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xxxxaVolleyball is on the rise in Troup County. The interest and participation across all ages has steadily grown and with it the need for an outlet outside of the school system to play once girls age out of the Troup County Parks and Rec system. 85 South Volleyball is here to fill the void. The travel club based right here in LaGrange was created by Chad Noles in 2023 and enjoyed its first season earlier this year.

“About this time last year, a group of people from the community came and asked if I would be interested in helping with a volleyball club,” Noles said. “I took a year off of coaching, but was excited to get back into it and we put a plan together. We got started, we were late to the game, you know, tryouts already happened for a lot of clubs, we were way behind on equipment purchases. I had no facilities, no coaches, but we were able to get everything together and have a great season.”

The club had five teams in year one: 17u, 16u, 15u, 14u and 13u. Between the five teams, there were 80-85 girls. The vast majority of girls are involved with the middle school or high school programs in Troup County, but the teams have also drawn from as far as Phenix City and Columbus. 

Noles feels strongly about improving the talent across the board in Troup County.

“I was actually at Troup High School this morning running a camp for them. I had Callaway players that I’ve been working with. We have players from Lafayette Christian, from LaGrange Academy, and I have been over at LaGrange High working with coach (Meghan) Smith,” Noles said. “I want every team in our county to be competitive and stay competitive and we believe that our club can help do that.”

“I also offer a position called a practice-only player for the girls that aren’t quite good enough to be on the travel team,” Noles added. “We let them practice with the teams. They just don’t travel with them, so it saves the families a lot of money, they get the same instruction as the other girls do. It is a way to keep them involved. I hate cutting girls. I hate telling them they cannot be on a team and potentially pushing them away from volleyball.”

This club did not sprout out of thin air. Noles has been passionate about enhancing volleyball in this area for well over a decade.

“I started (coaching volleyball) when my oldest daughter was 12. She’s 27 now, and for the past 15 years, I’ve helped coach, been a parent coach and a community coach or something. I’ve had the benefit of working with some really good volleyball coaches around me and it’s really helped me be in the position to start 85 South.”

This is not the first travel volleyball team that has been based in Troup County, but it is the first to focus primarily on this area. No longer do parents have to drive to Columbus, Newnan or beyond to find quality travel ball anymore. 

“There’s a club out of Columbus that I was involved with and we had teams in LaGrange, but it was never a focus for that club and that was one reason these parents came to me and asked because they wanted to be focused on the Troup County area,” Noles said. 

Noles is hyper-focused on getting the girls to play well within a team while improving their individual volleyball skills, but he never loses sight of what volleyball and sports in general are all about.

“The girls matured a lot in their volleyball skills and in their personal skills, because to me as a coach, your job is to make them better volleyball players. But our whole philosophy behind this is when they leave and when a season is over we absolutely want them to be better volleyball players, but we want them to be better people as well,” Noles said.

The club currently practices wherever they can find space, which is often limited. As volleyball continues to grow, Noles believes that Troup County needs to add more facilities to ensure that the sport can flourish.

“One of my biggest concerns is facilities,” he said. “And it’s just hard for me to get gym space. The Parks and Rec department has been great to work with so has LaGrange College, but if there’s somebody in the area that has warehouse space and it’s not being used or something to that effect, I would love to have an 85 South gym, that’s just for us, that I can do training in. I can do practices anytime we want there, but that space in this county is difficult to find.”

For more information about 85 South Volleyball, check out their website at 85southvbc.com or contact them at 85southvbc@gmail.com.