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Cedar Grove volleyball
For Cedar Grove math teacher Janine Miscia, this has been six years in the making.
For many others, including Cedar Grove High School itself, the inception of a girls’ volleyball program into the athletic curriculum is long overdue.
All it took was more than four decades of Panther history.
Despite volleyball’s belated inauguration, students and parents alike are rejoicing over the new addition to Cedar Grove High School’s athletic department.
Sophomore Shannon Piro welcomes the idea of finding a new niche within the high school and said that the addition of the volleyball squad into the school’s athletic community will bring about positive changes that she is excited to take part in.
“Freshmen year, I tried both cross-country and cheerleading,” Piro said, “but I was unable to find a anything that I really liked. Now that we have volleyball, I think this will be a nice change that the whole school will enjoy.”
The change will offer students like Piro and freshman volleyball player Karen Cozine, the opportunity to be involved in athletic endeavors that they might not have otherwise had the chance to take part in.
Karen’s mother Phyllis Cozine was surprised with the overall encouragement.
“It was really only a matter of e-mailing the superintendent and [Athletic Director] Mr. [Joseph] McBride,” Mrs. Cozine said. “Everyone was very supportive and encouraging and we really didn’t come across much negativity.”
With that strength in numbers came the vigor necessary to get a volleyball team up and running.
Miscia, the team’s new head coach, is excited about the new challenges that she is facing and is looking at the team’s lack of experience as a positive.
“The biggest challenge is similar to what a new teacher would face,” Miscia said. “It’s a lot of, ‘where do I start?’ and questions like that. So I went back and thought about drills, warm-ups and other things that will challenge the girls, but keep them having fun at the same time.”
Miscia, who has worked hard for the induction of a girls’ volleyball program into the Black and Gold tradition, said that after six years, she finally received the support necessary to get the job done.
“There was more support coming from the middle school than there was in previous years,” the new coach said. “I have become a little more vocal each year and now just seemed like the right time. Once we discovered the overwhelming interest coming out of the middle school, Mr. McBride worked hard to get the job done.”
With the commencement of a new tradition comes fundamental questions yet to be answered: how will the Cedar Grove community receive the volleyball team? How will the high school respond to the new squad? What can players and fans expect from the season?
For now, the school’s volleyball supporters are taking the season in stride, waiting to see how the season will unfold.
“”We’ve only had three practices and I have already seen a lot of interest and effort on the part of the girls to learn about the sport,” Miscia said. “They have been very inquisitive in coming up with questions about the game itself and certain strategies. Already, I have seen a great deal of athletic improvement and a great desire to get better.”
As for competing with the rest of the fall athletic curriculum, neither Miscia nor McBride knew what to expect as far as interest was concerned, but with the season just about underway, the head coach said that support for the volleyball team has been tremendous.
“It’s been overwhelming the amount of girls that have shown interest,” Miscia said. “There have been 30 girls that have contacted me already and school hasn’t even started yet. We only ordered 20 uniforms thinking that there would be some extra, so really, this has just been overwhelming.”
Consequent of the team’s inexperience, the 2008 year is somewhat of a trial year for the Panther squad. Perhaps with experience, it won’t be long before the Black and Gold develop the skills necessary to compete against some of the state’s best varsity squads.
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