Date: Fri 11-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Leigh-Hoppmeyer-Volleyball

Full Text:

Leigh Hoppmeyer Is Setting The Stage

For Big Things With NHS Volleyball

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

Leigh Hoppmeyer learned a couple things back in her Illinois Middle School -

one more of a pronouncement, an appraisal by her coach, and the other more of

a canon of scholastic volleyball - and the truth of both those things has

become evident now that Leigh has become the fulcrum of a team aiming its

collective eye on a South-West Conference championship.

Back in Illinois, the sport of volleyball is as popular and widespread and

competitive as youth soccer is back here in the East and it seemed only

natural that Leigh, like most of her friends, would play it when they had the

opportunity.

Leigh first played for her middle school team in seventh grade and it wasn't

long - probably only a couple matches - when she found out how much she liked

the sport. Then, it was only natural that she would play club volleyball in

the off-season, a tactic that also happened to coincide with another canon -

this one of Illinois volleyball - that anyone who wanted become something in

the sport had to play club volleyball.

"It's huge," said Leigh. "Right now, Illinois is the second largest state -

behind California - for Junior Olympic volleyball players. The sport is really

big out there. Where we lived, there were almost 65 club teams. We would have

tournaments and there would be so many teams there."

And that's where she learned two things.

One, that she had good hands, an appraisal handed out by her club coach who

also pointed out a somewhat self-evident truth of the inner dynamic of

volleyball.

Setters didn't have to be tall.

So she started going to setters practice and did all the drills and it wasn't

long before she was actually being trained to be a setter rather than a hitter

(which she realized she would never have the height to do) or a back court

defender.

And thus she became a setter.

On her middle school Double-A team (there was A and AA) team, she was the

primary setter, and really embraced the position when the next club season

came.

Which set her up - so to speak - for a competitive high school career.

At her Illinois high school, there were five teams: Freshman A and B,

Sophomore, Junior (or junior varsity) and Senior (or varsity). Forty-four

freshman tried out for the program alongside Leigh just four years ago and

twenty-five were told that they didn't quite have the right stuff.

"I knew the techniques in my freshman year," said Leigh. "I knew what to do,

where to go, my footwork and all that stuff. But I didn't really know how to

be a smart setter. It was just kind of like set the ball up and hope someone

hits it sort of thing. As I got older, I had coaches start to teach me the

mental part of the game."

Leigh played for the sophomore team in Illinois and sat the jayvee bench and

just after the 1994 season ended in late October, the Hoppmeyer family pulled

up their tent stakes and moved to Newtown, and actually got here in time for

Leigh to spend about a week of the regular season on the bench with the

Newtown High School volleyball team.

She saw only a minute or so of actual playing time, but she accepted that,

knowing that the team was losing several front-line players and that she would

be a focal point the following year.

"I knew coming in that the level of play was very different from where I was

when I moved," said Leigh. "And there was a different level of commitment

here. So I was just hoping to fix people, because they were doing so many

things wrong, and it was only because they just didn't know."

The team went under a philosophical metamorphosis last year, changing its

rotational schemes and simply updating its outlook on the sport of volleyball,

and while it worked to a large degree, the team was still plagued with its own

lack of focus and lack of confidence.

"It was a real tough year last year," said Leigh. "It was so frustrating

watching game after game slip away. Everyone had the talent to play and

everyone had fun most of the time, but it almost got to be depressing because

we made so many mistakes."

She was determined to change that. While other players, like Kristin

Denninger, played Junior Olympics, not enough of the rest of the team did and

Leigh took it upon herself to shake flyers in the faces of her teammates,

beseeching them to play Juniors and improve their skills.

Nine girls took the hint.

And in 1996, the Lady Nighthawks are 10-1 and most probably - depending on who

you talk to, of course - the best team in the South-West Conference despite

their season-opening loss to New Fairfield.

Leigh, the veritable epicenter of the team, can tell you why, too.

"I have a lot of options this year," she said. "Almost before the ball is

served I'm thinking about where I'm going to want to set the ball and my two

best options are Kristin (Denninger) and Dee (Conley), but they aren't always

in the front row, and then I have Carrie (Phillip) and Delphine (Tuot). Last

year I didn't have these options."

Setting is a thinking sort of proposition. While hitters like Denninger and

Conley and Phillip are just trying to elevate and put enough oomph into one of

their wallops, Leigh is constantly assessing the inner workings of the match

and figuring out her course of action.

"As a setter, you play a more mental game," said Leigh. "While you're looking

for the blockers on the other side, you are also thinking about who the best

person is to side the ball out for you and what your best options are.

"It's not something I can say that I know everything about, because I don't,"

she added. "I'm always learning new stuff, new techniques like jump setting,

and it's all these things I have to think about."

There are other things she would like to think about - like playing in

college, for instance - if she had the time, but right now Leigh is focussed

on setting the stage and setting up a chance for the Newtown Lady Nighthawks

to win the South-West Conference title.

She learned two important things in middle school and now she wants to learn

what it's like to be a champion.