First round is not the last stop for the Dark Horses

Clinton’s new volleyball coach isn’t new to volleyball, nor is she new to the area. Following a small break from coaching, Shelia Davidson has taken over for the Dark Horses.

Having spent over two decades coaching for Lakewood, where she played three sports and graduated, Davidson took a break to focus on taking care of her mother, who was sick at the time.

She never truly stepped away from volleyball, as she was still involved with LAVA, the Lakewood Area Volleyball Association. She said this allowed her to get to know players from all over the county, including ones that she would eventually coach at Clinton. “I was very familiar with the girls that were here,” the new Dark Horse coach said. “And I knew what the talent was that was here.”

“I was excited to get my feet wet again, in the coaching field,” she continued. “Because I was missing it the two years I was out.”

Clinton went 12-11 overall and 4-6 in the conference last season, but before even discussing the team’s first round exit from the playoffs, Davidson said “the past don’t matter”.

“Number one, making it to the state playoffs is a big deal,” Davidson said, on how to carry the momentum from last year to this season. “So that was a good stepping stone; me coming into a program that actually made the state playoffs is great, because some schools don’t get that opportunity.”

The Dark Horses lost four seniors from last year’s team, which Davidson said means that they have a good pool of younger talent coming behind them.

A self-described analytical, data-driven person, she said that “numbers are everything when it comes to volleyball”, also adding that “numbers don’t lie”. She uses this data to help motivate players and show them, sometimes in real-time, their strong points and where they could use some improvement.

“Coming with what was started before me, just building these young players and getting them to trust the process, trust the coaching, trusting their skill when they get 6-on-6 across the net from each other, and just building trust with each other on the court, will result in better play,” said Davidson.

“And we try to put that in, in practice — every second, every minute while we’re in the gym,” she continued.

Club volleyball is something that Davidson has been a part of since the starting of LAVA in 2011, but she shared a sentiment that coaches across the county and across various sports have resonated with — club sports are good for the players and they provide a better product during school sports. She, alongside other coaches, have given praise to these extracurricular, traveling leagues that allow players to showcase their talents as well as develop themselves beyond what their grade levels previously had.

“With travel league, the freshmen I have on the court really look like what a junior would look like,” she said. “But if they didn’t start so young, and develop so early, then it would take a lot longer to get to that next level.”

“Can you be good without having every player on your team play travel? Absolutely, you can,” she continued. “Are you going to be better if you have three or four girls that play travel on your team? Of course you are. Now, if you have seven, eight, nine, or ten on your team, that’s your State Championship teams, that’s your fourth or fifth round [of the playoffs].”

She also noted that she does work with both players that do play travel volleyball, and those that don’t, and she loves working with both of them.

With her focus now on this season, Davidson said she isn’t looking at just one or two players to win all of the games, but instead the whole team. “Once you get to a high level of competitive volleyball, you’re not really a six rotation player,” she said. “You play all three front rows, you play all three back rows, and you play all three front rows again. At the competitive level, everybody knows their role, their position, and they’re specialized in it.”

Davidson brings a wealth of experience both playing and coaching volleyball to the Dark Horses this season, with preparations beyond that.

Clinton opens up their season on Aug. 12 at home against Lakewood.