While fall sports may be thought of in terms of football or even soccer, DeKalb County High School is preparing for a brand-new sport, girls’ volleyball. The team has had tryouts, and is currently practicing for their inaugural season in August.
Taking the helm of the new team is a familiar face to DeKalb County sports, Coach Dani Horton. Horton was named the Tigerettes softball coach back in 2022, but is shifting this year’s focus to the new volleyball team.
“We started practice a little after tryouts in June,” Horton explained. “We had the dead period for two weeks, and now we’re back up and going.”
In their first season with a volleyball team, Coach Horton said they have 13 players. The needed equipment and infrastructure for the new sport has been installed in the main basketball gym at DCHS.
“The main thing we needed was two sleeves that were installed right at the half-court line. These are where the poles go to set up the net. We don’t have painted lines on the floor yet, with that coming in the next year or so, but we’re allowed to have taped lines on the floor. We’ll use vinyl tape to give us the dimensions we need for our court.”
Horton recently resigned her position as head Tigerette softball coach to take over the new volleyball program. “This year, I stepped back from the softball program. I’m still an assistant coach. Me and Coach Duke essentially switched positions. I knew that head coaching two sports is a lot, and I knew that it would be too much for my family. That’s a lot of time away, and I have two little girls. As much as I love sports, my family comes first.”
Horton is a new mother, having a four-year-old and having had her most recent baby in February 2023.
Coach Horton said that it will be hard to judge the new team in a new sport to DeKalb County. The lack of feeder programs with the sport, in middle school and local league, means that many players are going into the team with no knowledge of the sport. Coach Horton said that there are a few players on the team that have valuable experience playing in other areas.
“This is a growing year,” Horton said. “We don’t have any type of feeder programs going into the sport, so we’re starting from scratch. Luckily, we have some very athletic kids that tried out, and a few that have played in middle school teams and on travel teams before. We have about five on the team that have prior experience, which helps a lot.”
As for the district, Horton said DeKalb will face many familiar schools around the region. Before this season, DeKalb was one of the few high schools in the state to not have a volleyball program. Warren, Putnam, Wilson, Cannon, White, and Smith County have experienced teams.
“Our district will be very similar to softball, but White County will not be a part of it. Instead, we will have Watertown. Other teams in the district will include Stone Memorial, Livingston, Cumberland, and Upperman.”
The DeKalb Volleyball team’s inaugural game will be August 19, at home against Watertown at 6 p.m.
