photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

New Baldwin High School volleyball coach Laney Overman addresses players and parents for the first time at the Baldwin cafeteria on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.

Last year was the first year since her childhood that Laney Overman wasn’t around volleyball in some capacity, and it was terrible.

So when the native Kansan saw the head coach opening at Baldwin High School, she immediately jumped on it. Now, she’ll take over as the head coach for the first time at the high school level.

“I am super excited. I’ve always played volleyball,” Overman said. “It was really weird to have that year off.”

This won’t be Overman’s first coaching gig — she spent a year coaching at the club level. On top of that, Overman played at nearby Labette Community College in Parsons. Those experiences, and the other lifelong volleyball experiences, have prepared her for the role.

“I’ve had good and bad coaches too while I was playing, so that motivated me to know how I want to coach,” Overman said. “Dipping my toes with coaching club, I really figured out how I want to coach and how I want to be with the girls. It taught me a lot, and it’ll help me this year.”

Overman’s playing career started early and continued through high school in Wellsville, where she played setter, filling the role of setting up and guiding the team’s offense.

After high school, Overman played at Labette during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. She started as a setter there before moving to defensive specialist her sophomore year.

The position change helped Overman as a coach because she learned how to teach the position. She said it was an “eye-opening experience,” which helped her during her year coaching club.

Communication is a common emphasis among coaches, but it holds particular importance in volleyball. As Overman and the team go through the early stages of figuring out what the team’s play style will look like, communication is something that she’s looking to establish right away. The team will have training sessions in the coming weeks before diving into small group practices so Overman can better analyze each player’s skill set and proper position.

“The camp is going to help see where I want them at when we go to small groups. Then I can really see who stands out, what their strengths are and all that,” she said.

From there, it’ll be a quick turnaround before the season starts. The Bulldogs will start their season on Sept. 3 against Louisburg, according to the Frontier League website.

Last year, the Bulldogs were a win away from qualifying for state. The team lost 2-0 to Eudora in the sub-state championship after defeating Ottawa 2-0 earlier in the day. Baldwin finished with a 26-11 record last year.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

A group of Baldwin High School volleyball players huddle around and talk with their new coach, Laney Overman, in an introductory meeting at the school on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.