By Gail Wood
Besides the block at the net, the hard serve down the line and the leaping kill shot to end another rally, coach Neil Sharp makes sure his Centralia High School volleyball team is taking care of business in the classroom.
Sharp let his players know that grades are just as important as the final score. That message got through loud and clear this season. Centralia won the state academic championship award with a cumulative GPA of 3.79 – best in the state among 2A volleyball teams.
“It’s not just what you do on the court, but what you do off the court that matters,” Sharp said. “You have to hold up your end of the deal in the classroom.”
The Tigers certainly took care of business in the classroom. They were the true definition of student-athlete. Four Tigers – Leti Ramirez, Melissa Zion, Hayden Blaser and Kaitlynn Johns – had perfect 4.0 GPAs.
“I think it’s just as important to be sound on the court as it is in the classroom,” said Bryse Gilmore, a senior team captain. “If you focus in the classroom just as much as you do on the court, you’re going to be a successful team.”
Gilmore, who was first-team all-league for the second straight year and has a cumulative 3.8 GPA, is another Tiger example of student-athlete.
“It’s exciting that we won this award,” Gilmore said. “It’s a big deal for us.”
Centralia, which placed third in the 2A Evergreen League, will accept their state academic championship award on Saturday at the state tournament in Tacoma.
Sharp, who just completed his ninth season as the Tigers head coach, has found that athletics are a good lab for academics. Sports teach life lessons like discipline, teamwork and determination.
“It teaches you how to prioritize your time,” Sharp said.
But in sports, in the quest to be good, it’s easy to become single minded, putting sports first and forgetting about academics. That’s when Sharp steps in, reminding a player what’s important.
“Part of being a good teammate is knowing that it’s not just what you do on the court, but what you do off the court,” Sharp said. “You have to hold up your end of the deal in the classroom – making sure you’re eligible, that you’re respectful to your teacher and that you’re not getting into trouble at school.”
For Sharp, the carryover from athletics to the classroom is obvious. As Sharp puts his players through drills on the court, that’s teaching them to push themselves to do better in life.
“I think with this specific team they have disciplined work habits and also a high work ethic,” Sharp said. “Those are two things I was fortunate to see day in and day out. They really expect a lot from themselves and set their goals high. And because of that they achieve high.”
In addition to the effort they put on the court and in the classroom, these Tigers are also involved in community projects. Last summer, they painted the paw prints that lead from the middle school to the high school. The paw prints, which are every five to 10 yards, were fading.
“These girls are really active in their community,” Sharp said. “It wasn’t even during the season when they did that. They spend countless hours helping.”
Helping and being involved in the community, is something Sharp tries to include in his program. It’s just not about the results on the scoreboard.
“We try to build it into the program and give the girls something they can take a lot of pride in,” Sharp said.
“We always make sure that academics come first,” Sharp said. “We want to make sure they are prioritizing their time and they’re not having to retake a test because they stayed up late watching television.”
And Sharp makes sure there’s room for fun. Every Monday night, these Tigers got together at a teammate’s house for dinner.
“They planned who was going to host it each week, what they were going to have – everything,” Sharp said. “It was great.”
For these Tigers, it was another success season – on and off the court.
