She started the volleyball program in Hanson and has been one of the top volleyball officials in South Dakota. Sandy Neugebauer joins Craig Mattick on this edition of In Play.
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Craig Mattick:
In Play with Craig Mattick, made possible by Horton in Britton, a worldwide supplier of engine cooling systems and proud member of the community for more than four decades. Hortonww.com.
Welcome to another edition of In Play. I am Craig Mattick. Today's guest started the volleyball program in Hanson, but also for the past three-plus decades, she's been one of the top officials in volleyball, as well as mentoring new officials. Joining us today on In Play is Sandy Neugebauer, and Sandy, welcome to In Play.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Oh, thank you. Glad to be here.
Craig Mattick:
You grew up on a farm, near Dimick, which is just north of Parkston. What was life like on the farm for you back in the '60s and '70s?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah, it was a little bit different than now. There was no such thing as cell phones and computers and all that kind of stuff, so we worked really hard on the farm, milked a lot of cows, did a lot of chores and everything like that. We had to come up with our own entertainment. We had three channels on the TV, so kind of showing my age there. It's a fun time, and I wouldn't change it for anything. I wish we could have our kids today go back to some of that simpler life.
Craig Mattick:
Sure. So it was a dairy farm for you guys?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah, we milked about 90 cows.
Craig Mattick:
Twice a day?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I had pigs and chickens and...
Craig Mattick:
Oh my.
Sandy Neugebauer:
There were seven kids, so mom did a lot of gardening, we did a lot of field work. We did a lot of kinds of stuff like that, and so dad and mom kept pretty busy.
Craig Mattick:
You went to school in Parkston, which wasn't that far from Dimick, from the farm, and you mentioned before it was at a time where there wasn't a lot of sanctioned activities for girls. So what sports or what activities were you involved with when you were at Parkston?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, the only sport we had in high school when I was there was girls' track. Matter of fact, I graduated in 1975, and then in '74 it was kind of around the time when Title IX was all being talked about and everything. So my junior year, a bunch of us started talking about getting girls basketball started, because it was really amazing parks and at that time we had about 400 kids in high school. We were a pretty large school compared to all these little schools, and all these little schools had girls' basketball, but we didn't. So our junior year, our senior year, we really started talking to the schools. We wanted to start basketball. We got it started, but unfortunately, it was the year after I graduated.
Craig Mattick:
Who were some of the other girls, teammates that tried to get that sport started in Parkston?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, I always thought we'd have been awesome because we had some really tall girls. We had Barb Thomas, her younger sister was a very good basketball player, Theresa Heizinger, myself, Mary White, there were a lot of girls that... Good athletes. Carol Oodle was probably another one. So like I said, we probably couldn't have done much, but we were tall.
Craig Mattick:
Well, we know Rob Lockin was a longtime basketball coach down there at Parkston.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah, that was after our time a little but, but I know Rob very well.
Craig Mattick:
So it was just track and field that basically you were involved with. What'd you do with track and field?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I threw shot put, so shot put and discus, and then I also ran long distance.
Craig Mattick:
How long did you have to go? Was it the mile?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Oh, I think it was a half mile if I remember correctly. All I remember was Jane Whip from Freeman, who was a phenomenal runner. She usually lapped all of us, so our goal was always to win second.
Craig Mattick:
You got a double major at Dakota State in Madison. It was music and physical education. Were you involved with music a lot in high school?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes, we sang in the choir, played in the band, and did all that. So that was kind of the biggest thing was I did music more because there was more opportunities at that time and so forth. And I think I was probably one of the first music PE majors in the state of South Dakota
Craig Mattick:
Graduate of Dakota State. That would've been, what about 1979?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I graduated 1980.
Craig Mattick:
'80. 1980.
Sandy Neugebauer:
I did the five-year plan.
Craig Mattick:
You thought for a while that you wanted to be a teacher at one point in time?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes. Actually, to tell you the truth, I really wanted to be a doctor, but I was told back then I could only be a nurse because I was a girl. Things changed a little bit since then.
Craig Mattick:
Oh my.
Sandy Neugebauer:
And so then I was told that most girls either become secretaries, nurses, teachers, or stay home and get married or stuff like that. So I decided I thought I'd go into teaching.
Craig Mattick:
Was there extracurricular sports that you were involved with when you were in college?
