A Lane Tech sophomore team member puts up a block vs. Niles North
On September 11, 2007. I went over to the campus of Niles North High School in Skokie to watch Lane Tech play Niles North in girls volleyball. It was a regular season non conference match up between the suburban school Niles North and the city school Lane Tech.
When you think of high school sports in the North suburbs, Niles North is usually not the first school i think of when I compare it to it's nearby neighbors New Trier, Evanston, and Glenbrook North. In fact, in it's over 43 years of existence, Niles North has not won a single state title in any sport. They are best known for their chess team (an activity), who have 5 top 3 state finishes since 2000; including a state championship in 2006.
Lane Tech has faired similarly in sports for the last 30 years. It's last state championship was the 1976 boys state championship in track. We also have won 3 state championships in chess since 1976.
So like every program in the state, both Niles North and Lane Tech are similar in that both could use more improvements in their sports programs. Now, I'm not talking about increasing their win percentages. I'm talking about elevating all the oher little things as a whole.
Let me get back to the volleyball discussion and I'll tell you what I mean. You see, several decades ago, the high school sports scene was completely different than it is now. More athletes play year round focused on one or maybe two sports. In a sport like volleyball, if you want to even make it on a volleyball competitive school like a Naperville North or Maine South, you need to play year round. During the off season, this usually means playing club volleyball.
Club volleyball has top notch coaches and competition. These are things that will no doubt elevate a players game. Last year, Lane Tech had maybe only 2-3 girls out of it's entire volleyball team play club volleyball. So for Lane to even be near the competitive landscape, they must somehow have to increase the number of players playing club volleyball.
Lane Tech does have some serious athletes on their team including sophomore Jackie Manriquez who plays on the softball team and Sioban Stahl who also plays soccer and basketball. The talent is there at Lane.
Some people feel, Lane could also use better volleyball facilities, but one of the best volleyball programs in the city Payton has a cracker jack sized gym and they somehow manage to pull quality teams.
I ended up watching a good game between Nile North and Lane Tech. Lane lost in two sets (25-22? and 25-14). The first game was really close but Niles North (behind the play of their club volleyball players) jumped out to a 12-1 lead. But what I learned from watching high school sports over the last 20 or so years, is that the high school sports scene is changing, More player plays year round, schools are getting better facilities, and the level of play is improving everywhere.
Lane Tech is doing it's part. We have Fields of Dreams committee that has already done great things like put up lights in Lane stadium, make a new field turf (which will be used for football, soccer, lacrosse, etc), and plans are under way for even better things like a new track with field events capabilities, better stadium seating, a locker room by the field, and more. Now every athlete and coach has to do their part and work on ther game. These are little thing which over time will make big things happen.
Jackie Manriquez (sophomore) has been playing on the varsity girls softball and volleyball teams since her freshman year. She trains year round and plays club ( or traveling) sports during the off season.
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