Jan Barker, Amarillo High School
Chairperson of Texas Girls Coaches Association volleyball committee
"I was not a bit surprised by the decision. We had been discussing the possibility for about a year and a half now. Our all-star games have been played with rally score for a couple of years, and we have had speakers at our clinics to begin to prepare our coaches for the possible change. We are at the point that in many schools, the athletes know the rally game better than the side-out game. Rally scoring does make for a quick, exciting game. It makes every touch on the ball important, and it is a great game for spectators. It is the biggest change in years for our sport and now our high schools are joining in. I believe we were the last entity to play side-out ball. Side out ball is becoming antiquated - sad as it is for many of us - but change can be good, and it seems rally scoring has been a very positive thing for the game. Our association is excited and ready to go rally, and I hope the whole volleyball community will join with us in making this an exciting time for Texas volleyball!

Lee Grisham, Wimberley
Vice-chair of Texas Girls Coaches Association volleyball committee
I think it will have a big impact on the game. It will catch a lot of the older coaches by surprise because coaching rally is so different and they will have to adjust the way they coach. But I think it will revitalize the game. It will make it more exciting for the fans.

Linda Godwin, Longview Pine Tree
I believe Texas wants to continue to be a powerhouse state as far as volleyball is concerned, and in order to do this we have to keep up with the changes. The game is going to change somewhat compared to what we are use to. I personally feel like it is going to become a control and mental game. I've coached club and I love it. Coaches must educate themselves or else they are going to cause their teams to get left behind. Strategies are different and momentum is going to be even a bigger factor.

Kirby Jameson, San Antonio Clark
I'm very pleased. I was a little surprised it was three-of-five to 25. I was hoping it would be three-of-five, but I wasn't sure what the point would be. I just glad it's rally. I went back and watched film and scored the matches using rally and the outcome was the same. Some of the scores were a little more lopsided with rally scoring. It will be more fun for the spectators. With the let serve our kids will now be able to go for it more. I had one player come up to me and say: "Now I can start serving harder in high school." I think the players are excited. Most of them are used to it from club.

Al Bennett, Austin Westlake
I'm not a rally proponent. I like the way it was played, but that's the way it is and we have to move on. We can't keep our head in the sand. Coaches who are not involved with club or are not used to rally scoring will have to learn to manage the game and the players because there are some subtle nuances that are different in rally. Everything I've seen shows that once you get down five, six or seven points late in the game it's the kiss of death and you can't make that up. Coaches are going to have to be aware of that and use timeouts and substitutions to break momentum. I like the 25 with no cap because I think that will keep some of the integrity of the game and allows you to come back.

Robin Gerlich, San Antonio Churchill
We've known for a while we were heading in that direction. In fact, I went to the Final Four to get more educated on the rally game. I think for a lot of kids who play club at higher level it will good because it will be consistent with the game they’ve been playing. A lot of smaller schools whose players don’t have access to club will probably have a little harder time adjusting. (Rally) increases the pace of the game and makes it faster. I'm not big on change, but seeing kids go back and forth wasn’t good. It’s going to prepare them more for what they will do later on in their careers and that is always one of my goals. I think our game needs to be consistent. Ball control and passing will be so much more important now. I’ve never been excited about the let serve because its hard to play, so my thought is that if you are going to let it hit the net, they should also let us return to being able to attack the serve.

Michael Kane, St. Michael’s Academy
I think that it is going to be the best thing for the kids. I am in favor in getting one set of volleyball rules to play by. The girls who play club ball have had a very difficult time trying to get re-adjusted to the "old high school rules". I know many coaches are not in favor of the new rules, but at least there will be less confusion. I think those coaches who have never coached a rally score game will grow to like it if given the chance. I think the one thing that will be interesting to see will be the three-out-of-five format. In club we play a two-of-three format with the third game to 15. So how this will impact games time wise is going to be interesting. I have coached club for several years and like the new rules, but game plans will be changing across the state. It takes some getting used to, but all in all it will be better. The main thing is to eliminate the confusion for the majority of players who play eight months out of the year with these "new" rules and then have had to go back and play three months of "old" rules.