Sandy Neugebauer:
In college? No, not so much. I helped out with some of the programs and stuff, but I really didn't play any because like I said, I didn't have the exposure to them in high school, so I was a little gun shy to go out in college and try to play, because when you don't have that experience, it's kind of hard to go against girls that have been playing through high school.
Craig Mattick:
Sure. Was Hanson your first teaching job?
Sandy Neugebauer:
No, I actually taught two years in White Lake first, and then I went to Hanson for eight years.
Craig Mattick:
What did you teach at White Lake?
Sandy Neugebauer:
White Lake, I did K through 12 vocal music, and then I also, not by my choice, coached a head girls basketball.
Craig Mattick:
Whoa.
Sandy Neugebauer:
I helped with the track program.
Craig Mattick:
Head girls basketball coach.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes. That's one of those situations where you should never hire a person that never played the sport.
Craig Mattick:
What was that first practice like?
Sandy Neugebauer:
It was tough. All I know is when I tried to get out of it as much as I could and they said, well, they needed a coach. And so I called every one of my friends that I knew that played basketball and asked them to help me come up with plays and how to do things. It was a long two years, let's put it that way, but it was a good experience, I learned a lot. I don't know much about basketball. I know a lot more now, but...
Craig Mattick:
Was there a success with White Lake girls basketball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
No. We won three games both years.
Craig Mattick:
But then you-
Sandy Neugebauer:
I felt bad for the girls, and finally I decided I needed to get out of that because I was not doing any justice to the girls and to the program. So that was part of my reason of leaving and going to a different school.
Craig Mattick:
You went to Hanson,
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yep.
Craig Mattick:
... the Hanson School District, which was in Alexandria, right?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Correct.
Craig Mattick:
Yeah, just east of Mitchell there. So what did you teach when you got to Hanson?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I did the K through 12 vocal music.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, okay.
Sandy Neugebauer:
And then I helped with the marching band. I helped with the color guard and stuff like that. And then as the years went on, volleyball was getting to be more and more popular, and that was when I decided I wanted to get involved with... try to get the volleyball program started.
Craig Mattick:
So how did that come about? What year was that?
Sandy Neugebauer:
That was about in '87, '88 school year, 1987, '88. As you know, Hanson was a really big basketball town. Girls and boys both had very successful basketball programs, and I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, because everything was focused on basketball. So in '87, I started talking to the girls, trying to see if there was any interest, if I could get them involved to get the athletes I needed to be there. It took a lot of talking. I had to work with the basketball coaches, both boys and girls, because we only had one gym, so how we're going to work out the practices, how are we going to work that all out? There was concern about if the girls play volleyball, they're going to get injured and then they won't be able to play basketball. That was that whole first year of '87, '88 was just trying to see if I could even get enough interest.
And then in '88, '89 school year, the school did decide we would go ahead and start the program, and I decided to do things a little bit different, because again, none of these girls had ever played volleyball, but they were very successful at basketball and I thought if I start volleyball and they don't find success, they're not going to like it. They're not going to stick with it. So I kind of did things a little bit differently. I worked with Ruth Rain from the South Dakota High School Activities Association, and I told her what my plan was. Instead of doing just going out and playing volleyball for a full season, what I wanted to do was we were going to do two months of just practice, and then at the third month, I would like to do five scrimmages against schools.
And Ruth tried to talk me out of that, and she said, "You really want to do that?" And I said, "Yeah, I really do, because," I said, "if these girls don't find success, I don't think we're going to make this. This is not going to be a successful adventure," because these girls are used to winning. And so that's what we ended up doing.
Craig Mattick:
You had never played volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I have played, yeah, I played volleyball. I played recreational volleyball for about 15 years.
Craig Mattick:
All right, so I mean it wasn't like basketball where it was maybe a little... you didn't know exactly everything that goes along with the sport.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Right. No, I felt pretty confident in my volleyball skills. I played for quite a few years and we had a pretty good team always. And then during that first season when we did that two months of practice, I had some good working relationships with Dakota Wesleyans, so we had some of the Dakota Wesleyan girls come over and help work with the girls, teach them some skills, doing some things. I taught them what I was able to do and everything, and like I said, it was kind of a different approach, but it was a very successful approach because at the end of that, after two months we did the scrimmage, and I think we won all the scrimmages except one. So then the girl said, "Well, we should have played all year."
Craig Mattick:
Now remember, this was in the winter too, right?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes. That was during the winter time.
