University of Georgia Athletics
Photo by: Chamberlain Smith
Bulldog Practices ‘Pretty Normal’ So Far
August 12, 2020 | Volleyball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
If you didn't look too closely, it also seemed very normal.
There was Georgia volleyball sophomore Kacie Evans blasting a kill from the edge. There was senior Kaylah House in the middle, going up for a block. There were players diving for digs and huddling up briefly together between points.
"We're doing the same drills and the same preparations for the season," House said through her mask, having put it back on after practice. "I think the only thing that's different is when we get into huddles (at the dry-erase board), everyone has to mask up. The rest of it is pretty normal so far."
These are very strange days, of course, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause disruptions, adjustments and confusion throughout college sports and everywhere else. But all things considered, it was a very normal hour of practice that I watched from the wings. Wednesday morning's practice at the Ramsey Center was the Bulldogs' ninth since they got going five days ago, and they had another one scheduled for that afternoon.
Head coach Tom Black is entering his fourth season at Georgia, but if and when that season will begin and what it will look like, those are unknowns at this time. The Big 10 and the Pac-12 conferences have announced this week that they won't be conducting sports this fall, while the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are moving cautiously forward.
"That is actually a little bit of a challenge," a masked Black said of the many unknowns at the moment. "It's not even that you can't control it, it's like, OK, maybe you can't control it but you still have to know about it so you can communicate about it. It's not like you can block it out. It is a fine line.
"(The players are) checking the news, too, so if a big story happens, I'm trying to make sure I get ahead of it enough so that I can communicate so they can process it and move on. And then I've got to make sure I leave it after I talk about it."
House said she's paying attention to what's happening around college sports, naturally, but not so much that the stress of not knowing what's going to happen becomes a problem.
"It can really get into your head of, like, I'm maybe practicing for nothing. I'm just taking everything day by day," she said. "Everything's been changing since we started the summer, so you can always expect change.
"I just try not to think about it too much because it can be a really stressful thing. I'm on the side of just trying to keep getting better."
Some of the faces have changed from last season when Georgia went 20-10 and made it to the NCAA tournament — the banner is up on the wall of the Bulldogs' practice facility — for the first time since 2013, but practice itself looked about like it did a year ago.
There were differences, of course. All of the coaches and staff wore masks throughout practice, while the players put them back on right after the session ended. The players aren't using their locker room; instead, each player has a designated chair along the wall of the gym, all of them at least 10 feet apart.
In Black's right hand during practice was the device he used instead of a traditional mouth whistle, but that's not new or anything related to the pandemic. "It's way better," he said.
Not only did Georgia miss out on its spring workouts when everything was shut down in March, but then Black, who also serves as head coach of the Canadian women's national team, missed out on a summer coaching that squad at events around the globe. Coaches want to coach and players want to play, and right now they're able to do that.
"There's definitely a little bit that feels surreal," Black said of the first days of practice, "but I think on the whole we're adjusting and I'm just really stoked to be here. I'm just really glad to be coaching and for us to be practicing."
While practice is about 90-percent normal, things are much different in the volleyball office area, Black said. The coaches go straight to their offices when they come through the door and when they have meetings they do it via Zoom, even though they are within feet of each other.
"I think that actually feels way more foreign than the stuff we're doing out here," Black said. "I can handle wearing a mask because everything else (at practice) feels the same, but that feels a lot different. We're actively not seeing each other."
On the court, Black and House both said they like what they've seen so far. Georgia has four freshmen and a transfer, all of whom are getting up to speed quickly.
"I think this team has a lot more depth in a lot more positions this year," House said. "Everyone's competing every day and everyone is making each other better, especially the freshmen coming in, they're a really talented group."
Black credited strength and conditioning coach Sean Hayes with doing a great job of getting the team ready to go in a short amount of time.
"Sean had a tough job because they'd been off for about five months and he had four weeks with them, I think," Black said. "He did such a good job, the strength and conditioning, and they came in in really good shape. We're not going quite as hard as we normally would at the start of the year, but we're not that far away from it. That's a testament to all of them.
"I'm actually really excited about this team and we have a lot of really good new players. This team can be good."
