Volleyball comes to Lincoln Prep

GRAMBLING — Lincoln Prep has taken a historic step in the athletic offerings it provides students.

For the first time in not just Lincoln Prep history, but also Grambling history — back when the school went by Grambling Lab — the school will introduce volleyball as a LHSAA sanctioned program to students this fall. It’s been a long time coming for administrators, including Lincoln Prep Executive Director Gordan Ford, who told the Leader the program’s formation continues the mission of Lincoln Prep to provide students with opportunities to learn while building connections.

“It’s great because it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while. The girls have been asking me for several years about when we’re going to have a team, so we’re excited to offer them a new opportunity to learn and be a part of a team,” Ford said. “You know, a lot of people don’t know how much team sports matter. Every single cadet at West Point is required to have played or been a part of a competitive team of some kind. It teaches people how to communicate with others and work towards a common goal. And we want to provide our kids as many competitive settings as we can. It’s a competitive world. And we don’t want to set our kids up for failure by not providing them ways to compete with other kids and learn those skills.”

Lincoln Prep Athletic Director Glen Hall always wanted the school to provide volleyball but had to work through years of little engagement on the subject. But after interest meetings finally took off this year, and clamoring from students grew louder, Hall and Prep leaders decided it was time to move forward in unprecedented waters for the school.

At the first handful of practices, the program had four players. Now, it’s a full roster of 15 players.

“For a school our size, that’s leaps and bounds beyond what we had hoped,” Hall said. “And everybody is not a track athlete or basketball player, so it was important we give the kids a new opportunity. I had a young lady come up to me and say, ‘I’ve been waiting for us to get a team. I can’t play the other sports, but I think I can be pretty good at volleyball.’ And I just told her, ‘I’m excited that you’re excited. This is why we’re doing this.’”

The program will be led by former Grambling State and Ruston Junior High volleyball coach Demetria Keys-Johnson. She also comes to the school as middle school counselor.

Johnson, a former GSU player, was part of the Tigers’ three-peat championship teams back in the ‘90s (1995, 1996, 1997) before later becoming assistant coach at GSU from 2004- 09. She was then promoted to head coach starting in 2010 before stepping down in December 2021.

“Coach Johnson is the total package for us,” Ford said. “ She’s also going to be our middle school counselor which will help us a lot. She has an amazing ability to work with kids and has taught at many levels and brings so much to the table. Having her on campus is going to be amazing for our kids. To have someone of her caliber on our campus and help better our students and work with them is amazing.”

Forming a program isn’t completely new to Johnson, as she helped Amanda Cauley form Ruston High’s volleyball team a decade ago and worked to develop the junior high program as well.

Now, she’s ready to get to work in helping Lincoln Prep girls find a new path to succeed.

“I’m just excited. I’m used to helping growing programs, so I’m excited to come to Lincoln Prep and start this program,” Johnson said. “I feel like it gives females more opportunities to do something fun, earn good grades and get scholarships and go to college – another avenue to pay for school. I want to be in line with our mission here to educate academically and socially, to prepare them for lifetime experiences. We’re going to be family. We’re going to be sisters. We’re going to learn how to get along and how to agree and disagree at the same time. We want to make a positive impact on each other.”

Lincoln Prep will have a 10-to-12-game schedule, including a district made up of other schools with relatively new volleyball programs such as Downsville, Doyline, Providence Classical Academy in Shreveport, and St. Mary’s Catholic School in Natchitoches.

Marley Venzant, named team captain for Lincoln Prep, is excited her years of waiting to play volleyball for her own school has paid off.

“It’s exciting because I’m leading Lincoln Prep’s new volleyball program. I just want to help others get better,” Venzant said.

Lincoln Parish has seen a boom in volleyball growth over the last 10 years with RHS and Lincoln Prep forming programs after local schools never offered it previously. And with creation comes the need for intentional demonstration of game fundamentals and rules.

Johnson knows the learning curve is going to be steep for Lincoln Prep given most team members have a cursory knowledge of the game at best. But forming the schedule against other novice programs was designed to ensure players don’t become discouraged or go against a talent gap.

Johnson will focus on patience with her team this season as the Panthers get on the court for the first time.

“Going from college to middle school was a big jump, and now going from middle school to high school is another jump for me,” Johnson said. “The difference is middle schoolers knew something about volleyball because I was doing recreational things at Ruston Parks and Rec and they either learned from the ground up and some knew something. Here it’s different because nobody knows anything. They’re learning. We’re doing things repeatedly and showing them hard work pays off. And it’s going to be fun for everyone.”

Lincoln Prep’s season opener is set for Aug. 25 inside its main gym against Downsville.