Hot Springs Lady Heat still own the court

Matt Unrau

It starts with a whisper, “We are…Hot Springs.” It quickly picks up until it’s a roar, “We are…Hot Springs.”

Assistant Coach Alisha Pablo then directs the cheer, “What kind of power do you got?”

“Soul power,” the girls volleyball team yells.

“How strong are you?”

“Too strong!”

“Did you come with fire in your eyes?” screams Pablo.

“Yeah!” the team answers.

“Did you come with blood in your mouths?”

“Oh, yeah!”

“Do you want a victory?”

“Yeah!”

“We are…Hot Springs!” the team finishes together leaving anybody listening in to the chant with chills running down their spine.

However, immediately after the last scream the team breaks up, players and coaches combined, giggling from the display of false machismo.

In a way this is what Hot Springs volleyball is all about where winning is fun and the fierce and intimidating play on the court masks a fun loving group of girls off the court.

The atmosphere starts at the top with Pablo and Head Coach Bonnie Franklin who like to watch sports movies and then incorporate them into their team. Portions of their cheer was taken from “We are Marshall” and it’s also accompanied with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”

They also have plenty of superstitions that they like to joke about as well including wearing the school’s colors on game days, which Franklin dubs her “lucky winning shirt,” sitting in the same spot on the bench and doing the same cheers in the huddles.

“We just try to make it fun and motivating so the younger kids want to be on Varsity,” says Franklin.

The coach’s approach carries over to the trio of Senior Class captains on the team, who believe in leading the team the same way the coaches lead them, through having fun.

“(We) make everything funny, get everything pumped up,” says Senior MacKenzie Wood.

Fellow captain Devon White explains that this approach curbs any intimidation the younger players on the team may feel towards the program that three weeks ago polished off its third straight District Championship.

“We have some really quiet Freshmen, that are kind of in their shells and if they were to get a little more with us they could be more competitive. So we just try to get everyone to open up. But, we’re definitely all about fun,” says White.

From busting a random dance move, cracking jokes or making up crazy cheers, Randi Arnold says the fun comes from laughing at themselves.

“We think we’re funny, that’s what makes it funny,” says Arnold.

In a school as small as Hot Springs, having the upper classmen accept the under classmen is crucial to the success of the program. That and all the winning has gotten the attention of many girls who don’t usually participate in sports. In Franklin’s first year as head coach the team got second at Districts and only had eight varsity girls. This year 19 girls joined the varsity and junior varsity team and they have had as many as 25.

For the senior class successfully breaking the ice is not as easy as you would think. The seniors leave the program this year as crucial members of four dominating seasons, winning 79 games and only losing 21. That includes three straight district championships, one state playoff berth and two in-season tournament championships.

As for the captains they make up an intimidating front row for the Lady Heat, which they jokingly have dubbed the “power rotation.”

The coaches describe the three captains in glowing terms. White is deadly with her serves, hammering them across the net with high accuracy, she finished the season with 62 aces. Wood is the designated setter for the team, able to track down any ball on the floor and set it for the kill. She led the team in assists with 597. Arnold is on the receiving side of those sets, the lefty puts down kills into the opponents court with extreme malice. She led the team in kills with 336 on the year.

It all amounts to what Franklin refers to as a group of girls who got used to winning and stopped accepting anything else.

Even more than the trophies that the team has gathered in the past four years, they have won a distinction that brings them a satisfaction that no one can take away.

After starting their career’s as Charlo’s designated whipping boy, they have left the program having turned the table on their long-time rival. Where it really mattered in the last two district Championships, they came out on top of the grudge match.

It’s one of their top three goals they had set at the beginning of the season, which was beating Charlo, winning the District Championship and making it to state.

Even though they have to settle for two out of three of their goals this year after losing out in Divisonal to the eventual first and third place team in state, the Hot Springs Lady Heat can breathe a deep sigh of satisfaction knowing that District 10-C volleyball starts and ends with Hot Springs.