Volleyball teams from around the state were allowed to start competitive, skill-driven practices, and Garland County teams are ready for fresh action.
With Gov. Asa Hutchinson's announcement about contact sports being able to begin limited-contact practices, the Lakeside Rams reveled in the opportunity to be able to train alongside their friends and teammates following months of separation.
Head coach Rhonda Thigpen witnessed firsthand the positive reaction from members of her team.
"Monday was a unique experience actually," she said. "The girls got to see their team because we haven't done that. You still have to follow all the guidelines, so you're not back to normal, but you see a little bit of normalcy. But it's not over; that's what we stress. Just because you can see them, it can still spread, but it was still good to realize what I saw in how they looked when they walked into the gym. You just saw more than two people in the gym, more than three (and) their eyes lit up. It gives them hope."
Freedom to conduct specific drills that require more skilled, team-oriented efforts give the teams the ability to develop their overall game.
"Now we can do some of our conditioning drills -- still hitting weights and doing what you're doing, but now you've got an opportunity to develop a skill play that involves more than two people," Thigpen explained. "We had broken down skills, now you can put it together and see some results. They could see some results."
After an additional two-week pause to the Lady Cobras' preparation portion of the pre-season, Fountain Lake volleyball players start ed this week off "fired up and ready to go".
"This week's been good," said head coach Tina Moore. "Prior to this week, we've been out for two weeks because we were quarantined. ... So we just got back in the gym this week which has been great. My kids came back fired up (and) ready to go. Being out of practice for a couple weeks and not being together, it was good that we got to all be in the same gym together at one time. Obviously that hadn't happened up until this week, too, becau se practice has been kind of in groups. Putting the whole team back in one gym, spaced out, has been nice."
Moore said that she has had close to 100-percent participation from her team as a whole since the restart on June 1.
"They've been ready for this," she added. "They've been in the weight room, they've been obviously in the gym, and like I said, we've done pretty much all of our gym stuff in two groups up until this week. We've had like 8-10 in a group spaced out doing individual stuff. It was nice to get on the court and be able to go back and forth over the net, doing some little competitive play and ball activity, so it's been great. They've been ready for it for sure."
Thigpen is stressing to her players to not waiver in their efforts to ensure and prolong the season, recognizing that her upperclassmen crew is setting a high-standard example for the younger athletes.
"We practice every day like every day counts," she said. "Right now it counts for an opportunity to try to have the season, and it's how they handle themselves outside the court following the COVID rules. My seniors are very strong and committed to wanting to have their season, so with that being said, when they come on the court, I don't have to motivate them.
"They are wonderful seniors. They're very excited. They're good students; they're planning and telling the (younger) girls, 'Hey, we want to do this. Be careful.' They have their masks; I don't have to direct them on that, and I'm proud of them. With good leadership, you have a better chance of your team following rules on and off the court."
While keeping in mind the possibility that COVID-19 could disrupt the season for fall sports at any time, Moore plans to make adjustments early so that next year's graduating class gets to experience its athletic campaigns and all that comes with being a senior Fountain Lake student-athlete.
"That's enough motivation for them," said Moore. "I think their motivation is just the hopes that we get to play. ... I think I have a total of 16 (players) and eight of them are seniors, so half my team is seniors, and their motivation is, 'Please just let us have our last season.' They're keeping the younger girls ready and on track, getting them motivated to play. ... So far it looks good. They're saying we very likely could play so that's kind of pumped them up ready to go.
"It'll be nice just so that the seniors can be honored in case that we have to cancel season halfway through or shortly through, so we're going to make it a big opening game instead of waiting for the last game of the season. We're going to make it on the front end."