IN 2019, FULSHEAR'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM WON 45 OF 49 GAMES EN ROUTE TO THE CLASS 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.
Last year, Fulshear was almost on top of the world again but fell in the Class 5A State Final in a sweep to Lucas Lovejoy.
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Lesson No. 1 from last season's result had little to do with anything on the court.
It was all between the ears.
"Mental is probably 60-percent of the game for any athlete, and I feel like going into that (Lovejoy) game there was a lot of preparation that did and didn't happen," senior Brielle Warren said. "There were a lot of things that went unsaid and a lot of wrong things that were said. I think the mental side got to us, where our minds were somewhere else."
Coach Sydney Zimmerman agreed.
"I think we probably got a little bit ahead of ourselves," Zimmerman said. "I think we felt like we rolled through everybody in the playoffs fairly easily, and it put us in a spot where we hadn't had to mentally prepare as much as we needed to for that final game.
"It was something that hurt us, something we learned from and something we definitely won't let happen again."
While Zimmerman admits her club is big on routine, she said she will change things here and there during the season, so her team is more prepared.
The balance is, while changes are to be made in some aspect, Fulshear shouldn't stray too far from a proven recipe for success. There is a culture and standard intact. The bottom line is the Chargers were still state runner-ups in their first year competing in Class 5A.
"A lot of programs see things and chase things, and even we'll have moments of that," Warren said. "But I think we try really hard to not chase a standard and hold ourselves to it, and we're envisioning it and and working towards it."
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FRESH FACES: The Chargers will introduce a trio of talented freshmen this year. They are outside hitter/right side Bailey Warren (sister of Brielle), Avery Pruitt and defensive specialist Sydney Black.
BEING THEMSELVES: "What makes us different is a lot of us get to be ourselves. There's a lot of programs I've known where everyone is trying to fit the same standard and there's a lot of tenseness because everyone is trying to be this or be that. For us, we're just ourselves, and we're getting our own rewards out of that." - Senior Brielle Warren
DISTRICT TITANS: Fulshear has won 29 consecutive district games and only lost one district contest in the last three seasons.