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In the second year of the program, Springwood Volleyball is going back to basics. After the departure of the previous coach, two Wildcat parents have stepped up to the job. 

Laura Fuller and Fetula Harper will be leading the team. Both women have coaching experience; Fuller in soccer and Harper in basketball. 

“This year, we are trying to really start from the foundations, the terminology, learning very basic rotations and trying to really learn the game from the ground up,” Fuller said. “And I’m hopeful that we’ll have some success. We definitely have a bunch of athletes out there. In my opinion, if you’re an athlete, you can learn any sport.”

However, because the program is in its infancy Fuller said it may be helpful to relearn the fundamentals as a team. 

Channing Fuller and Caroline Van Shoor will serve as team captains. Beyond that, the team is still figuring out what the rotations will be. Fuller hopes in the first few games to get down the mechanics as a team and then evaluate the players. 

“All of them have just strong voices and a readiness to learn. So I’m very confident that even if we don’t win every game, we’re going to have a fantastic season of growth that leads into something even bigger next year,” Fuller said.

The co-coach had called Joey Burch, Springwood’s athletic director, to see how the search for a new coach was going. When he said they had not found anyone, Fuller and Harper offered their services. 

“We just started practice immediately. And we started with six girls, and now we have 12. And so we feel good about having a full bench,” Fuller said. 

The team is fairly young, with only two seniors. Many of the girls are new to volleyball and will be relying on the experience of those who played the previous year. 

“Everyone’s really open to learning and learning as a team. We have sort of a young team. We do have two seniors, the rest are younger, and so we’ll have several years to build this up and kind of see what they can do,” Fuller said. 

The first game, tentatively, will be at home against Trinity at 6 p.m. ET.. Fuller wants a display of the fundamentals for Game 1. She hopes to be at a point where the team is not making technical fouls, knows their formations, and builds some knowledge of the game.

“I think that’s a great place for the first game, by the fifth game, I would like for us to be having some success,” Fuller said. “I want us to be 1% better at every practice. So we are meeting three days a week, and we’ve grown already a lot, and already have a much better knowledge from where we started,”