The start of a new season means a clean slate, and a blank canvas to create from.
It is also when high school programs, like the Evergreen volleyball team, begin to think about what they want to get out of the upcoming season.
“I’m excited to show other schools what we’re capable of,” Evergreen senior Alexis Echols said, “and trying to take away that stereotype of, ‘It’s just Evergreen. We can beat them easily.'”
Monday was the first day of practices and tryouts for fall sports — football aside — in Washington. Once teams finalize their rosters at the end of tryouts later in the week, the real work begins.
In the Plainsmen’s volleyball program, players will be tasked with setting team goals for the season. Then, it becomes head coach Nichelle Bethune’s job to hold players accountable in reaching those goals throughout the fall.
“If they want to come out strong beating (opponents), I’m going to hold you accountable and I’m going to push you in practice to make sure that you’re meeting your goals,” Bethune said Monday during the team’s first day of tryouts.
Bethune played at Evergreen some 20 years ago and starred on the Plainsmen’s district-title winning volleyball team as a senior. In recent years, the program has dealt with a handful of losing seasons.
Yet to start the 2022 season, Evergreen rattled off major wins over the likes of Skyview and 3A Greater St. Helens League foe Mountain View. The Plainsmen narrowly missed out on a berth to the 3A bi-district playoffs in a five-set, season-ending loss to the Thunder. So although Monday marked the official beginning of a new season, players and coaches believe momentum from the previous one has carried on.
“It shows that we have some really strong players here that are going to succeed beyond high school playing, and I think that encouraged more girls to come out and actually play for Evergreen,” Echols said.
“I think the coaching has also helped a lot with bringing up Evergreen. From a former player here (Bethune) and the first Black head coach here, I think that really helps, especially for other African American students feeling more welcome when that’s someone who’s coaching us.”
The goal-setting will come later for the team, but on day one, Echols already had a couple thoughts.
“As a team, a big goal that we can work on is communication, and supporting each other,” Echols said. “… I think we really need to emphasize that we are a family when we’re on that court, and we need to play like one. I really want to work on that.”
At Hockinson High School, soccer players arrived Monday evening on the grass fields behind the school to begin tryouts.
The Hawks have established themselves as an elite program by reaching the Class 2A girls soccer state championship game in 2019 and 2021. Last season, Hockinson had an up and down regular season, then rallied to reach 2A state playoffs before losing in the quarterfinal round.
On Monday, when coaches George Moya and Katelyn Scobba addressed the team for the first time, their message was clear: last season was too little, too late. By setting a tone from day one of a new season, the Hawks can have a different end result.
“We’ve been thinking about this all summer. We’ve been preparing for a while,” senior defender Sophia Broten said. “We’re really excited to, not exactly reinvent, but reviving it. … We’ve been really working hard for this. I think we’re ready for this season, and we’ve been doing a lot to prepare.”
Hockinson graduated just one player from last year’s roster and has a loaded incoming senior class with a lot of experience. In theory, that continuity should help the Hawks transition from one year to the next. But as Moya points out, a new season is exactly that — a new and unique challenge. By the time Hockinson kicks off its season two weeks from now on Sept. 6, coaches hope to have their finger on the pulse of this team’s strengths, then figure out how to capitalize on them.
“Every season you have to treat it as something different. If you’re doing what you did last season, then you may be one of those coaches that need to hang up your shoes,” Moya said with a laugh.
“For us, we try to instill new things. New ideas, new methods of attacking, different ways of defending — always within the same core principles. But after that, like any other team you’re trying to figure out and see what works, what has changed.”
