193 Road and Pine Street.<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span>With a couple of hours to kill, I drive to the cemetery on the north
edge of town. It takes me over an hour to locate the famous half breed bandit’s
grave and it proves to be a disappointment. The simple headstone is both
knocked over and broken, a sad legacy for a man who was married to the equally
as infamous female outlaw Belle Starr; and the man who once (in the movie, at least) told Texas Ranger Captain
Gus McCray, “if I ever catch you north of the Canadian River, I will cut out
your tongue and feed it to my wolf pups.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For American small town high
schools, two dynamics of demographic change have emerged over the past 40 years
and neither is positive. First, small towns live and die, literally, on the
enrollment of their public schools. The local high school serves as the front
porch to the community, doubling most every evening as the social community
center, hosting ball games, plays, musicals and other events that allow for healthy
civic chest puffing. As student
enrollments tumble in many of our rural areas, locals must face a new stark
reality, lose your school and you lose your town. When smaller schools are swallowed
up through consolidation by their larger neighbors, the viable local economy
will soon follow into obliteration, the former noble school house turned into
an after-thought antique mall. Or the second dynamic, the town grows through
suburban sprawl as the tentacles of a nearby city swallow up the small once
quaint rural landscape. Left in the wake of these bulldozers of modernization
is just another non-descript impersonal suburb where membership to the local
country club now holds a higher social
status than working the chain gang on fall Friday nights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Catoosa has been an exception.
Despite its recent population boom, Catoosa has not lost the warm nurturing feel
of a small town community. Spend a day anywhere within the city limits other than
the stale climate controlled casino and you will agree. Local leaders give much
of the credit for the survival of their small town identity to the successes,
both athletic and academic, of the Catoosa students. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">“This is a great place to grow up,” says senior
volleyball player <b>Desiree Bates</b>. “I
can’t imagine being anywhere else. Sports are big here but they also are kept
in perspective,” she says. “Our parents
and coaches see to that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of the five seniors on this
year’s squad, four have attended Catoosa schools since kindergarten, 13 years
of unbroken bonding. The “outsider” is <b>Kathryne
Parrish</b>, who joined her teammates in second grade. Parrish is the only one
of the five who could see a possible future move from the area. “I just want to
see what is out there and then after college, make decisions.” The other four
readily profess their intentions of a lifetime spent as a Catoosa resident. “Everything
I need to be happy is here,” says Bates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Action vs. Tulsa Corsica Hall</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tiffany Maxey</b> is amazed how the town has grown over the last ten
years, but also has maintained its small town warmth and charm. “The Casino has
made a big difference,” she says. “But I can’t see where the town has changed.
The kids that come in here new just seem to adjust and fit in. I don’t think we
ever want to get too big, but for right now, I cannot imagine a better place to
grow up.” <b>Sara Chalupa</b> stresses the
team chemistry and the support from the school and community. “We all support each
other. We all go to the games of the other sports, like football. Football is a
big deal around here but the Football boys will come to our home matches and
support us. Last year, when we went to state in volleyball, everyone got behind
us. I was really special.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Indians enter
their late August battle with Tulsa Corsica Hall with s mark of 9-9. The
private school will be another in a month long with challenges for Replogle’s
team. “We need to win our Regional to get to the state, “she says. “I know this
group of seniors wants this to be a special season. This type of competition
will get us prepared for the post season.”</span></div>
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<p class=MsoCaption align=center style='text-align:center'>
<span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:windowtext'>Spirted after school practice<span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: large;">They
say half of life is just showing up every day. This group of seniors takes it a
step further. “This is our last year” says Bates, “we want to do the extra, to
be a good example for the younger players. We started in 6<sup>th</sup> grade
with club (ball) and for the past six years we have played pretty much year
round.” <b>Baylee Calico</b> gives a nod to
a team she says has experienced leadership. “Last year we had no seniors on the
team. So we have gotten to be leaders for two years. We try really hard to set
a good example for the younger players. We are really focused. We know this is
