ShawneeDispatch.com

"Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!"

For teachers and coaches around the area, those words from the chorus of the "Welcome Back, Kotter" theme song, evoke a certain tenderness and welcoming to the new school year. At this time of year, educators and team leaders welcome back familiar faces with a renewed sense of warmth and high hopes and, like Gabe Kaplan in his Brooklyn high school classroom, many teachers and coaches feel right at home treading on familiar ground.

At Maranatha Academy, the athletics department hopes that new coach Carla Stockard can create the same type of magic that Mr. Kotter did with his wayward, but loveable "Sweathogs" in the 1970s - only this time on the volleyball court and with a program in need of a little on-court success.

Actually, the moniker "new coach" is not entirely appropriate for Stockard. She previously filled the varsity position for the Eagles a little more than 10 years ago. After having left high school coaching to coach at the club level, Stockard returned to coaching middle school volleyball at Maranatha two years ago and now reclaims her position as varsity coach.

Stockard takes over a program that has seen very little success over the past couple of seasons.

"They have really struggled over the past two years," Stockard said of Maranatha's recent woes on the volleyball court. "We're really going to go back to working on fundamentals. In my opinion, passing is the most important skill in volleyball. Today was our first practice, and I think we've got some potential there. My job is to get them fundamentally sound."

The 2008 Eagles will be a youthful squad with only two seniors and at least eight freshmen. The good news for Maranatha fans is that five of the incoming freshmen have extensive club volleyball experience, bringing a savviness of the game that trumps their youth.

One of the areas that most concerns Stockard coming in is what two years of losing might have done to the psyche of the Maranatha volleyball program. A main goal of the new Eagle skipper is to bolster her players' confidence and get them to believe they can succeed.

"One of my goals is to really help these girls find their confidence," Stockard said. "There's some talent there, it just hasn't been tapped into. I definitely see myself as an encouraging and nurturing kind of coach. One of my strengths is being able to encourage them to want to do well; to encourage them to improve."

Stockard's five-year plan is to have the Eagles ready to go to state in 2013, therefore firmly re-establishing faith in the program. Stockard knows it will be no picnic, but her belief in the positives makes her a firm believer in the reality of that goal.

"I would definitely like to see us make it to state," Stockard said. "My last year at Maranatha we were one (win) away from making it to state. I think it's a combination of fundamentals and a 'working together' attitude combined with a desire to go as far as possible that separates the great teams from the rest."