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Friday, August 1, 2008
High Net Worth
Western Arkansas, AR
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By: Bridget Bauer
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Photo(s) By: Kim Singer
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Led By Fort Smith Southside, Western Arkansas Has Been Holding Court With State’s Top Volleyball Teams Over The Past Decade
For 21 years, Northwest and Western Arkansas teams were not a factor in the state volleyball tournament.
Except for two consecutive years in the early 80’s (1981 and 1982) when Russellville (at the time a member of what is now the 7A-West and has since changed conferences) won the title, this part of the state came up empty when it came to state championships
That changed in a big way in 1997. That was the year Southside won the first of its six state championships.
The Confederettes denied Jonesboro its fourth consecutive title and winning changed the complexion of the state tournament. Prior to that year, the championship belonged to the Eastern side of the state with Harrisburg winning the small school title two consecutive years and Jonesboro Westside once. Since Southside’s first title, the schools of the 7A-West have captured eight of the last 11 titles including Bentonville’s win last year. With 5A-West member Siloam Springs winning four consecutive state titles, the power has shifted to Northwest and Western Arkansas
“I remember the 1997 group with Naaron Branson, Mary Kate Hogue, Amanda Lewis and Kim Pierce was the first to have played in the JO program,” Southside coach Steve Haaser said. “It was a big difference playing year round. For years, teams from Eastern Arkansas were the teams to beat, and this side was playing catch up.”
Times Have Changed
Both Haaser and Siloam Springs coach Rose Cheek have been coaching for 30 years. (Cheek spent two years in Oklahoma but is in her 28th year at Siloam.) They have seen numerous changes in the volleyball world and credit several circumstances for the transfer of power to this area.
Haaser thinks a major impact was the University of Arkansas adding volleyball in 1994. In retrospect, the Lady Razorbacks playing volleyball was a difference-maker. It can’t be said that is the reason but up until the 1997 and 1998 years, Southside, Northside, Rogers, Van Buren and Russellville were the only conference schools with volleyball programs. Around that time, Bentonville, Springdale and Fayetteville added programs. (Both Haaser and Check remember Bentonville having a program in the early 80’s but it was dropped.)
“For a long time, we only had four other schools in our conference,” Haaser said. “The number of schools that have added volleyball makes playing more competitive.”
During that same time, the Northwest Arkansas schools and Siloam Springs also started junior high programs. While the Fort Smith area schools had junior high programs for years, Rogers and Siloam didn’t. With the addition of Fayetteville, Bentonville and Springdale competing in volleyball, the junior high programs were a natural progression.
“What helped us was adding the junior high program,” Cheek said. “Before, the girls didn’t play until their sophomore year. Now, we get them in the eighth and ninth grades.”
Nothing like the JO Program
While the above-mentioned reasons are significant, all the coaches undoubtedly agree that the addition of the USA Volleyball junior Olympic programs have made a profound impact. Fort Smith started its program in the mid 90’s with Northwest Arkansas beginning its in 1998. However, if it wasn’t for the program at the University, it may not have been a reality.
Lady Razorback assistant coach Holly Watts had started one in Dallas and decided to do the same thing in Northwest Arkansas. At first, the program consisted on a couple of teams playing tournaments periodically. Now, the Ozark Juniors have about 135 girls competing on 17 teams. Three of those teams qualified for the national tournament in early July.
“The high schools have been beneficiaries of the club program,” Watts said. “The season is from December to June, and the coaches are able to concentrate more of teaching. They don’t have to spread their time with other duties.”
Things to Come
Two other things have happened to change the face of volleyball in this area. Both Fayetteville and Bentonville have former Lady Razorback athletes as head and assistant coaches. Jessica (Field) Phelan and Sara Kincaid are at Fayetteville with Michelle Coens and Jennifer (Haaser) Power at Bentonville. Also, Greenwood coach Jennifer Golden played at Henderson State.
“When we were in college, we would help out with the Ozark club,” Coens, who is from Canada, said. “I remember the first year we started up the club, the volleyball was horrible. The success shows how far we have come.
There are some good coaches in the area and the area is so nice, it makes us want to stay.”
The other milestone is that Siloam Springs has its own facility dedicated strictly to volleyball. In 2002, an old gym was converted to a volleyball venue even with a volleyball scoreboard. The only time the gym is used for another event is when the Panthers host the Allen Canning basketball tournament.
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A collection of this month's best action photos.
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