Caldera High ready to ‘establish new traditions’ with large crop of underclassmen athletes

(Update: Adding video, comments from athletic director, football, volleyball coaches)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A new school, a limited number of students, but still a high level interest and intensity for Caldera High School sports.

Athletic Director Dave Williams said he expected the first year school with strictly underclassmen to have an interest in sports, but not quite like this.

"With two classes, ninth and 10th grade, grade we weren't expecting some of the numbers we received,” Williams said Thursday.

Williams said the school has had 70 kids signed up for football tryouts, 59 for volleyball, 40 for girls soccer, 31 for boys' soccer, 26 for cross country, 23 for cheer and 11 for dance.

"Are we going to have enough for two football teams? Are we going to have enough for two soccer teams -- and we do!” Williams said with a chuckle.

Alicia Rudloff, the head volleyball coach at Caldera, and said having this many interested players this early has its positives and negatives.

"I was a little stressed out at first,” Ruldloff said. 

She said having to cut nearly half the girls in a program's first year isn't ideal, but having a strong foundation to build around is. 

"The fact that we get to grow a program and then decide how we want to run the program, establish new traditions, I think it's going to be a lot of fun for the girls, to feel like they belong at this school first of all,” Rudloff said. 

Wolfpack football Coach Neil Fendall says his team has the same mission.

"The goals are all very culture- and identity-based right now. We don't have a lot of outcome goals right now We don't really know what to expect,” Fendall said. 

Fendall said the team has between 55 and 70 members, all wanting to be pushed to work as hard as possible. 

"The kids have been fantastic,” Fendall said. Ultra-enthusiastic -- they want to lift, they want to train, they want to practice. We've actually had to pull the reins back a little bit."

All the team sports are playing at the junior varsity and freshman levels this year, and will create a varsity team in the next two years.

 "I'm really excited because, 'I hope you love me, because we're here together for a while,'” Rudloff said with a laugh.

Williams hopes this is a beginning that leads to great things.

"It's something that, with the numbers we have now, we can build for the future,” Williams said.