NEW COACHES AT LC

Lynn Camp hopes to break its 32-game losing streak on the volleyball court this season. The Lady ‘Cats lost all 18 games last season and 17 of 18 in 2009.

Cody Dixon has taken on the chore of rebuilding the volleyball program. Dixon knows it isn’t an impossible task. Michelle Lewallen had to do the same thing in 2006 when she took over a team that had gone winless in 2005. The Lady ‘Cats had back-to-back winning seasons before going 4-16 in 2008.

Dixon has brought in his dad, Clyde, a veteran coach, and Tracey Froelich, who played volleyball at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., to help rebuild the program.

“We have to start with the young kids and work on their skills,” he said. “We have to work on passing and receiving the ball. We need to develop their skills and keep working on those things.”

Froelich echoed those comments and added, “We have to work on their fundamentals, learning how to pass, learning how to serve and learning how to block. Once we get all of that down to where they can do it without thinking about it we can move on to do more of the advance stuff like running the plays. Then we should be able to compete with the teams around the area,”

Dixon and his staff have less than three weeks to prepare the Lady ‘Cats for their season opener against Harlan High, Tuesday, Aug. 9.

“It will be difficult to get them ready for their first game just because we have a lot of new changes going on, Froelich said. “People may have not known that practice had started and there are new coaches. They don’t know about the new changes that are being made.”

“We are very young,” Froelich said. “We have one senior on the team, so we are very inexperienced, so that is why it is so important to work on the fundamentals because we don’t have anyone that we can rely on that can get us through the games because we are so young. We are so raw right now,”

Dixon said he was not going to worry about wins and losses this year. “We don’t want them worrying about the scoreboard, we want them to have fun and enjoy playing volleyball. We want them to get better everyday, that is the only thing we are asking them to do.”

“We want them to be as competitive as they can, but we don’t want them worrying wins and losses,” added Dixon.

“We would obviously like to win a few games this year, but having fun and getting better each day is our goal,” he added.

Senior Lori Barnhill has been the surprise of the Lady ‘Cats’ roster. “She is good enough to play on anybody’s team around the area,” Dixon said. “She would fit in anywhere in the area and be their best player.”

“We have a sophomore, Merita Burke, that is very athletic and will end up being a great volleyball player,” Dixon added. “Sophomore Jessica May is really tall. She has never played before, but since we started she keeps getting better every day.”

“We have a couple of others that have played before, but still need some work,” he said. “Emily Partin is an eighth grader and is really good to be that young.”

“We have four solid players, but we have to find a couple of more to put in the rotation,” Dixon said.

Being a small 1A school Dixon said his team will have an uphill battle facing Knox Central and Whitley County in the district. “They have a lot more girls to choose from since they are much bigger schools,” he added. “That means we are going to have to work harder because that puts us at a disadvantage.”

“There are a few teams in the region that we can compete with right now, but we want to be able to compete with the upper teams in the region in the next couple of years,” Dixon said.

“We expect to be able to compete with those teams in the next few years with our plan,” he said.

“We are working well together,” Froelich added. “There are a lot of them new to the team concept, but the longer they practice together the more they are going gel. In the week that we have been together I have already seen a lot of people come together. That’s a big part of it because if they don’t work together then they are not going to be able to do it. If they play as individuals it is not going to happen. Like everyone always says, there is no “I” in team and I can see that we are already building that team bonding relationship which is a very important thing that we need in volleyball.”

Lynn Camp

Volleyball Schedule

Aug.   9   at Harlan

Aug. 11   Bell County

Aug. 16   Middlesboro

Aug. 18   at Whitley Countyt

Aug. 23   Corbin

Aug. 25   OBI

Aug. 29   at McCreary Central

Aug. 30   at Knox Central

Sept.   6   Harlan

Sept.   8   at Jackson County

Sept. 12   McCreary Central

Sept. 13   at Bell County

Sept. 15   Knox Central

Sept. 20   Whitley County

Sept. 22   at OBI

Sept. 27   at Clay County

Sept. 29   Jackson County

Oct.    6   at Middlesboro