Craig Mattick:
Yeah. When did the full schedule come out?
Sandy Neugebauer:
We played the whole season then in '89 and '90. That's when we actually had our first full season. That was actually my last year there. After that year, I decided to leave teaching and go and work in the business world. So I kind of regret that to this day because if we'd have stayed one more year, I really do think we would've made the state tournament, because that year, we got put into a new district, a new region or whatever, and we'd have been... They were all brand new schools, and nothing against the brand new schools, but I just think I had some great athletes and I think we really would've had a great chance of going to state but I had decided to leave teaching and go into the business world.
Craig Mattick:
I think 1989, '90,
Sandy Neugebauer:
'90.
Craig Mattick:
... I think you had Webster and Hurley were pretty good, and Parker Mary were together, and-
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yep. And then we always ended up playing Tri-Valley and Regions, and they were really good.
Craig Mattick:
They always got in the way.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yep.
Craig Mattick:
Who were some of the players that you enjoyed coaching volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, I had the Barcher girls. I had Bonnie and Nancy Barcher. They were both very, very good. Lisa Waldero was another one. Now you're really testing my memory here, because that's a long time ago. Jenny Clauson was another one. Like I said, the Barcher girls, I know, I guess I always gave Bonnie a lot of credit. Bonnie Barcher was only, I think, about 5 foot 6, 5 foot 7. Holly Ike was another one. I had some really tall girls, but Bonnie could out jump. She had a vertical that was unbelievable and she was one of my best hitters, 5'6", 5'7".
Craig Mattick:
A lot of other coaches at that time were just getting into coaching volleyball about that same time. The sanctioned volleyball was probably, what, six or seven years old at the time.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yep.
Craig Mattick:
Who were some of those other coaches that you spent time talking to about the sport of volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, to tell you the truth, not too many high school coaches. I talked to a lot of college coaches. I talked to the Dakota State coach, I talked to the Wesleyan coach. Like I said, I didn't have much contact with a lot of the high school coaches at that time because it was a new sport and I was kind of new to the high school scene. I guess I didn't really reach out to the high school ones. I mentored more with the college ones, asking their advice.
Craig Mattick:
You left coaching and teaching in 1990. What was going on at that time?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, first of all, I had a little girl, a little 2-year-old at home, and that was my 10th year of teaching, and it was kind of a financial decision at the big time because after 10 years I wasn't even making $20,000 yet. And so I just thought I needed to get into the business world where I could make a little more money and support my family. And so it was a tough decision because I really, really enjoyed teaching. I had some wonderful kids all through the years that I taught, and I've always enjoyed teaching, but at that time I just had to make a decision to move on to something else.
Craig Mattick:
Well, when did officiating come in? I mean, you started officiating volleyball. When did that time come?
Sandy Neugebauer:
That came right after I left teaching. I really loved volleyball and I really missed it and I really... There was just something about being around the kids and stuff like that, and I loved the sport. So right after I got out of teaching, I knew Lori and Dan Greer, and they got me kind of started. At that time, college was in the fall, and high school was in the winter, so I ref'd college with them and also high school. And then about three years after working with them, a friend of mine, Beth Conroy, who has now been officiating with me for 31 years, I talked her into officiating, and then at that time, we did some college and high school for a while, and then when the seasons finally switched, I don't know exactly what year that was,
Craig Mattick:
2000.
Sandy Neugebauer:
... then we just went to high school volleyball officiating.
Craig Mattick:
Sure. What was that first match like, getting paid to do, officiate a game? What was that like and where was it? Do you remember?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, the very first one was probably a college match at Dakota Wesleyan. I'd have to say it was a little stressful. College coaches are a little bit more vocal than even high school coaches today, 34 years later. But like I said, I had great mentors. Lori and Dan were very good teachers and stuff and taught me a lot about officiating. It's a whole different ballgame on the other side. When you're the coach, you always think the official's wrong, and then when you're the official, you always think, "Well, that was a good call. You just don't agree with it."
Craig Mattick:
Well, this is what? Your 35th, 36th year of officiating?
Sandy Neugebauer:
34th year.
