For the second time this school year Fountain Hills High School has added a new sport to its lineup, this time adding boys’ volleyball to the spring season.

The inaugural season for the Falcons kicked off yesterday, Feb. 26, with a match against Norte Dame Prep.

The team has one more game this week tomorrow, Feb. 28, at Williams Field High School starting at 5:30 p.m.

The Falcons are going into this season at a little of a disadvantage with a coach for the program only being hired a week before the first game.

However, despite this obstacle, the Falcons would struggle to find any coach who lives and breathes the sport of volleyball as much as Halle Harker.

“Ever since I can remember I have been playing volleyball,” Harker said. “I am originally from Southern California and came to Arizona to play volleyball at Arizona State University for four years.”

Harker hasn’t coached before but was exposed to different coaching styles as a collegiate athlete.

“I have found out there really is no such thing as the perfect coach,” Harker said. “In my time at ASU I had three different coaches, so I feel that I got to see different styles of coaching, what worked and what didn’t. I think I am going to be able to take what I learned there and bring it here to Fountain Hills.”

So far the team has had a handful of practices all together and, while Harker knows there is a long road ahead of them, she also sees the potential that her players have.

“My first practice with them, I started it off by saying get set to do this basic drill that virtually every volleyball player knows,” Harker said. “They kind of just stared at me and had to remind me that, ‘coach a lot of us haven’t played before.’ So I see so much potential in them, it is just that frustrating waiting period of getting to that point.”

While Harker agrees that only a few practices before the season opener is not ideal, she is not going to let her late hiring be an excuse for the team.

“We cannot rest on that excuse,” Harker said. “If we come into every practice with the mindset of doing better, if we give every game 100 percent effort, we will see improvements. That is the benefit of starting from nothing; you will see the progress no matter how little it is.”

The Falcons are aiming to make the playoffs this season, with Harker’s goal being focused on giving her all to the program.