Chloe Hickle admitted that she missed the sport of volleyball.
So when the opportunity arose to become coach at Bushnell-Prairie City High School, she jumped at the chance.
“I felt like that at the age I’m at I felt like I could connect with the girls,” she said.
Hickle, a 2020 graduate from Lewistown, played volleyball through her school days, including in high school under coach Sonya Baldwin.
For Hickle, it all starts with a basic foundation.
“Fundamentals are the big thing,” she said. “They don’t have a youth program here in Bushnell. So, they get to the junior high level and don’t know what to do. Whereas, in other schools you’re starting in third or fourth grade.”
Hickle noted the foundation building started this summer, getting to know the players and how well they work together.
On the court, Hickle is looking for a number of upperclassmen to lead the way.
Junior captain Justice Klinedinst is one of the allaround players.
“She’s always everywhere on the court,” said Hickle. “Her hits are good. She’s loud and she’s a good leader.”
Senior middle Caroline Spangler according to Hickle is “One of our best leaders out there. She knows how to lead and how to do it appropriately.”
Another senior middle is Jayden Johnson who Hickle said is very good at reading the other side and tipping the ball into those open holes and is also the team’s most consistent server.
Senior Kyra Shamblin is the team’s libero.
“She’s stepped up and done really well in the middle- back,” said Hickle.
Senior Natalie Willey is an outside hitter and also plays left back.
“She’s very good about always talking on the court. She’s probably the loudest one. She’s always calling everything,” said Hickle.
Senior Josephine Farwell plays right side and according to Hickle is a good blocker.
In the setter spot is Brynlee Beekman, who is working hard on learning the fundamentals of setting.
“She’s willing to learn and she’s doing a good job about that,” said Hickle.
Hickle said the first week of practice focused heavily on fundamentals.
“With this varsity group, their chemistry is there,” said Hickle. “They all get along. They play well on the court. There’s no attitude. That helps us tremendously.”
In B-PC’s early matches, the team has been competitive in at least one set each time out.
“We have an issue of letting teams get far ahead and then they’re in the 20s and then we start to do better,” said Hickle. “But it’s too late at that point.”
“We need to work on just from the first point, giving it our all, working and talking.”
The Spartans won just one match last season and has just six wins in the past four seasons. But Hickle wants the team to look to the future.
“I try not to talk about the past because I know a lot of them were burnt out, I think of the past,” Hickle admitted. “I do try to bring up my career (at Lewistown) and how our program was.”
Hickle was part of a Lewistown team that in 2019 finished 30-9, reaching a Class 1A Sectional final.
“They literally have told me that ‘Losing doesn’t affect us because that’s all we’ve ever done,’” said Hickle. “That hurts my heart.”
“I’m just preaching to them how much fun it is to win,” she added.
She is also trying different things to generate interest in the community for the program.
“I’m not a coach that yells,” said Hickle. “I don’t even think I can yell. They know that, but they do know when I’m getting a little irritated and they do try to do better. Our leaders on the court step up and try to help.”
“The goal for me is to win more games,” she added. “Already I’ve seen better (things) since the summer. I’ve had parents come up to me and say the environment, the energy is there this year. They’ve already seen improvements.”
“I think us (coaches) coming in from day one, building our rapport with the girls and working on those little things that you have to do has helped tremendously.”
Along with the skills, Hickle is also looking to change the mindset of the players.
“I want them to know what it feels like to win,” she said. “Because right now, they don’t. I want that and I do see that happening. I know it will happen this season.”
