Starting up a program is no easy task.

Luckily, Cascade volleyball coach Kendall Hampton has a bit of a head start on process.

Hampton helped jump start the Cascade Middle School volleyball program last year and after making the jump to the high school, will helm the high school volleyball program in it's inaugural season.

Earlier this month, Hampton was announced by the school administration as the head coach for both the volleyball and girls basketball programs.

Hampton spent her playing days on the court for both basketball and volleyball, from the high school level, all the way to playing both sports at Cumberland University.

“To have the two sports I played and loved, and to be able to share that with kids, that's something not a lot of people can say they get to do,” she said.

Starting up the middle school program was no easy task as the costs are considerably higher for equipment and ensuring the regulation nets and ball are supplied.

“You have to have a net system. When we started at middle school, we didn't have the holes in the floor because there wasn't a program before. So we had to pay to have the holes put in on top of the net system that was purchased,” she said.

“Then you have uniforms and balls and a cart to put the balls in. You have to have a lot of balls or else you can't really run the drills the way you need to.”

Even with all the knick knacks needed to build a program from the ground up, the administration and community support has been nothing short of overwhelming.

“There's a lot of things you need on the front end for that sport that a lot of sports don't need, which can make it difficult,” Hampton added.

“However, when we started at the middle school, there was such a great amount of community support out there, we were able to raise everything we needed and more.”

That support carried over this spring as the high school program began to take roots.

With the support and backing of the administration and the community, Cascade saw impressive numbers for the first-year tryouts.

“We had almost 40 try out. I think that's a good number for something brand new in a single A sized school. We have girls from last year who moved up from as freshmen because we have a foundation now. That makes it exciting because we have a foundation now because when we started in middle school last year, everybody was brand new,” Hampton said.

During the first year of play at the middle school level last season, the program immediately saw growth from the players on the floor, many of whom had never picked up a volleyball before.

“Those girls went from never having touched a ball, to practicing hard two months before we played. They played for just about three months total and we didn't finish last in the district. We finished fourth out of six in the conference, which I thought was a significant accomplishment,” Hampton said.

The area competition took note as well.

“I heard comments all the time about how people couldn't believe how good we were for a first year program or how much they had improved from the game before. I want to continue that over here, but none of that would have been able without the community and administration's support,” Hampton added.

Following the TSSAA mandated dead period, Cascade will take part in a playday on July 23, giving the team an opportunity to simulate live game action.

“We have our first playday on July 23. Which is before school starts. It's a chance for us to get in the gym and play the game,” Hampton said.

Following the summer workouts, Cascade will participate in a full varsity schedule this season.

“We're going to do a full varsity schedule since we do have girls moving up that have experience,” Hampton said.