NET RETURN

Ewald Comes Home To Coach Trenton Program

Brad Ewald had a choice to make. With a baby on the way he wanted to be closer to his family, which lives in Trenton. That meant giving up his post as the head coach of the Hamilton Hornet volleyball program.
Ewald had both taught and coached at Trenton before, guiding the Bulldogs’ middle school program before jumping to Hamilton for a varsity head coaching gig. Trenton didn’t have an opening for a volleyball coach now but, even so, Ewald put family first and packed up his belongings and went home.
Sometimes, though, things work out exactly as they should.
After two seasons as the Trenton Bulldogs’ head coach, Pam Bowden stepped down. Her final season at the helm saw Trenton reach its first district final in the program’s quarter of a century existence. Year 26 of Trenton volleyball will be under the direction of Ewald, who was named Bowden’s successor, becoming the team’s ninth head coach.
“It’s just fun to coach here again,” Ewald said. “I’m from here and I coached some of these girls in middle school and even younger. I’m excited to have this opportunity because I love coaching.”
Ewald has jumped right into his work. Trenton held a team camp in early June and participated in open gym sessions on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s through this week. In July, Trenton will hold a second team camp from the 19th through the 23rd and the Bulldogs will travel to Jefferson City for a shootout on the 26th and 27th.
Ewald is taking full advantage of the summer program, reconnecting with his former players and seeing first hand what he has to work with. While he learns his team, his team will be learning his system which he hopes to incorporate at one of his team camps.
“At our July camp we will be implementing a new system,” Ewald said. “It’s a little different from what the girls are used to. Some of these girls are showing a lot of committment by showing up every day. That is pretty key. I would be surprised if we had kids that didn’t show up to summer stuff and then turn around and really shock us in August. We are seeing a lot of growth right now, so that is good.”
These are the first steps in what Ewald hopes will be a transformation of the Trenton program. He has a vision of Trenton volleyball being a perennial district championship contender. In Trenton’s 25 years of volleyball, the Bulldogs have never had a winning record. The program has been on the upswing, though. The Bulldogs had double-digit win totals three years in a row from 2017-2019. They have won at least one game in the district tournament in each of the last five years. Last year, despite the win total dipping to eight, Trenton played for a district championship in Carrollton. Even falling short, that was a major building block for the program — one Ewald hopes to run with.
“I hope (reaching the district final) lit a fire under them,” Ewald said. “I wouldn’t say that it was a very strong district, but just being there and having that opportunity and being so close — the girls are really hungry to get a banner because we don’t have one yet. I know they are really excited to try and put one on the wall.”
The goals are set. Ewald’s plan to reach those goals has begun. Now Trenton — coaches and players — will go to work.
“Our focus right now has been on girls individually growing as players,” Ewald said. “We are seeing that. Girls are making plays that they weren’t making the first couple of days. Individually they have grown a lot. Coming together is really rough right now, but our team camp is coming up and I expect after a week of just being together, the girls will see huge improvements.”
Trenton is scheduled to open its volleyball season on Monday, Aug. 30 with a road trip to Cameron.