There’s something new and exciting at Winston Academy that has brought out energy and enthusiasm for many of the girls in school.
While not yet as popular a sport across the state of Mississippi, volleyball is growing. It’s especially true for the Mississippi High School Activities Association as slow-pitch softball is beginning to fade away and volleyball is coming into play. For the private schools in the state, fast-pitch softball takes place during the fall, but now Winston Academy joins just 11 of the schools in the state that will play both sports.
The idea began in Sunday school at South Louisville Baptist one morning when Candice Cefalu was teaching her class. Many of the girls in the class from WA mentioned the idea of playing volleyball. Cefalu, a graduate of WA in 2000 was a star softball and basketball player but never played volleyball. However, she too liked the idea.
Cefalu approached the school board with the proposal with 35-40 player signatures. A vote approved it and the wheels went into motion.
“I told the board that I’ve never played volleyball, but I love to win and I’m going to do whatever it takes to win,” Cefalu said.
The Lady Patriots currently have 12 high school and 18 junior high players on the inaugural season that began last week. Practice began for the girls in May and the team raised $6,000 for nets and equipment. Cefalu went to a friend, Laura Walton, to help the team learn the game and she was a tremendous help for both Cefalu and assistant coach Bobby Ryals as well.
“Laura was a godsend,” Cefalu said. “You can read stuff online and watch videos all you want but until you’ve done it, it’s hard to explain. Laura was there every step of the way to help us out. Bobby and I have watched a lot of videos and made the girls watch them too. I’ve told the girls that I’m learning the sport just like they are, but I’ve really enjoyed this already.”
WA started the season with a competitive loss against Nanih Waiya 3-1. They also lost in the County Classic at Noxapater last Friday as they competed against Noxapater and Nanih Waiya. Cefalu was pleased with how the team showed improvement.
“I was super proud of the girls. Once they got the jitters out, we did great,” Cefalu said. “They came out and did everything that we’ve taught them. The referees even commented that we were the best first-year team they’ve ever seen.”
As much as Cefalu hates to lose and loves to win, she knows that this is going to be a work in progress. There is no trophies to play for this season as the team is still playing without any districts and they don’t have a state title to play for in the MAIS.
Cefalu is also hoping that the MAIS will restructure softball by moving the season to the spring like the MHSAA and allowing it to be possible for players to play both sports as it is more difficult at the time. This year’s team will lose three seniors and the rest are built for the long haul.
“I’ve got some eighth and ninth graders that are going to be amazing once they get more mature in their playing skills. They’re going to be hard to beat,” Cefalu said of the future. “I’m super excited.”
Coming up this week, WA will play a game at Louisville High School on Thursday night.
