Lady Dragons coach questions schedule

The pace of a high school volleyball season is intense early before it settles into a controllable pace later.

Carroll coach Ryan Mitchell is wondering if that’s still the best way to go through it. Carroll (32-3, 4-0 in District 7-6A) had already played 31 matches before it resumed its district season on Tuesday at Colleyville Heritage and at Coppell on Friday.

Between the club and high school seasons, players are on the court essentially 11 of the 12 months. There’s a two-week break in July and about a three week break in December. But the rise in the popularity of the game in Texas has opened new doors.

“It’s relatively new and there has been a major rise in how popular this sport has become,” Mitchell said. “But we’ve reached this huge crest to where you wonder if we could be potentially overdoing it. Because of so many matches, I just don’t know if we’re getting enough time to cross train them and not letting their bodies recover.

“If we’re training the right shoulder, are we doing enough with the left shoulder or in the back to strengthen them? Are we doing enough to strengthen the legs or make the ankles stable?

Mitchell has said other coaches have started to discuss this more. The UIL permits high school teams to play 21 matches – most of those will be in district play – and three tournaments. That’s a reduction from 23 matches and three tournament from a couple of years ago.

What’s creating the concern as far as Mitchell is concerned is that the three tournaments are in the first three weeks of the season. Teams are usually playing about eight matches per tournament. There really isn’t much time to work on team fundamentals or other drills because there is so much preparation.

Now, coaches have the choice to substitute a tournament for two matches. However, coaches probably feel compelled to enter a tournament because they know they can’t find two non-district matches that will fit.

“We need to consider if this is a problem,” Mitchell said. “You grind, grind and grind before you then move into a controllable situation. I think it could be beneficial if we started district play a week earlier and then either give teams a week off in the middle of the district season or use that week for that third tournament.

“That way you can look at lineups and other parts of your team. I don’t know if there’s enough groundswell for it. But we’ll see.”

For Carroll’s first bye this past weekend, Mitchell’s team had a light workout on Friday and then had the weekend off.

A special bye

For the second consecutive year, the volleyball team went to DFW Airport this past Friday to be a part of the Magic Flight program. It is designed to give the families of children dealing with terminal illnesses or debilitating conditions a chance to fly to Disneyland and forget about the challenges in their lives. Groups like the Carroll volleyball program participate in the sendoff.

“It just gives our players a sense of perspective,” Mitchell said. “The girls really want to be a part of this.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Lady Dragons coach questions schedule."