Lady Spartans prepare for new year

Times Reporter  

 

The Strathmore High School senior girls volleyball team held their Early Bird tournament on Sept. 6. 

The team has younger and smaller players compared to previous years. Coach Randy Moncks knows his team will need a collective group effort if they are to defeat some of the bigger teams in tournament play this season.

“We’ve had some girls that played club volleyball so we’re already started at a level that’s fairly competitive from Day 1 without too many practices under our belt,” said Moncks.

He admits after this early season tournament there is a lot of work to do.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do because a lot of these kids haven’t played any club volleyball, “ said Moncks.  “We’re at a grass roots level and we have some real strong athletes who have been multiple sport ones that can do a variety of skills.”

The team has many new faces that are new to the game and need to get their reps in and get familiarized with their teammates if they are going to compete with the bigger sized teams.

“These kids need to touch a lot of volleyballs and for us to be competitive our defensive skills have to be way better,” said Moncks. “We’re not a big team at all, you can see that Chestermere and Rundle, all those kids are six feet and make a big difference.”

Moncks has some concerns about having this Early Bird tournament because of some players that chose to wait until senior year to play volleyball.

“I was a little hesitant about this tournament because it’s so early. We have so many raw kids in Grade 11 that have never played at all in junior high and didn’t play Junior Varsity last year and all of sudden they show up and have some height,” said Moncks.

The adjustments are not all a work-in-progress, having a combination of new team members and skill sets is a positive step in the right direction.

“That part is positive in the fact that we are all sort of at the same level, we have no stars but together I think as a group they’re going to have to decide together that we’re going to be competitive and work hard,” said Moncks.

The day-long tournament gave the Lady Spartans a chance to see how they size up against the competition.

“The one positive thing about playing this early is these girls who haven’t been in the volleyball world so much, they see girls on the other side that are already at a level of skill that these guys are not at,” said Moncks. “Hopefully they realize how hard they have to work to a level that is competitive at this point.”

While this may be a rebuilding season, it is important for the team and school to make the trip to zones.

“This program has always been in the playoffs no matter if it’s in our league or into the zone group. We have always been a threat to be in the round of upsets,” said Moncks.

The senior girls team has opted out of league play this year. They will be only playing tournaments for the duration of the season. The first one is Sept. 12-13 at the University of Calgary.