Photo by Ranee Petty
Years ago Claiborne High School had a Lady Bulldogs volleyball team but interest faded and the program was discontinued. During the last several months the interest returned and they had plenty of student athletes ready to play the sport once again.
Christy Brooks and Ranee Petty made it happen and after try outs the new CHS girls volleyball team become a reality.
The team will include Genesis Bailey, Addie Brooks, Amanda Brinkley, Allie Cosby, Haley Eversole, Jordan Fultz, Rylie Goode, Justis Gray, Morgan Honeycutt, Emily John, Gretchen Jones, Addison Konieczny, Maddie Lynch, Miriam Peoples, Emily Widner and Kendra Wiliams.Coach Brooks shared some information about how its all came together, “We have had a lot of interest in volleyball from our female students. Over 70 expressed interest and 40 different girls tried out for the team. We are having open gyms this summer with official practice beginning on July 27 and our first scrimmage on August 2. This season the county requested that we play junior varsity games only due to this being the first time most of the girls have played on a competitive volleyball team. In addition, all of our games are away because our basketball court doesn’t have the correct setup for a volleyball net at this time.”
Brooks continued, “Even though our net has a hole in it and we are trying to fundraise for new equipment, the girls are extremely excited for this new endeavor and are working hard to learn the sport. Each girl brings something unique and different to the team. We are looking for leadership and direction from senior team captain Gretchen Jones who has previous volleyball experience.”
The goal is plain and simple for this team and it’s simply to get the program reestablished, “Our goal with the program is to make volleyball a household word in Claiborne County. We hope that our feeder schools will buy into our vision and start middle school teams and that there will eventually even be recreational league teams for younger kids. We are committed to making volleyball a successful program at CHS and look forward to working with our community to make volleyball a sport that many kids in this area will enjoy. We also want to become a familiar face in the community with the team participating in community service activities and doing things to give back to the community.” – Coach BrooksClaiborne will be hosting a volleyball camp fundraiser July 28-30 at CHS from 8:00am – 12:00pm for students from K-8th grade. More information about the camp will be released soon.
