Running isn’t the first thing most people think of when it comes to volleyball, but most fans don’t know all the conditioning that goes in before hand. Once a week volleyball dedicates a whole practice to just conditioning. They call it war Wednesday.

“Ten years ago we had a tough game on a Tuesday night and the next day I was like we need to be tougher we need to get stronger,” head coach Ui Womble said. “So the coaches and myself that year got together and came up with the idea. We all came out with black under our eyes.That first war Wednesday we were like we are going to battle and this is what we do. And ever since then we have incorporated war Wednesday every week.”

This year, athletes begin their Wednesday with a motivational pep talk given by one of the coaches, then they go into there normal warmups, and from there they start running.

“I like it because the whole program comes together and we encourage each other,” JV player Taylor Nwamadi.

That’s followed by a volleyball related competition and then weights.

“I like it personally,” varsity player Jess Gordon said. “We have big sis little sis and it’s fun and it brings us all together.”