2C COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JULY 19, 2017
A return to head coach
After a brief break, Kendra Anderson is back as
the Lions head volleyball coach
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove High School has welcomed back a familiar
face to the volleyball program.
Kendra Anderson is now the new head coach of the Lions
but this is not the fi rst time. Anderson coached at Cottage
Grove for 10 years which saw fi ve with her as head coach
of the varsity team. She then took a three year break from
coaching but has since coached JV volleyball at Marist Cath-
olic High School in Eugene and most recently she coached at
Creswell Middle School where she is a social studies teacher.
Now entering her 21st year of coaching, she is ready and
excited to be back at the varsity level.
“I’m excited about the new players and the up and com-
ing players coming in,” said Anderson. “My goal is always to
make it to that fi nal eight and I think this team could do that.”
This summer the team has been active in the weight room
and has been participating in open gyms that bring back Lion
alumni as well. The goal of these sessions is to help get the
current team ready while also having a fun time with the alum-
ni.
Another important facet that Anderson sees is youth in vol-
leyball. Anderson sees the value of making the middle school-
ers an important part of the process. This is why when she
was previously head coach, her and the Creswell coach would
have a tournament in spring that featured middle school girls
from Cottage Grove, Creswell and surrounding areas and
get them playing and competing. This brief exposure helped
show those students what volleyball is like at the next level.
“I think it is really important to build the programs at [the
middle school level]. It is important for them to see the cur-
rent players at the high school interact with them,” she said.
“The coaches at the middle school and high school level do a
really good job at fostering that love of volleyball which helps
build that program all the way through.”
And while there is value in fostering the program with par-
ticipation from alumni and the middle school students, she is
also ready to take on the challenge at hand with this year’s
varsity team. Last year the team fi nished second in the Sky-
Em while the State champion Sisters fi nished fi rst in league.
The Lions were eliminated in the fi rst round of the playoffs.
Swim team promotes culture, Olympians
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
It’s not about winning for Tyson Pilling. Not completely.
The 27-year-old coach of the Cottage Grove High School swim
teams says it’s more about cultivating a culture of compassion and
respect than strutting around the pool with medals. But, winning is
nice too.
“Last year we had a district champion and at least eight state qual-
ifi ers,” he said.
Pilling has been the coach for both the boys and girls high school
teams as well as the leader of the district’s swim club—a feeder
for the competition teams—for approximately four years. It was
the swim club, Pilling said, that brought back the girls’ water polo
team after a four-year absence. Interest during the summer session
of swim club ultimately funneled girls into the competition team
during the winter term.
“If you have a good club program,” Pilling said, “then you will
have a good program in the high school. It’s essential to have a good
club program.”
The swim club begins in August, just after Pilling mans swim
camps. This year local swimmers were treated to a visit from two
Olympians and according to Pilling, they reinforced the lessons he
tries to instill in his teams.
“We had Elizabeth Basile come and she didn’t talk about the years
she won,” Pilling said. “She talked about the year she fractured her
fi nger in practice, went to the ER where they buddy wrapped her
fi ngers and when she got back for competition, she was disqualifi ed
because of that wrap,” he said. “And she said it was important for
her to keep a positive attitude and have a good culture for the rest
of the team.”
A “good culture” is exactly what the Cottage Grove swimming
Lions are expected to help create and maintain.
“We don’t walk around with our chests out when we win,” Pilling
said. “We don’t care how much our suits costs. We set goals and we
focus on them and we try to achieve them.”
And while it’s not quite swim season yet, Pilling keeps busy
with swim camp and his duties as professional lifeguard and “toiler
scrubber” at the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center; a facility set
to undergo a transformation over the next year.
In November, voters approved a bond measure aimed at improv-
ing school infrastructure and while the majority of the funds--$23
million—are scheduled for the new Harrison Elementary School,
the pool is expected to pocket a few million for renovations.
It will mean a new home for Pilling and adjusting to whatever de-
cisions the school district and its yet-to-be-formed committee make
but for now, he’s not looking too far into the future in regards to
construction or the new season.
“It’s really too early to say what the next season will bring,” he
said. “There’s always lots and lots of room for improvement and
we’ll do the best with what we have. We’ll see when we start putting
in the work and our good culture and we’ll go from there.”
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