By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
It will be the same age kids involved as before, but now they will be competing against kids their own age.
Age was one of the biggest reasons behind the establishment of the W.S. Neal Middle School volleyball team, which will begin play next fall.
While W.S. Neal Middle School players were allowed to play volleyball for the past three years, they did so through the W.S. Neal High School team. Most of those girls were placed on the junior varsity team although there were occasions where a middle school player was bumped up to the varsity level.
The other big difference for W.S. Neal volleyball will be a separate coach for the middle school team. While Shelly will continue to coach the high school players, Adriane Johnson has been hired to coach the middle school team.
Johnson said most of her team's players are starting from scratch in terms of their volleyball development.
W.S. Neal Middle School will play about eight to 10 matches during its inaugural season of competition against Escambia County schools Brewton, Flomaton, Pollard-McCall and Escambia County. The gym location for W.S. Neal's home matches could vary from match to match.