New volleyball coach ready to shape varsity team

This is Deborah Will Co-vault’s first year in Elgin, but she brings a ton of experience to the Wildcat team, where she now serves as the director of women’s athletics and the varsity volleyball coach.

She has spent the previous 13 years as a sports director, the last three in Lafayette, Lousiana. After playing sports and graduating from Georgetown in 2003, Deborah went to college at Concordia and was also an Olympic weightlifter training for the 2008 Beijing games before an injury took her out of competition. She went on to get her masters degree from Louisiana State University and is working on her doctorate from Abilene Christian University.

Covault is also thrilled with the depth and experience of her freshman and junior varsity volleyball coaches.

The current varsity volleyball team consists of juniors and seniors. Coach Covault is determined to bring back Elgin’s winning volleyball tradition. She believes 100% in these young ladies and is very impressed by the drive and commitment they have shown and their willingness to learn every day in practice. She also realizes that many of these athletes still have to really learn the proper techniques in blocking and setting and rotation so that it becomes natural and not something they need to stop and think about.

The high school has a much larger number of girls—a total of 58—participating in volleyball this year than last year’s group of 28, so normally the freshman and junior varsity might have an “A” and “B” team, but the opponents for the Wildcats don’t have those numbers. Thus, only one freshman and only one junior varsity team will be formed. If a large number of girls come out next year, it may be different. In the mean time, every girl still on one of these teams will have an opportunity to learn and improve.

Covault said that only two or three of the upperclassmen had played any type of club ball, while all the other teams in our district had a much larger percentage. She felt that is definitely an opportunity to improve the system to get these players more experience in between seasons.

Covault believes in helping teach her players about life, not just volleyball. She feels that sports teaches many lessons that they can use anywhere, and being determined and confident in sports will lead to her students to feel the same way during their future life.

She feels if she helps teach the girls how to overcome an obstacle in a game, they can learn to overcome obstacles in college, career or even their marriage. Finding the positive and moving forward.

The teams have played several tournament games and did not start well, but she has seen great improvement in the last few games. Her main focus is getting the team lineups and experience ready for district play. The team’s goal is to finish in the top four in district so that they qualify for a playoff spot.