Craig Mattick:
34th year. You officiated at a time when rally scoring wasn't around, and you had to serve and win the point. And I know for a fact there were some matches that would go a little bit long, wouldn't they, Sandy?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes. My favorite story is, and I've told this many, many times, this was probably back, you had to serve the score. Beth and I were roughing a JV match. We were 22 minutes into the match and the score was still zero-zero. And I called my partner over and I said, "Okay, pretty soon, if somebody doesn't score, we're going to put them on the 10 foot line and just have them throw the ball over the net." And I think that night we got out of the gym, it was like 11:30 by the time we got the JV in the varsity done. So rally scoring has been a blessing to volleyball.
Craig Mattick:
Well, Ruth Rain and South Dakota was a main part of that for the whole country, wasn't it, rally scoring?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Correct, yes. Ruth was a pioneer for a lot of the big changes though.
Craig Mattick:
Well, the libero or libero, that wasn't around either, when you first started officiating. What has that done?
Sandy Neugebauer:
No, matter of fact, back when I would... if you had a serve to score, the serve could not hit the net. You could not have multiple contacts on the first contact. There was no libero, so it was a whole different, a lot slower-paced game I thought, at that time.
Craig Mattick:
Yes, I agree. Yeah, it's fast today, isn't it?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah.
Craig Mattick:
It's pretty athletic, some pretty athletic people out there. Volleyball also was in the winter when you first started, before it switched in the fall of 2000. Was that a big adjustment for you specifically with high school volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
No, I thought that was probably the best thing that ever happened. First of all, we didn't have to drive in the wintertime, but the fall sport, it seemed to mesh better with the football schedule. The basketball schedules worked together with the boys and girls, and volleyball just seemed to be a better fit to go along with the football. I think it really helped increase the numbers in volleyball, I think we got more girls participating in everything. I thought that was probably one of the best changes that happened to help promote the sport of volleyball.
Craig Mattick:
Do you still try to stay active with college volleyball at all?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I just watch it. I have no desire to officiate that anymore. But it's like I have to say, when volleyball first started, the skill levels were pretty low for the levels that we matched, we were officiated. But today, I mean, you go to B schools, A schools, AA schools, and you don't see that big difference between the classes like you used to. AA was always so much better, and then A was better than B, but now there are some B schools that are just as competitive as AA than they are at the B school level. So I mean, volleyball has really, really improved. The athleticism of the girls is amazing. I mean, we have volleys, like last night we did a match, a volley where the ball goes back and forth across the net maybe 10, 15 times, and great saves and great plays and stuff, and it's really been exciting.
Craig Mattick:
Did you do any training yourself? What did you do to try to become a better volleyball official?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, I went to a lot of volleyball matches, watched a lot of other officials, talked to a lot of other officials, how they did things and so forth. National Federation of High School Volleyball had some classes you could take and videos you could watch. We have jamborees and so forth, where you can go work and officials can evaluate you, and I know at one time even we even had the AA schools even did evaluations of the officials after every single match.
Craig Mattick:
Did you like that?
Sandy Neugebauer:
I did. they were very positive. It was never derogatory things. They were just saying things that they'd like to see you work on or things that they thought you did really well. So getting that feedback was good. That lasted a couple of years, was all, but that was some very beneficial feedback and so forth.
Craig Mattick:
Over 30 years as an official, I know there's been a lot of exciting matches. Does any one or two stand out over the years that you were there on the stand, taking care of that match and watching a pretty good one?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Oh, there's been a lot of them. Of course, I love the AA level, I love that level of play, the speed of the game and everything. But I said A schools, the B schools, you get the Warners, you get some of those other schools, Northwestern and stuff. I mean, there's so many that have been so good. I can't think of one that stood out.
Craig Mattick:
You have officiated like some 26 or 27 state tournaments.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yes.
Craig Mattick:
What does it mean to you to be chosen to officiate a state volleyball tournament?
Sandy Neugebauer:
To me, it's the biggest honor. I mean, it makes you feel like what you're doing is you're doing it well. I think that there's respect from the coaches. I think there's respect from the fans. I know it's nice to walk into the gym and coaches will say, "Oh, I'm glad you guys are here tonight," and stuff like that. To me, it's the biggest honor you could ever get is to be able to work a state match of volleyball tournament.
Craig Mattick:
I know you've done the AA tournament. Have you done the class A or B State tournament at all?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah, I've done AA, I've done A, and I've done B. I've done all three classes. Last year I did the B for the first time in about 10 years. That was really fun, to go to do that level again. Otherwise, I've done a lot of A, lots of AAs. So like I said, to me anymore, there's not a lot of difference. With the new 16 to sweet 16 or [inaudible 00:21:38] 16 they call it now, that has really improved the teams that are going the state tournament. You're kind of getting the cream of the crop, and the last few years since they've implemented that, we've had phenomenal matches at the state tournament.
