This fall, the Capital University women’s volleyball team will begin their season under new head coach Amanda Hubbard. The volleyball program will be looking to build on the previous season and hopes to improve upon last season’s performance.
Coach Hubbard began her coaching career at Ithaca College, her alma mater. She then continued her tour of New York schools, coaching at Colgate University, University of Rochester and Alfred University. Her hiring at Capital marks her newest position.
“Capital, from the onset … has already provided me with more growth than I was getting,” Hubbard said of her brief experience at Capital so far.
When asked to expand on this statement, she remarked that she has more freedom in terms of recruiting as well as the possibilities for her athletes.
“The majors that are available here for female student-athletes are far more enticing than [at] previous universities,” Hubbard said, “and the location in and of itself is great.”
Coach Hubbard also stated that she was looking forward to competing with the other teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
“The OAC is far more competitive than previous [conferences],” Hubbard said, although she did add the fact that she had competed in the UAA conference against schools such as the University of Chicago and Carnegie-Mellon University while coaching at the University of Rochester. She mentioned that she would like to see a similar strength of schedule factor among Capital’s opponents.
Although the team has only recently begun their strength and conditioning training, Coach Hubbard had good things to say about the athletes with which she is working.
“I met with them either individually or in groups,” Hubbard said about her athletes. “They eagerly came in … to meet me last week … because unfortunately they were not part of the hiring process.”
The Capital University volleyball team is nearing spring season play, which consists of fifteen practices and one day of competition between spring break and the end of April. From that point, Coach Hubbard says that the team will go on a hiatus of sorts so the girls can focus on their studies and their final exams.
In addition to individual conditioning work over the summer, Coach Hubbard has also assigned her players team building work so they are used to working with each other. If this has the effect that Hubbard predicts, team chemistry will already be at suitable levels when the regular season begins, and the 2017 volleyball team will be able to jump in headfirst, concentrating on volleyball rather than getting to know each other.
Coach Amanda Hubbard is new to Capital University, but she has already proven herself as a good fit for the university’s volleyball program. It will only be a short few months before her grand plans for the volleyball team are finally put into action.
