Coach Sara Robichaux

 

These girls provided a strong sense of security for Robichaux, the team, and ESA’s fans.  Last year the team boasted a remarkable twenty-plus wins season. After losing such a strong foundation, many people, fans included, questioned the Falcons’ ability to claw their way back to the state tournament this year. Fans also feared the young team would not have the courage to play with the confidence we have seen from ESA volleyball in the past. “Our mentality has really shifted from last year,” says sophomore Avery Monica. “We were focused on making our last year with the seniors count. There was a lot of stress on everybody. This year, with a really young team, we get to rebuild ourselves. We get to have fun and shock everyone as underdogs this season.”

Robichaux argues, “I honestly sense the negativity more from outside people because I’m with my girls everyday. I know what the mentality is like. People in the community say to our girls, ‘Oh y’all are gonna get beat so badly tonight,’ and it’s like that’s not really what they want to hear.” 

Going into this year, she anticipated there would be hesitation from younger players and first time starters to attempt to fill the shoes of last year’s leaders, and tweaked her coaching philosophy accordingly. “Giving them the room to make freshman mistakes and not letting them get too negative on themselves,” is a large focus for Robichaux this season. 

She claims her early coaching years were marked by a more aggressive coaching style where, being fresh out of her college volleyball days, she held players to the same or similar standards as college players. Now, she focuses less on hammering already developed skills, battling complacency and laziness, and instead emphasizes positive reinforcement and teambuilding. 

This year Robichaux implemented friendship bracelets and journaling to encourage players. She hopes the team achieves their goals because they are inspired, not for fear of punishment upon failure. “We’ve got a lot of really young kids on the court right now, so the stuff we’re doing is a lot of foundation work. It’s not that these younger kids we have right now aren’t capable. I think they're equally if not more capable than past teams. We like to shout out something that someone’s doing that’s positive as a way for them to, instead of focusing on the negative or not focusing on it at all, find the positive in everything, everyday,” says Robichaux.

Despite preseason perceptions, this team is constantly proving to be incredibly talented and resilient. Third year starter and outside hitter/back row player Avery Monica is presently hitting .195 and passing an unbelievable 2.4. The team passes an overall 2.2 in serve receive, exceeding even their own expectations. Freshman outside hitter Lauren Conroy is also hitting a striking .17 so far this season. Though they are young, they are certainly mighty and are capable of giving any team a sure run for their money this season. They come into the gym and put in the same hours as past players like Breaux and Movassaghi, spending roughly ten hours, not including games, in the gym, each week. Senior captain and setter Rylee Benoit adds, “I was a little bit nervous about stepping into their shoes, but I feel like things fell naturally into place. We have a close team, and everyone really believes in each other.”

Though they may not realize it, the fans have a lot of control over the outcome of each game, and their support fuels the players’ fire. Robichaux concludes, “We’ve got some potentially division one volleyball players on our roster right now, so just because you think we’re not where we should be, I see these girls everyday. The skill level and the work they put in is something to see. To buy into this team is going to help me do my job better, to help them believe in themselves even more, so if you want to help us win a state title we need everyone to believe in us as much as we do.”

The team is ready to make ESA proud, but fans must move their eyes off of the past and onto the future. The girls’ mindsets are a product of, among other things, the environment of the community. It is up to fans to feed them the positivity needed to be confident and, in turn, successful going forward. 

These Falcons are ready to soar.