Bring out the volleyball nets and finish lines because the new school year has begun. Coach Smoak and Coach Gleason have positive outlooks and goals for the current season.
Head volleyball coach Logan Smoak has trained athletes here at Central Heights for seven years. She coached at Leon ISD two years prior to moving to Nacogdoches. When she was in high school, she competed in volleyball, track and other sports. In college, she competed for the University of Texas in Tyler.
Her favorite professional volleyball player is Jordan Larson.
“She’s just all around phenomenal and a great leader as well,” Smoak said.
Smoak has various motivations for coaching. Her players are most important to her.
“A few things motivate me to coach,” she said. “One is the relationships you get to build with the players. Then, two, every year is like a puzzle. You’re just trying to figure out the keys to being good, and then maintaining success is really challenging, so finding ways to win with whatever you have that year– player wise– is a big challenge and a lot of fun for me.”
Last year, the varsity volleyball team attained a spot in the state semi-finals. Despite the loss in the last round, this year the outcome will be different.
“Last year was awesome for us and we’re trying to build off that success. Our word for the year is ‘hungry’ because we don’t want to be complacent or feel like we did something this year. We want to start off on a brand new foot, so that experience is gonna help us a lot for sure,” Smoak said. “There’s not so much of a new strategy; it’s more of just building off of what we did and then trying to put our pieces together. We’ve still got a young team this year, but we’re 20-2 after two tournaments at the moment, so we’re starting off on the right foot.”
Smoak values the connections and relationships between the teammates. She says they are most important to achieving volleyball’s goal this year.
“We’ve got to keep the team first,” Smoak said. “ We say that we ‘out-team’ people, meaning that we’re bringing energy and the love that they have for each other and this program. That translates to points. I think a lot of people don’t always see that, but I think it’s a huge key for us. So if we can ‘out-team’ people, then we’re gonna beat a lot of teams who may be better than us, but that day they weren’t because we were just very well pulled together.”
Another coach looking forward to a great season is Kerry Gleason, who has been a coach for five years total. Prior to Central Heights, Gleason coached at Sundown ISD in West Texas for two years. During his high school years, he ran both cross country and track, but in college he only ran track.
He enjoys watching the progression of all track athletes. A few of his favorite runners were Rai Benjamin, hurdler and sprinter, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who is also a hurdler and sprinter, and Armand Duplantis, a professional pole vaulter.
“Any of those guys dominating the olympics this year are beasts and I love watching them,” Gleason said.
Gleason enjoys coaching because of his love for cross country and track and field. He also values the relationship he had with his previous coaches growing up. He strives to be the same role model to his athletes that his coaches were to him.
“I love the atmosphere of track and cross country meets and practices. The sport I was going to coach was kind of a given because it’s always been a passion of mine,” Gleason said. “What got me into coaching was just the relationships that I had with my coaches growing up and the role that they played in my life. When I decided what I wanted to do for a living, I wanted to be that for kids in my position. I wanted to try and be the same role model that they were for me. That’s all I can hope for, just to have an impact on the kids.”
Gleason has established early morning practices for the cross country runners. He knows it will help them develop strength and toughness because of how brutal they may be sometimes. However, there are some benefits to them as well.
“It will take some toughness. It’s not easy to wake up that morning and then work really hard,” Gleason said. “Our practices are pretty brutal, and having to get up early on top of that is definitely a mental battle that’s super beneficial for them. Also, it can get so hot in the afternoons, so it’s pretty much the only time of day we can get decent weather consistently. I’m trying to benefit them mentally but also try to take it easy on them as far as the conditions they’ve got to run in. Most of our meets are in the morning too, so they have to get used to waking up early anyways.”
Gleason believes consistency and progression are huge concepts for his runners to understand while moving towards state. He wants them to push themselves and their limits.
“I think there’s a lot of factors that go into it, but the ones I touch on the most are being consistent with your progression,” Gleason said. “You don’t want to be consistent with your times or your intensity because if you stay the same you’re not going to get any better. We want to consistently be pushing forward and pushing our limits. Consistency and progression is huge with what we do, especially when it’s preventing us from plateauing or staying the same throughout the whole season.”
This year’s volleyball and cross country seasons will definitely be something to support and look forward to.
“Next Wednesday,” Gleason said, “we will be in Cushing, which is one of the closest meets we get. I’d love to see a wave of blue come up and surprise us.”