This year the Haines Glacier Bears volleyball team has not been able to travel to competitions in other communities because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they have been playing in scrimmages against their peers. This week they will go head to head with school staff during a special Halloween match.
The volleyball team has been practicing since the second week of September.
Coach Katie Bard said there are 11 girls in total, and it’s a fairly young team. There are several players who are trying out the sport for the first time or returning to it after a hiatus.
“That’s been kind of a unique challenge, but it’s exciting to have new interest in the sport,” Bard said.
The team has had to adopt new health precautions this year. Players go through a health screening before practice begins. In addition, the state’s athletic association recently mandated that players must wear a mask during practice.
Despite these changes, Bard said that they have been able to develop as a unit and work on fundamentals.
“A lot of what we have been working on is our movement as a team, making sure that our rotations are solid,” Bard said. “We used to play a lot more defensively, which meant as soon as we got the ball we put it back over the net. Now we’re really looking to put together strong plays and be intentional about getting hits and strategic placement of the ball once we send it back over.”
The team has been unable to compete against other schools due to the district’s travel restrictions that aim to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Instead, they have been scrimmaging their fellow students. A group of boys from the Haines School has put together a team to play during lunch and a few times after school. Team captain Willow Oakley said the scrimmages have been really helpful.
“It’s hard to understand how a game works just when we’re scrimmaging ourselves, but when other people are put into the mix, it’s a lot more like gameplay than we can do with just the players on our team,” Oakley said.
Coach Bard said she has been working on finding other opponents. There may be a scrimmage with school alumni on the horizon. This week there will be a special exhibition match with school staff. That’s right. The students will finally have a chance to get back at their teachers for all that homework.
“It sounds like we have several teachers interested,” Bard said. “Maybe to tickle some interest, we are going to do our best to get them in some costumes as they play.”
The Glacier Bears volleyball team will face off against school staff on Thursday at 3 p.m. There won’t be any fans in the bleachers, but spectators can watch it live online. You can stream the match here.
