Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9402240361
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the 1990 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers picked offensive line flop Tony Mandarich over Detroit Lions star running back Barry Sanders. It has been reported that the Packers mastermind behind that deal now is living on a remote island in the Pacific, mumbling Jimmy Buffett songs incoherently.
In 1987, forward Scottie Pippen was traded from the Seattle SuperSonics to the Chicago Bulls for draft rights to Olden Polynice and a couple of draft choices. The city of Chicago reportedly sends the SuperSonics a glittering thank-you card at the beginning of every season.
Melissa Shanz, William Byrd High School's volleyball star, was cut as a seventh-grader in a tryout for the Terriers' junior-high team.
Maybe that last bit of news dims in comparison to the other two.
But, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. After all, didn't some guy named Jordan get cut from his high school varsity basketball team as a 10th-grader?
Shanz is an important part of a Byrd team that recently won the Blue Ridge District regular season and tournament titles. The Terriers (18-4) lost Saturday in the Region III semifinals, ending their season. A 5-foot-11 junior, Shanz was selected to the All-Blue Ridge District team after averaging 14.4 kills and three blocks a game, both team highs.
"She's one of the best players I've had here," said coach Sharon Hemsley, in her 14th year at Byrd. "The other girls look to her. If we can get the play to her, they get more relaxed."
Shanz's strong abilities in the middle so befuddle other teams that they don't even bother play her straight-up any more.
"Other teams will just go around her, on the wings, rather than go through her," Hemsley said. "They're not going to go through her."
Nobody is likely to deter her from anything, either. Shanz has taken piano lessons for the past 12 years, something that takes plenty of patience and perseverance. She also has a 3.7 grade-point average.
You can bet your best pair of kneepads that Hemsley is pleased Shanz, who made the junior high team in eighth grade, decided to try out for the Terriers when she got to high school.
"I'm just glad she tried out here," Hemsley said. "Really."
Since her junior high days, Shanz has increased her blocking skills and has become a powerful hitter. She's also developed a good sense for the game and has become a sharpshooter, able to find an open seam to place the ball.
"She's quiet," Hemsley said. She never says anything one way or the other and is real easy to coach. She doesn't get real excited; just tries to keep focused during games."
That has helped the young Terriers squad, which has only two seniors.
"Sometimes, they get real excited during games," Shanz said of her team. "I just tell them to calm down. You've got to keep your emotions to yourself until it's over."
And you've got to keep trying, even if at first you don't succeed.
by CNB