The new kid in the Verde Valley Athletic Association is still struggling to take its first steps.

Two weeks away from its opener in the two major fall sports and news from its shared administrative offices remains mixed for Sedona Red Rock Junior High School.

“We’ll get there,” athletic director Pedro Ortega Sr. said. “As soon as we get the teams, we’ll have everything rolling.”

The good news for volleyball is that 30 seventh- and eighth-graders signed up, with more than 20 of those to divide between the A and B teams.

“They’re still coming out,” Ortega said. “All this week is evaluation; we’ll probably decide on starters for A and B teams next week.”

The bad news is that Ortega is also the Scorpions’ volleyball coach, with his office in his athletic director digs in the high school’s boys locker room.

“We’re still searching,” Ortega said. “I’m sure we’ll find somebody.”

He and outgoing Sedona Red Rock High School athletic director John Parks have been running practices until a full-time coach can be found.

“I’m just helping them out until they find somebody,” Parks said. “A person’s got to apply. We’re trying to hire people, and they’re just calling and inquiring about it right now.”

But with two weeks of classes already in the books, both Ortega and Parks know that window of opportunity has practically closed, at least for this fall.

“The one thing we can count on right now is volleyball,” Parks said. “Pedro’s planning on being the coach right now.”

They will have to get there in volleyball with no more than eight eighth-graders.

“Some of them are still working on getting their medical paperwork done,” Ortega said. “We have some pretty good talent at the seventh-grade level.”

That includes Stephanie Medel-Garcia, Tiana Trujillo and server Emma Beattie, he added.

One eighth-grader still waiting to be physically cleared is Sinagua Middle School transfer Rain Henry.

“She has a lot of potential as a server,” Ortega said. “Overall, she has quickness, concentration and good athletic skill.”

While every player is playing hard, improving and impressing Ortega, once cleared, Henry should join Julissa Galaz as eighth-grade leaders on the Scorpions A team, he added.

“It is what it is, I guess,” he said. “I’m still working on getting games for football.”

Not to mention football players, for which just 10 students are currently practicing after school at 3:30 p.m. All players need at least 10 days practicing full contact in pads in order to suit up for game action.

With local programs Camp Verde and Cottonwood middle schools due to open their season Tuesday, Sept. 6, that window of opportunity is also rapidly closing.

“We might have to go eight-man if we had some football,” Ortega said. “I’d like to do 11, but we’ll see what the numbers are like.”

That would mean games against teams like Mayer Elementary School, although Camp Verde still has a slot open
for the Scorpions.

“We’ve never had a football team before,” Parks said. “We don’t even have a team yet. It’s close. We just started [practicing].

“We’ve got to make sure we’ve got enough kids, enough interest. If we do, we’re contacting the schools about playing us.”

It would be the last sport to go on line at the new junior high, even though it was the first sport to make a coaching hire after Tod Christensen was hired as head coach in late July.

Cross-country has 12 seventh- and eighth-graders out for the program. A new coach and social studies teacher has been hired and will be announced next week, Parks added.

The junior high campus itself, besides a Facebook page, is not yet online.

“It’s not, because it’s just here,” Parks said in the main SRRHS administrative offices. “So we haven’t put anything new on there yet. We’re probably a few weeks out.”

Parks, who is transitioning from SRRHS athletic director to information technology specialist for the Sedona-Oak Creek School District, is shooting to have an official website up for the junior high with the new district website early next month.

“We have this really antiquated website right now,” Parks said. “We can’t update it; we have to call somebody in town to update it for us.

“They get to it when they get a chance, and it costs us a lot of money.”

No link from the district web page yet exists, much less an official website for the school.

“We’re going to have a whole new updated website for the whole district,” Parks said. “Our secretaries can [update] it, right there, all within a minute: It pops right up.

“We’re going to get it up to date, but sometimes it takes a little while.”

In the meantime, parents and others seeking more information about Sedona Red Rock Junior High School should visit the high school front office, at 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road, or call 204-6700.

For the full Sedona Red Rock Junior High School volleyball schedule, please see the Friday, Aug. 19, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.