New leadership means high expectations this year

By Jonathan Guignard

Twitter: @guij26

Tryouts for Magrath High School’s senior varsity girls’ volleyball was held last week inside the Tom Karren gymnasium.

The girls showed up ready to impress their coaches with the hopes of not only making the team, but are also looking to be key contributors.

Travis and Kendell Killian will be coaching the team this year after being absent from the team last year.

After a season where they placed in the bottom half of the standings, their expectations of this year’s team are high considering they have a number of grade 12 students returning to the team.

“We have a solid core, so I would really like to see us in the middle of the league and moving up. That will depend on how hard they work and how they come together as a team,” said Travis.

Kendall expects this team to be hard working and isn’t worried about a lack of effort.

“They will be a fun team to watch, they are pretty scrappy and you can expect this team to have a lot of heart,” said Kendell.

The coaches understand what they will be getting from the older players and expects the younger players to be willing to lay everything out on the floor.

“If you’re putting in the effort and you have a good attitude then we will do the coaching to get your skills up to where you can contribute to the team. That’s what I look for in a player. Give us your attitude, give us the hard work and our job will be to make you into the player you need to be,” said Travis.

Both Kendell and Travis believe they will put together a team who will give opponents a tough time on every point.

“No one is going to have easy points, we are going to make the other team work. That’s what we are going to have to do to be successful,” said Travis. “We aren’t a team that will go out and over power another team. We’re going to chip away at them and earn every point.”

There is an extra seat for the south zone in provincials this year and it’s something that excites Kendell.

“League is just our practice ground. I would like to them make it out of zones. That is definitely my goal going into the season,” said Kendell.

The junior varsity girls’ volleyball tryouts were also held last Friday afternoon as they look to put together the best team possible for this upcoming season.

The team will attend the preseason tournament in Cardston starting tomorrow and will wrap up on Saturday.

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