LEAGUE CITY — Scott Simonds called Madeline Gaffney, Cherish Krohn and Amanda Watson into his office. The Clear Creek seniors gathered around their coach and listened intently.
If the trio of volleyball players learned anything besides volleyball in their three years on varsity, they know their coach is a man of few words. So when Simonds speaks, it matters and the players better get it.
“Don’t let last year mess up this year,” Simonds said. “You have the talent to get there, and you can do it. But you have to earn it all over again.”
Message delivered. The girls nodded, and Simonds subsequently dismissed them.
The stakes are always high for the Lady Wildcats. Under Simonds, Creek has captured four of five District 24-5A titles and reached two regional finals in 2005 and 2007. Last year, the Lady Wildcats advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 1995 while setting a school record in wins (41).
This season is no different. Creek returns six players from last year’s team, and despite losing four athletes to Division I schools, plenty of talent resides in Simonds’ cupboard. Four in the class of 2010 could attend a major university scholarship to play volleyball.
The Lady Wildcats are ranked No. 3 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association Poll, and state championship dreams appear within reach. Again.
Simonds knows this. His players know it. Opponents know it.
Which means, Creek has a big bull’s-eye on its collective back all season long. Everyone expects them to win while opponents try to derail them. It’s not easy to handle for anyone, let alone 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls.
“We know the pressure that comes along with playing here,” Watson said. “It’s a good thing and fun for sure, but you have to know how to deal with it. And that starts with us, the senior leaders.”
Gaffney, Krohn and Watson deal with the expectations just the way Simonds articulated it in his brief message. Nothing is a given. Everything is earned.
Now they get to pass that message on to the rest of the team.
“We can’t focus on other people or other teams or what we did in the past,” Krohn said. “We have to look at ourselves right now and work on that.”
During two-a-days on Wednesday, Krohn outran everyone during sprints. She then pushed her partner, Erika Gordon, to beat her other teammates.
The varsity then played 36-point drill, where one team serves the whole time and starts ahead 18-0. The game ends when a team reaches 36 points, and the goal is to side out at a rate of two-thirds.
Gaffney dove at least two times to get out-of-reach balls. She also high-fived teammates for good plays and shouted encouragements for her side to win the drill.
“Every practice, every play, it counts,” Gaffney said. “You have to have the mentality because there will come a time when it matters.”
Gaffney, Krohn and Watson showed disappointment when they didn’t climb the near-impossible 18-0 hole, even though it was only the first week of August.
But that’s the attitude necessary for Creek to capture the school’s first state title since 1968. They have the talent, but the mentality and focus needs to be just as good, if not better.
And that’s Simonds message to his three captains. Gaffney, Krohn and Watson now must exemplify the ideal and pass it along to the rest of the team.
“Talent alone can only get you so far,” Watson said. “Other teams have talent, too. We need to stay hungry and want it more. We’re going to outwork people, too.”
