Whiteland Community High School volleyball coach Kristin Estridge has experienced the IHSAA-imposed summer moratorium week both as a player and as a coach.
Estridge, a 2007 Mooresville High School graduate who played volleyball, basketball and softball for the Pioneers, was between her sophomore and junior school years when the moratorium made its debut.
About to begin her third season aws the Warriors’ coach, Estridge feels moratorium week is an important hiatus for those in her program.
“We look forward to it,” she said. “We do a lot of work prior to the moratorium, and it kind of cuts our summer in half. After we get back is when we really start to increase our intensity.”
Summer moratoriums are a seven-day period in which there can be no contact between athletes and coaches. Also, no activities can be planned, including conditioning.
The first moratorium in Indiana was in 2005.
This summer’s begins Monday, July 4, and runs through Sunday, July 10.
In the case of Whiteland volleyball, the seven-day breather serves as a divider of what’s been done and the work which still remains for players and coaches.
Whiteland’s first day of school is July 27. Estridge’s first volleyball practice takes place Aug. 1.
To this point the focus for three hours three days per week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon — has been about splitting conditioning work with strength training.
After moratorium, Estridge and her staff begin will concentrate more on specific offenses, defenses and player rotations.
“Incoming freshmen are learning how we do things and what our expectations are,” Estridge said.
Whiteland’s first regular-season match is Aug. 10, when the Warriors host Triton Central.
“Moratorium week gives us family time,” Estridge said. “My husband (Josh) is a coach, as well, at Plainfield, so we don’t see much of each other in the summer.”
