Rider Alum Alysha Pritt, now Alysha Humpert, knew being the head volleyball coach for Rider was the right step to take for her career. She has now reached her goal as head coach at the school she once attended as a student. She says she is looking forward to coaching this season because she played volleyball when she was at Rider.

Humpert has not always played volleyball. In fact, her first love was basketball. While attending Rider, she made varsity basketball sophomore, junior and senior years. She started her volleyball career in seventh grade at McNiel Jr. High, played both years there, and then played all four years at Rider. As a freshman she made JV, then halfway through the year moved up to Varsity volleyball, where she would remain throughout her high school career.

When she played volleyball, Humpert said it was a great experience. Rider volleyball was known for being pretty good and her coaches made the program even better for her. They were great mentors and helped push her to play at a higher level. Her senior year was the first year Rider ever won a district championship, and they went on to make it three rounds deep in the finals.

Before coaching at Rider, she was an assistant coach at Wichita Falls High School.

“Coaching at Old High was a great experience, the girls were great, the coaches were great, but in the end it’s not my alma mater,” Humpert said.

Humpert has a few new things she would like to try with the team. One of the techniques she will be using this year is what she teaches to varsity she also wants JV and freshmen to learn as well, sort of like a trickle down effect.

“I want freshmen, JV, and Varsity to feel like they are one family, one team,” Humpert said.

She really wants to promote that positivity and pride of being a Lady Raider volleyball player whether they gave it 100 percent in the weight room or on the court. Also there are a couple new slogans for this season such as ‘Stay Basic’. ‘Stay Basic’ is a new beginning for the new coach, rules, and standards to start everything fresh. Along with Stay Basic there is also ‘Prump it up’. This a saying made up by the varsity girls who knew her as coach Pritt. So they added her new last name and made it ‘Prump’.

She not only wants to make good volleyball players, but she also wants to have the most college players come out of the Rider volleyball courts.

“I want to promote being proud of what we do,” Humpert said. “I want the girls to feel like they are the hardest working team and program at school and to be proud that they are a Lady Raider.”

When people hear “Lady Raider Volleyball” she wants people to know that the girls are not only good athletes but also that when they come out of this program they will have a great character as well.

Humpert believes that a successful season isn’t about wins and losses, it’s about making sure the girls know that they worked 100 percent in the weight-room and in the gym.

“I predict that by the end of the season, the freshmen, JV, and Varsity teams will all feel like it’s a successful season because we all worked hard, and we pushed ourselves to get better and we also held ourselves to a higher standard,” Humpert said.