Allison Woolbright isn’t going to allow youth to be an impediment for the New Hope High School volleyball team.
Entering her second year as coach, Woolbright is prepared to keep learning with a young team in hopes of building something special. That’s why Woolbright is eager to get out on the court and participate in drills. Off the court, she has continued to read about the sport and to watch tons of videos on the internet.
The philosophy is simple: The more she and the players are exposed to volleyball, the faster they will improve and the more they will learn.
Woolbright and the Lady Trojans will put that thinking to the test Saturday when they open the season at the New Albany Classic tournament. New Hope then will play host to Starkville at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 9.
“We have had mandatory camp for junior varsity and varsity,” Woolbright said. “We went to camp at UAB (Alabama-Birmingham). We took 16 to camp. Last week, Tina Seals from Level Elite (a volleyball club with teams based out of Columbus and Muscle Shoals, Alabama) came in with one of her coaches and we did a camp for middle school and had workshops in the afternoon for the varsity players.”
New Hope kicked off mandatory practice Tuesday after school. She feels the 2016 squad looks like a “totally different team” than the one she saw in 2015. That is a promising sign for a program that doesn’t have a senior.
“The dedication and the attitude is totally different,” Woolbright said. “We are building and instilling a desire to build this sport. I think it is reflected in what we see.”
Woolbright has the energy and the interest to invest in the sport and the program in part because two of her children, Kensley and Annie, play with Level Elite. Kensley is going into sixth grade, while Annie is going into the fifth grade.
While Kensley and Annie are a few years away from the varsity roster, Allison Woolbright will continue to build the program with an 18-player roster that includes juniors Makayla Sanders, Victorie Rush, Danielle Hill, Janay Jennings, Madison Magers, and Julie Wilkins.
Woolbright hopes the creation of a middle school team, which will play matches against Caledonia, Heritage Academy, and Starkville, will help create interest and awareness of the sport. She also hopes to find additional court space in the future to help her burgeoning program.
The signs of potential were there last season, when New Hope started an intramural volleyball program. Woolbright wasn’t sure how much interest there would be, but 65 players turned out to make seven teams.
“That is how we’re going to grow is more people get involved with it and more kids get involved in at younger ages,” said Woolbright, who plans to do another intramural program in a couple of weeks. “We’re going to continue to bring people in when we can to teach them things that I don’t know. It has been a long time since I played.”
Currently, Woolbright’s team only has one court in the main gym at New Hope High to practice and play in. The new New Hope High is scheduled to open in late 2017 or early 2018.
Until then, Woolbright will continue to encourage players to attend camps in the offseason. In practice, she will keep rotating players into open spaces in the gym so they can keep growing and improving.
“We have a young team, but they have improved tremendously with their skills and technique,” Woolbright said. “We have a few between middle school to high school that have played club volleyball for the past two or three years, and that is helpful. Some of the varsity players, even some of the ones on the JV, they have been on the team since ninth grade, so they have improved over the years.
“It is hard to compete. That is why we went to camp and I made it mandatory. We did the workshops because the more they are exposed to it, the better they will improve.”
Softball
N Oak Hill Academy 23, Heritage Academy 17: At Columbus, Amberly Harden had a three-run double in the top of the seventh inning Monday to give the Lady Raiders the lead and help them win their first game of the season.
Anna Kathryn Childress was 2-for-4 with a grand slam and five RBIs, Peyton Tefteller was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, and Harden was 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Oak Hill Academy (1-3) had 13 hits.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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