it for us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZSlU2pkyER1WKjVXKxjcAIwCFrpxbaw9Xhx60m4naGZjM_cfeZsHwiKM23dKlR_FaJblPna9QPCmgLcVqAmosSpi07_aNKxuWwR00zTU7w5tL_Y63-R30PCtndclgs3FpQL8XoHpyjs7/s1600/catoosa+practice.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZSlU2pkyER1WKjVXKxjcAIwCFrpxbaw9Xhx60m4naGZjM_cfeZsHwiKM23dKlR_FaJblPna9QPCmgLcVqAmosSpi07_aNKxuWwR00zTU7w5tL_Y63-R30PCtndclgs3FpQL8XoHpyjs7/s320/catoosa+practice.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> A Spirited Practice</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am amazed when Johnny
Casilla informs me he is 75 years old. I
would have pegged him two decades younger. His secret, I ask? “Dong this,” he
says, gesturing around his Spartan gym office, located in the bowels of the
Indian’s modern sports arena. “This” is anything and everything the Catoosa
Indians need. “I am charge of streaming all of our sports games. Football,
basketball, wrestling, baseball; all of them,” he says. “We have regular
viewers from North Carolina, Wyoming, Florida, all over the nation. Some are Grandparents;
some are graduates who have moved away. We get a lot of military personnel who
have a connection to Catoosa. We have had viewers who were sailors on ships in
the Mediterranean.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Casilla also serves as the Indians
public address announcer for multiple sports. I get to hear his deep baritone
introduction of both teams involved in
this evenings volleyball match; very professional and gives the game
atmosphere, even with a small crowd, the feel of a major event. “I started this
volunteering here 15 years ago when I retired from my real job and my duties
each year seems to expand,” he informs me. In addition to his streaming and
announcing gigs, Casilla takes all the team photos and covers the Indians for
the town weekly paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hard Working </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Ball Girls</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Volunteers are the life line
of a successful small town athletic program. “This town is very supportive,”
says Casilla, “but don’t kid yourself, the town expects you to win. These kids
start really young with community coached teams. Look around at our athletic facilities.
You will not find a small town with any better. This was all done with the
citizens passing bonds and tax increases. We invest a lot, but don’t sugarcoat
it, we expect a return on our investment, we expect to win.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Coach Replogle gives the Tulsa
native a ringing endorsement. “He is great,” she gushes. “He not only does a
lot, he does it very well. He has to be up here at school on an average of four
nights a week, sometimes like tonight, as we have our football pre-season
scrimmage going on as well as volleyball, he is running back and forth at multiple sites.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I really enjoy it,” Casilla
states. “I enjoy being around the kids. It keeps me engaged, keeps me feeling
young. Each year we lose a good group, they move on, but we always have another
good group behind them. I don’t see an end in sight. I feel appreciated by the
school, the coaches and the community. That motivates me and makes me want to
do the best job possible. That right now is my mission in life.” Consider it
accomplished.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSAMD74O2TShPadLKQsIb-Kl4_e4bSRbDW9ujZ5GGgq4aIIWsqHvTV0Ldio-nlEUEa6SIHVH-mlf-FWR_ligEU13n4s7AY6azgyVAcxm8JKDpAdvXNEXBhGIhPIofrHzjJ2yOQS2hvPmn/s1600/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="412" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSAMD74O2TShPadLKQsIb-Kl4_e4bSRbDW9ujZ5GGgq4aIIWsqHvTV0Ldio-nlEUEa6SIHVH-mlf-FWR_ligEU13n4s7AY6azgyVAcxm8JKDpAdvXNEXBhGIhPIofrHzjJ2yOQS2hvPmn/s200/sticker_rond_icone_noire_de_volleyball-r22c0605f5f1b444dbb46a16440a1c162_v9waf_8byvr_540.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">A coach who does not have time
to soft peddle, Replogle is pragmatic and to the point with her assessment of
the Indians performance in the just completed match against Tulsa Corsica Hall.
“We looked tired and did not play very well,” she says of her team’s 25-17,
25-19 and 25-18 loss. But, the value of experience is perspective; you don’t
shoot the survivors, you regroup. “We will be ok,” she says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A fairy tale finish with a
long run into October’s Oklahoma Class 4 state volleyball tournament would be a
great curtain call for the Indians seniors. However, they maturely explain to
me at the conclusion of Wednesday’s practice that they are cognizant that too
much tunnel vision on the destination can destroy the beauty of the journey. They
sit in a good spot of life. They ooze with the wide eyed optimism of young
ladies excited about their limitless future but appreciative enough to reflect
on the bittersweet flavor that hangs over each dwindling day of their all too soon
to end high school careers. It is a timeless high. “I just want to enjoy this
year,” comments Calico. “We have had a lot of great times as a group.”</span></div>
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Dave Almanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18201445968054085260noreply@blogger.com