Craig Mattick:
You were the National Federal Officials Association Official of the year in 2005. What'd you have to do to win that award, Sandy?
Sandy Neugebauer:
That, you just get nominated by your peers and then the FDVOA, which is our officials board, which I am now the executive secretary for for the last eight years. Then they vote, and then you get voted in by your peers. So that's another great honor, to know that you're respected by your fellow officials, and makes you feel pretty good.
Craig Mattick:
You've been with the South Dakota Volleyball Officials Association. So what does the association do?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, our biggest thing is we oversee if there's any issues that need to be dealt with. We meet twice a year. In the fall, we have our region meetings, so we discuss what topics are going to be covered in the region meetings. We started back in about 2000 or so. About every five years, we do a statewide officials conference, where we, instead of having the region meetings in the fall before the volleyball season, we do a great big meeting for the whole state in July. So we've done about four of those. We also discuss any issues.
Another thing we've done is when I started officiating, we still wore the black and white stripes. Then in about 2011, I think it was, or somewhere in there, we went to the white shirts, and now we wear the blue shirts. So that's another thing that the board does. Biggest thing with rule changes, making sure we get everybody trained, what the new rules are every year, what the changes are. We have representatives from... They have seven districts or whatever it is, and we have representatives from each of those, and then they're the ones that do the jamborees. That's where we have experienced officials work with new officials. We have a couple of teams come in and then we actually have them officiate, and then we can help work with them, what they need to work on, here's what you got to do. Some training, some on-hand training.
Craig Mattick:
I know you've been involved with mentoring of officials. How much work has that been?
Sandy Neugebauer:
It's not really a lot of work. What we'll do, like I said, if we get a new official in our area, we'll say, "Hey, you want to come along tonight to a match? We'll have you work the JV match." And basically what I'll do is we'll have them be like the R2, and then we'll stand with them right beside on the floor, and we'll just walk with them, tell them where the positioning should be, what they should be watching for, what they should be looking for, how to use a lineup card, how to make the calls, how to do a pre-match. So that's usually what we do. And then, like I said, if we do it as an R1, then you might stand by the stand there and they call the match and then you say, "Hey, you got to call this or you got to call that."
So that's what we do with mentoring is basically kind of an on-hand thing. We take them to a match or we'll just even have them sit with us and watch a match, and then we'll talk to them about what should be called, what shouldn't be called, and stuff like that.
Craig Mattick:
Once you've done it, it's just repetition, right? If you think about it.
Sandy Neugebauer:
It's never the same.
Craig Mattick:
It's one of those where you're watching the serve and you're looking for illegal use of the hands, and then you're looking forward to your line judges to make the call for you if it goes out.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Right. One thing with volleyball, there's a lot of judgment, and that's one thing that's really progressed because I remember 30-some years ago when I started reffing, when the setter goes to hit the ball, there was even a little ticky tack, double hit. We called all that.
If there was any little mishandle, that got called. Now, 30-some years later, we want to make it more fan-friendly, make it more competitive and so forth. So now those calls have loosened up a little bit, so that makes it a little bit harder to stay consistent. But the thing of it is it makes volleyball a lot more exciting, because I think, 30-some years ago, the referees kind of really dictated the flow of the game, and now the play is actually dictating, because now you can have a multiple hit on a first contact. You don't have to worry about those little ticky tack sets or whatever. So it's made it more exciting, and the players are dictating the flow of the game.
Craig Mattick:
I know we're always looking for more officials, and basically, I guess folks have two choices. You can either be up there on the stand as the head official or be a line judge. Do you have folks who are mainly line judges and don't necessarily get up on the stand to be the head official?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah. A lot of the smaller schools, we'll get people that line judge consistently every game or every match, they're always line judging. We kind of encourage them saying, "Hey, you should think about refereeing." And some will say, "Yeah, we talked about it and so forth." But the other ones say, "No, this is good enough for me. I don't want to get into that part of it," but we definitely need to continue to work to recruit officials, because like I said, myself and some of my other people that I've been working with for all these years, we're getting to that age where probably four or five years down the road, some of us will be retiring and some are going to retire before that. So we need to get that younger crop involved, younger kids coming up.
