For 8th grade volleyball coach Yvette Pearce, her team’s success will largely come down to how it serves, and how it receives serve from its opponents.
“What we’ve been practicing a lot of is serve and serve receive. That has to be a strength,” she says. “If we can’t do that, we can’t do anything else. If it’s not a strength, it’s going to be.”
Pearce takes over a team with a year of experience, and says she expects “a lot out of this team.
“I think after looking at the scoresheets from last year, we have a lot of games we can take. I’m excited about the opportunities we have. We just need to convert it into game time.”
Pearce, who played college volleyball at the University of Missouri, says her coaching philosophy is geared to giving her players as much game-like experience as possible, even before the season starts.
“You practice different scenarios. Their ability to read and anticipate the ball is a lot of that. I’m not a big person on stagnant drills. I like to create game-like scenarios. That’s how we know and remember, and what makes it more replicable to what we do out on the floor,” Pearce says. “Sometimes it’s really ugly because your kids are in charge of it. It’s not me hitting balls. I’ve had my time and I played, but they’re the ones who need to get the reps.”
Aside from a strong serve and serve receive game, Pearce says her team will thrive on its “relentless pursuit of the ball. I think keying in with what (high school coach) Piper (Wright) has for her program, defense is a big part of what she does. The high school is not really very big right now. Due to that fact, it’s (about) relentless pursuit of the ball and defense. So keying in on those couple of things is what we also need to be good at, to help funnel into that program and make it successful.”
Offensively, three players are competing for a setting position in a 6-2 scheme. Pearce says competition is good, but she hopes someone will “stand up and out.”
And as the season begins this week, Pearce says she’d like to see her team continue to grow closer on the court.
“I would like to see them gel a little bit better. We’re still working on our personality; still creating that team environment,” she says. “We come in as a group and we end as a group, and it’s all about finishing together.”