Saying Bayfield's Jade Pascale is fired up for the 2016 volleyball season is an understatement.
"It was really hard for us to have that loss at Manitou (Springs) last year, because the game was so close," she said. "We knew we could beat them, and it just lit a fire in us that we knew we could actually do it. And so I wanted to start early; I was in the gym all off-season because I just want to ... be the best that I can be."
And after a winter/spring spent spiking for Four Corners Volleyball Club's 18-Danica team alongside most of her BHS varsity teammates, she's already obtained summertime schooling from not just Colorado State University brain Tom Hilbert, but now John Cook of defending NCAA Division I National Champions Nebraska.
Attending a string of camps held June 5-9 at the Cornhuskers' famed Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, the Wolverine junior enjoyed something of a "homecoming" - her cell phone still uses western Nebraska's '308' area code. She then came back home to southwestern Colorado even more determined than before after being named Camp All-Star.
"The first three days were all aspects," Pascale recalled Tuesday during a break from instructing at a BHS-hosted middle-school camp. "Then I went to a hitter-specific camp, and then a ball-control - passing, settting, serving - camp. It was five days. So it was really surprising for me, especially at that big of a camp - there was probably two, three hundred people there! It was huge!"
"I've never gotten an award before, being recognized at camp; I've always just been that ... moderate person that's good, but not good enough to receive an award. So it was really surprising for me!"
Surprising, but a welcome fulfillment of sorts.
"I used to live in Nebraska," said the Ogallala-raised daughter of Casey and Corinne Pascale.
"I've been here (in Bayfield) a couple years, but I'd lived there for the majority of my life so I knew about it, and I'd been to their camp previously. But they are reigning National Champions, so I was like, 'This is the year I want to go!' This is the year I feel our volleyball team's going to do our best, so I just wanted to get all I could out of it."
Particularly with the sixth-winningest coach in NCAA history overseeing such an education.
"Coach Cook was more subtle about the way he coached," said Pascale, comparing Cook to CSU's Hilbert. "He was kind of quiet, but he definitely knew what he was talking about. His players talked more to you than he did, but if he saw something that he really liked he'd come over and talk to you."
And for Pascale, that meant more motivation to dedicate her summer to developing her game.
"I have a ... tryout in Lakewood this weekend, and then I have another camp in July sometime, and then we start really big on 'team' stuff," she said. "So I'm going to be in here (BHS Gymnasium and other facilities) a lot!"
"This season's definitely going to be something that's really important," she continued. "Colleges .... I've finally gotten onto scouting websites and stuff like that, so this season is really crucial for me to step up and be a leader since I'm an upperclassman now."
Bayfield went 13-12 overall in 2015, losing to Manitou Springs in the 3A-Region VIII Tournament championship.
About the coach: Nebraska's 2015 National Championship was actually the program's third under Cook in his 16 seasons, with Nebraska volleyball having also reached the "Final Four" six times. The team has won 10 conference crowns and finished in the end-of-season rankings' top-10 14 times.
Entering 2016, Cook currently has 629 career wins and has mentored an incredible 45 All-Americans and 18 Academic All-Americans.
