Hartselle volleyball schedules preseason meet-and-greet

The volleyball teams of Hartselle High and Hartselle Junior High School are planning a “Meet Me on the Court” event Thur., Aug. 9, as a means of building stronger community support for their programs.

Traditionally, the teams have sponsored a “Meet the Tigers” event prior the start of each season.

“Meet Me on the Court” will be staged in the J.C. Pettey Center beginning at 6 p.m.

A complete round of competition involving seventh and eighth grade teams as well as the junior varsity and varsity teams will be featured. In addition, varsity alumni representing 2006-2011 teams will be featured in a fifth game.

The seventh and eighth grade teams will play each other at 6 p.m., followed by the eighth grade team and junior varsity. The JV team will then take on the varsity in a third contest. The alumni game will wrap up the competition.

The main goal of the games is to stimulate additional interest in volleyball throughout the community, with special emphasis on elementary-age girls.

According to Hartselle volleyball coaches, more and more of the teams Hartselle plays throughout the season, and especially at the state tournament, are filled with girls who have played club volleyball for as long as local girls play softball, basketball and soccer. Currently, girls from Hartselle have to travel to Huntsville, Birmingham or other large cities to play club volleyball.

“We need to create more interest in volleyball among younger girls in order to maintain the high level of success our teams have achieve in the past,” said Liz Wilhelm, a volleyball mom. “That’s why we organized “Meet Me on the Court.”

“The alumni game is an acknowledgement of the contributions of previous teams and players to the success of the schools’ volleyball programs,” she added. “We are looking forward to seeing them in action and expressing our gratitude to them.”

Concessions will be available. Admission is $5 per person.