By Adam Robinson
sports editor

The W.S. Neal Lady Eagles volleyball team has had a busy summer, but according to head coach Jason Blaney, it has been a productive summer and he is already seeing the reaping of it in fall practice. “I think summer went very well for us this year,” Blaney said. “Last summer we conditioned and I did not bring the junior varsity up here with us. This year, they were up here and we did weights and conditioning. We did it about 12 times this year as we went two days a week for about two hours.”
Blaney said for the most part, turnout for summer practices and workouts were good.
“We had a pretty good turnout,” he said. “I had some girls that had some other obligations and they could not attend some, but when they were back they came. I had a couple that made it to every one of them. We played in two tournaments and I can see that what we did this summer has already made a huge difference and has paid off. I look forward to seeing what it does once the season starts on Aug. 28 against Jay.”
As for the first week of practice last week, Blaney said it also went well.
“I think the varsity is working really well,” he said. “I am changing the offensive schemes for JV, so they can mirror the image of the varsity. That has been a little of a transition and has taken a little while, but I knew it would. I had the JV play against the varsity a couple of times and that slowed practice down. It benefited the JV though. I like where we are going. I had 100 percent turnout last week, and for the first week, that is tremendous. I just look forward to keeping it rolling.”
T.R Miller
T.R. Miller’s volleyball team, along with head coach Greg White, are steadily practicing and preparing for their upcoming 2014 season.
“We had a great summer,” White said. “We went Tuesday and Thursday each week from 7 to 9:30 a.m. We had 100 percent participation from all girls grades 7-12. We would break up workouts with weights, conditioning and then finish working on volleyball skills. I believe this is really going to help us improve as the season gets near.”
Fall practice started last week and White said it was a good first week of practice.
“We kind of varied over with what we were doing at team camp the previous week,” he said. “The girls have worked extremely hard and put a lot of hours in. We lost seven seniors from last years varsity team that went 16-5 so we have some holes to fill, but I really like where this team is headed and how they are working. We are looking forward to getting started.”
Both teams will begin their season on Thursday, Aug. 28. W.S. Neal will meet Jay while T.R. Miller plays Flomaton.