And hopefully they'll get a chance to show it this fall.
Staff Writer
If you didn't look too closely, it also seemed very normal.
There was Georgia volleyball sophomore Kacie Evans blasting a kill from the edge. There was senior Kaylah House in the middle, going up for a block. There were players diving for digs and huddling up briefly together between points.
"We're doing the same drills and the same preparations for the season," House said through her mask, having put it back on after practice. "I think the only thing that's different is when we get into huddles (at the dry-erase board), everyone has to mask up. The rest of it is pretty normal so far."
These are very strange days, of course, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause disruptions, adjustments and confusion throughout college sports and everywhere else. But all things considered, it was a very normal hour of practice that I watched from the wings. Wednesday morning's practice at the Ramsey Center was the Bulldogs' ninth since they got going five days ago, and they had another one scheduled for that afternoon.
Head coach Tom Black is entering his fourth season at Georgia, but if and when that season will begin and what it will look like, those are unknowns at this time. The Big 10 and the Pac-12 conferences have announced this week that they won't be conducting sports this fall, while the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are moving cautiously forward.
"That is actually a little bit of a challenge," a masked Black said of the many unknowns at the moment. "It's not even that you can't control it, it's like, OK, maybe you can't control it but you still have to know about it so you can communicate about it. It's not like you can block it out. It is a fine line.
"(The players are) checking the news, too, so if a big story happens, I'm trying to make sure I get ahead of it enough so that I can communicate so they can process it and move on. And then I've got to make sure I leave it after I talk about it."
House said she's paying attention to what's happening around college sports, naturally, but not so much that the stress of not knowing what's going to happen becomes a problem.
"It can really get into your head of, like, I'm maybe practicing for nothing. I'm just taking everything day by day," she said. "Everything's been changing since we started the summer, so you can always expect change.
"I just try not to think about it too much because it can be a really stressful thing. I'm on the side of just trying to keep getting better."
Some of the faces have changed from last season when Georgia went 20-10 and made it to the NCAA tournament — the banner is up on the wall of the Bulldogs' practice facility — for the first time since 2013, but practice itself looked about like it did a year ago.
There were differences, of course. All of the coaches and staff wore masks throughout practice, while the players put them back on right after the session ended. The players aren't using their locker room; instead, each player has a designated chair along the wall of the gym, all of them at least 10 feet apart.
In Black's right hand during practice was the device he used instead of a traditional mouth whistle, but that's not new or anything related to the pandemic. "It's way better," he said.
Not only did Georgia miss out on its spring workouts when everything was shut down in March, but then Black, who also serves as head coach of the Canadian women's national team, missed out on a summer coaching that squad at events around the globe. Coaches want to coach and players want to play, and right now they're able to do that.
"There's definitely a little bit that feels surreal," Black said of the first days of practice, "but I think on the whole we're adjusting and I'm just really stoked to be here. I'm just really glad to be coaching and for us to be practicing."
While practice is about 90-percent normal, things are much different in the volleyball office area, Black said. The coaches go straight to their offices when they come through the door and when they have meetings they do it via Zoom, even though they are within feet of each other.
"I think that actually feels way more foreign than the stuff we're doing out here," Black said. "I can handle wearing a mask because everything else (at practice) feels the same, but that feels a lot different. We're actively not seeing each other."
On the court, Black and House both said they like what they've seen so far. Georgia has four freshmen and a transfer, all of whom are getting up to speed quickly.
"I think this team has a lot more depth in a lot more positions this year," House said. "Everyone's competing every day and everyone is making each other better, especially the freshmen coming in, they're a really talented group."
Black credited strength and conditioning coach Sean Hayes with doing a great job of getting the team ready to go in a short amount of time.
"Sean had a tough job because they'd been off for about five months and he had four weeks with them, I think," Black said. "He did such a good job, the strength and conditioning, and they came in in really good shape. We're not going quite as hard as we normally would at the start of the year, but we're not that far away from it. That's a testament to all of them.
"I'm actually really excited about this team and we have a lot of really good new players. This team can be good."
And hopefully they'll get a chance to show it this fall.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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