Craig Mattick:
Well, I know we've got some great officials in South Dakota, no doubt about it. No matter what level it is, they are awesome. Then you mentioned you had a 2-year-old daughter when you got out of teaching and coaching. Did she eventually play volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
She played volleyball for Mitchell High School for four years, and her sport was more golf, but she did play volleyball, and then [inaudible 00:27:47]. She went to school to become a pharmacist. I always thought when she graduated, we could be officiating together.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, that'd be awesome.
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yeah, I thought that would always be kind of cool, but her being a pharmacist, her hours, it would not be conducive to officiating.
Craig Mattick:
How much did you have to juggle, officiating, or watching your daughter play?
Sandy Neugebauer:
That was really tough. Matter of fact, I remember having a conversation with my daughter saying I was a single parent, so I said that it was like that was a little extra income for us and everything, and I just basically said I would never miss... She also played basketball for Mitchell, so I went to every basketball game I could, but volleyball season was a little bit tougher. I would try to get to the ones I could get to, but she said, "That was fine, mom, don't worry about that." Because I said, "Well..."
I attended everything I possibly could, and if I could make adjustments, the two years when she was a junior and senior, the junior years when Mitchell won the state AA< I did sit out that year. I did not ref the tournament. I went as a parent, and I did the same thing the senior, I went as a parent.
Craig Mattick:
How was that? That had to be awesome.
Sandy Neugebauer:
That was awesome. Matter of fact, I even dressed up as the colonel, and we got to do a lot of the pep rallies and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, so those are memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life.
Craig Mattick:
Oh yeah. That's awesome. What do you like best about officiating volleyball?
Sandy Neugebauer:
The biggest thing I like is the people. I mean, like I said, not only just the fellow officials, but you get to know coaches, you get to know the officials. But what I really... has meant the world to me is all the young kids that we have known. Like I said, I'm now officiating grandchildren of people I officiated when they played. Like I said, a lot of these kids I've gotten to know, I follow them in their sports when they went on to college. We're friends on Facebook and stuff, and it keeps you kind of young. You get involved with these kids and you see them succeed, and it's fun to follow their careers. You get to know them well, and I think that's probably the greatest thing about officiating is just the relationships that you build and the people that you meet, and makes life complete, I guess, because you get to know so many people.
Craig Mattick:
You started the volleyball program at Hanson. You did it for a few years, but you've been officiating all these years. If you were a coach again, you think you'd be a lot better volleyball coach?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Oh, definitely. Like I said, officiating helped me even learn more about the sport than I thought. I knew a lot about the sport when I was coaching, but officiating, you learn a whole other aspect of the game. I've had coaches that have gone into officiating too, and they said, "Wow, I didn't realize there was this much involved in that," because you look at it from two different angles.
Craig Mattick:
Could you be a basketball coach again?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Never. Never, never, never.
Craig Mattick:
Well, those White Lake days will always haunt you a little bit, won't they?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Yep.
Craig Mattick:
That's funny. So what do you tell people today if they're interested in becoming a volleyball official?
Sandy Neugebauer:
Well, I've actually been working on a couple of younger girls here that play softball in the summer, and I try to, especially that I knew that they played volleyball, and I said, "Hey, if you're ever interested in volleyball, let me know and I'll take you along to matches. I'll get you started. I'll show you how to get started and how to get things going," because we need that younger generation to step up, because like I said, there's quite a few of officials that are 60 plus, and so like I said, anything we can do, like taking them along to a match or help them get signed up or help them register, let them know how do you get involved, how do you get your uniform, stuff like that. So we talk to a lot of young people that we know that played volleyball, see if they'd be interested. But life's a little faster pace now than it was 30-some years ago, so a lot of kids are involved in a lot of things and do that-
Craig Mattick:
You love staying involved with the sport, don't you? You really, really love volleyball.
Sandy Neugebauer:
I really do. Like I said, last year, we went to the College Nationals in Omaha. That was a highlight of my life. We also went when it was in Minneapolis, I said, just from the high school level all the way up to the college level, and I watched professional volleyball. So I love the sport.
Craig Mattick:
In Play with Craig Mattick has made possible by Horton in Britton, where smiling at work happens all the time. Apply now at hortonww.com. If you like what you're hearing, please give us a five-star review wherever you get your podcast. It helps us gain new listeners. This has been In Play with me, Craig Mattick. This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
