Transcript
With us on Coaches Corner, KWBG, going to talk some Ogden volleyball today. Jenny Winter joining us, Bulldogs off a record setting season a year ago, finished with 17 wins. And Jenny, I know that's something you guys were super proud about last year. And I know we don't want to dwell on last year too much. But man, that is such a nice mark to set and then have these girls return and remember, hey, we were part of something that was pretty special last year. Let's try that again this year. What a great start to the year to get yourself going in the off season. Yeah, I think that last year's group, like you said, they really laid the groundwork of this can be a program expectation. And as we came into this season, recognizing that we are a different team, but that high level of expectation and really setting the tone for expecting to win, again, we've reset some goals for this season. So we want that winning record. We're going to still try to push for. And I love the expectation of trying to push for more wins. Continue to push to set that record. And they've come in wanting to do that, again, with this core group. So yeah, I think that they laid the ground last year. We're just picking up right where we left off for this season. So super excited for that. Jenny, anybody can take a bunch of pictures, post them on social media, say, we're working hard this summer. We're doing this this summer. Sounds like you guys actually did that, though. You took the pictures. You did all the work this summer. You were really happy with what happened in the off-season, weren't you? Yes, I think that this core group of girls really put in a lot of time this summer. Tracking their open gyms is one of the things that we've done from one year to the next. And we saw some girls who had, in 2025, had 24% participation in open gyms. And now this season, they've had 85% of participation in open gyms. And you can see that growth in their skill level as they come into the season. So we've really tried to highlight and showcase those athletes who put in the time in the gym. We're also very fortunate in Ogden. This summer, we hired the company called Premier to help with our weightlifting program, and not just for volleyball, but for all athletes of Ogden. Had some great support from the Booster Club, as well as the school district. And I will tell you, we're seeing that pay off. We ran our time to mile. And by and large, with a few exceptions, all of our girls dropped time in our time to mile run. So we're just really seeing some, we're just seeing some things shift, I think, where they're seeing if I participate and I give it my all in the summer. I come into the season ready to go. And I don't have to spend three or four weeks trying to get my skill level back up there. So we're really happy with what they did over the summer. Coach, it doesn't mean anything if you have a ginormous senior class. I know that sometimes we've maybe put too much on, boy, this senior class has 15, or this senior class has this many. I want the quality. Quantity is great. Quality to me is huge. I think you've got three seniors that are going to lead this team this season. And I'm looking forward to what these three can do, because they've kind of been there done that for you. Yes. I think when you talk about my seniors, I automatically get goosebumps. This group of three with Macy Bristley, Laney Susker, and Liv Coleman, they just have really embraced what it looks like to be seniors. And sometimes that looks like little things for example, like you talk about kind of the social media aspect. Laney Susker has really taken a lead on that. And so just having somebody to be able to do that for me as the coach, so I don't have to worry about it, she just sends it to me, and I just have to hit the post button. Like I can focus on the X's and O's and practice plans and all of that stuff. And it's just been great. And again, those three have just really, their participation over the summer was up in the 90s for both lifting and open gym, which is the other 10% coming when they took a family vacation. So you can't, at some point, you've got to throw in a vacation in there in the summer. So otherwise, I think that they would have been 100%. But they come in every day, they give it their all. They're really working hard on communicating with me on what's working with the team. Hey, this is, we really like this. We did a couple camps this summer. They just have been fully bought in. And I keep telling them, this has just been a super fun start to the season for me. And most of that is because of what you guys are doing for the program. So I expect all three of them to have just a really great season. It would surprise me if they didn't. It's neat because I was looking at the roster yesterday before I knew we were going to talk today. And I'm thinking, OK, she played quite a bit last year. She played quite a bit last year. You are kind of setting things up, Jenny, where, yes, we hate to see our seniors leave. But we know they've got to graduate sometime and they've got to move on to other things. And then the next group comes in. And then the next group comes in. And right now, as I'm looking at your roster, Jenny, you have this set up pretty darn well. I know it still has to do with the girls, but coaching staff's got to give themselves a little credit too for that, I think. I think we have a group. I mean, I think, you know, Jeff and Sam do a phenomenal job of just, again, at just being invested into the program and to the success. We made a couple new hires in our middle school program. We saw, again, increases in that. Opportunities for open gyms for our third through eighth graders. And the growth of the program as a whole is just moving in such a positive direction that it just makes you really excited. Jenny, conference going to be a little bit different this year, obviously, with Woodward Granger and Des Moines Christian moving on. Van Meter is also going to eventually move on. Martin St. Mary's has come into the conference. I know that the growth isn't done. It sounds like there is a potential for maybe some other schools to jump in as well. But I'm looking at this schedule. This schedule is pretty competitive coming up this fall. Jenny, you guys went out there. And to me, it looks like maybe beefed it up from last year. Is that fair to say? Yeah, we added a couple more tournaments that we haven't typically played in the past. So we've added those. I think one of the big changes, we'll just have to see how it works is there are some conference games that are now triangulars. So I think that that could be a little bit challenging on the schedule as you're looking to play best of five sets. And you could potentially have two of those back to back. In one night, I think that that will, that's been kind of a motivator for us to make sure that we're in shape to be able to handle those types of situations. We don't spend a ton of time really kind of looking at the conference and who's shifting in and who's shifting out because we just really want to focus on what can we bring to the court? Can we bring that energy and competing against whoever is across the net from us? So whether that's a tournament or whether that's a conference game, we're trying not to put a lot of stock into that. Just let Reed handle all of those conference decisions and all those types of things. We just get the schedule. We just give us a volleyball in the net, right? Is that what you're going to tell me? That's right. Final thing for me, Jenny. Obviously, West Central Activities Conference of Scrimmage is coming up. Get a chance to do that on Thursday. Give me a couple things. It's a scrimmage. It's at least a chance to hit the ball at somebody else, receive the ball from somebody else. I think that's beneficial. But what would you like to see coming up on Thursday? So still kind of undecided what we're going to do with an offensive set, potentially running a 6-2. Not sure if we're going to run a 5-1. So we'll look at some different. It's a great opportunity to just look at some different offensive sets for us. Obviously, that changes who we've got defensively in the game. So just an opportunity, I think, on Thursday to just really look at some new rotations that we haven't had an opportunity to see. We had a scrimmage last Saturday. Saw some really good things from an energy perspective. And the girls really playing well together. So hopefully, we'll continue that on. But I like the opportunity of really just kind of getting an early look at teams in our conference so we can kind of start to prep for those games as we start to head into the season. Jenny, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck with that scrimmage coming up by this week. And we'll check in with you here in a couple of weeks. Sounds great. Jenny Winter again joining us. Oggan Volleyball here on Coach's Corner.
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