Jonathon LeGrand, volleyball

After a high school career in which he won his school's athletic award for participation in golf and soccer, 22-year-old Jonathon LeGrand of Cape Girardeau is taking his athletic abilities elsewhere.

Every Tuesday night LeGrand joins his Grave Digger teammates in the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department co-ed volleyball league.

The Grave Diggers are in third place in Division 3 this year with an 18-15 record. Eat Our Spiked Balls and A.G. Edwards stand in the way of the Diggers as they attempt to climb to the top of their division. The last regular season game is held Jan. 21.

The league is formatted to involve males and females by requiring that three members of each sex participate on a team. LeGrand has assembled a strong team with three former female high school volleyball players.

The league is seen in different ways by different people, LeGrand says.

"Some of the teams are laid back," he says, " and some teams think it's the Olympics."

The Grave Diggers fall mostly in the former category and play a more laid-back style, although intensity rises at times.

"We are pretty laid back," he says. "We're out there to have fun, but we like winning."

This is LeGrand's first year in the league, but he has played competitive volleyball before. LeGrand has competed in the summer sand league at Arena Park for two years.

"That league is very competitive compared to this one," he says.

LeGrand started playing competitive volleyball the year after he graduated from Notre Dame Regional High School, where he won the Bulldog Award.

He's now working on a sand volleyball court in his front yard. The project should be done in March, and LeGrand hopes to attract teams from around the area to form a tournament once or twice a year.

"It should be a lot of fun if we can get some people out there and get some four-on-four going," he says.

LeGrand gained interest in volleyball after high school, where he played four years of golf and soccer. His interest in golf drew him to Mississippi State to pursue a degree in professional golf management. He came back to Cape Girardeau and attended Southeast Missouri State University before he went to Arizona State for a semester. He's now at Southeast majoring in marketing.

LeGrand plans to graduate in May and then attend graduate school.

-- David Unterreiner