Okawville Jr. High Volleyball team has started their season. On January 4, 2022, the volleyball team had tryouts. Okawville has 4 teams: 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade. Due to the Jr.High girls basketball team advancing to the State Tournament, the team was missing some girls for the 8th grade New Athens Tournament. The teams have played 5 conference games so far and many more ahead.

I interviewed Coach Debbie Frederking and got her thoughts on the season so far.  She responded with, “The season is going as Coach Brian and I expected it would. Many of the players are beginners and have much to learn. We have seen improvement since practices started on January 4. As players compete and gain more confidence and experience, we will continue to see growth. That is what we want to see.”  

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 5th and 6th grade volleyball was not played last year.  So many of the girls on the teams this year have very little experience in the sport.  “We are definitely excited to work with this year’s teams. There is so much untapped potential,” added Coach Frederking. “We coach to help develop these young ladies into players that could help our high school teams in the future. We especially enjoy coaching during matches and seeing the players hustling after the volleyball and playing the sport the way it is meant to be played. We are equally thrilled that there are players willing to put in the extra time to hone their skills after practices and before matches. It shows us they are taking the sport of volleyball seriously and want to prove.”

Good luck to all of our Okawville volleyball teams as they continue into their season!