Even after 31 years, Mabel Canton volleyball coach Lonnie Morken still reacts with the same nervousness and excitement on the first day of volleyball season.

Day 1 was Monday, August 12, and fall sports began across the state with girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, girls swimming and diving, and boys and girls football and soccer.

It’s the anticipation that impresses Morken so much. And the Minnesota Hall of Fame coach wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I’ve never experienced a season without having butterflies in my stomach on the first day,” said Morken, whose team has made it to the Class 1A state tournament the last two years. “There’s just a lot of great emotion in the gym that first day, and that goes for the coaches, too. There were a lot of nervous kids there, excited and hoping for a great season.”

Morken, 53, liked what he saw from his players, which is to be expected, given that this is an experienced group whose core players all return from a team that won the Section 1, Class 1A title and then finished fourth at the state level.

The Cougars’ best player is the coach’s daughter, the great senior setter Sahara Morken. She is Lonnie’s youngest child and in November he will have coached one of his children for the last time.

For many, the question arises: Was that the end of his position as head coach of MC?

The answer is no. Coaches who are still nervous on the first day of training are generally not ready to give up responsibility.

This generalization also applies to Lonnie Morken.

“I’m not going to retire at the end of this season,” Morken said. “I definitely don’t see it that way. I still love this.”

Traci Westcott / Post Bulletin

• At Pine Island, Rafal Konik has one of the state’s top boys soccer programs. Konik, a native of Poland, has led his Class 1A Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa team to the state tournament the last three years.

In early November last year, the Wildcats narrowly missed out on overall victory, losing 3-2 to St. Paul Academy and Summit School in the state championship game.

On Monday, a beautiful day outdoors with temperatures around 20 degrees, a light breeze and hardly a cloud in the sky, Konik was able to see his team for the first time this season.

It was a beautiful thing through and through.

“The kids were excited; they enjoyed seeing their friends for the first time,” said Konik, whose son Seth Konik is a senior on the PIZM team. “They were chatting and showing off what (soccer) stuff they had learned over the summer. And I was excited to see what all the players looked like and what they had been working on during the offseason. It’s always nice when some of the younger kids surprise you with new skills and show how they’ve gotten stronger.”

The football field is the ideal place not only for the PIZM players, but also for their coach. Rafal Konik is a natural fit for managing high school football teams.

“I love it,” he said. “You get to build a team and see the kids develop. It’s so fun to see that in a small community. I work with great kids and it’s cool to work with their families. I have high hopes for this season. I always do. We want to get better with every game.”

• Mike Sonnabend, Rochester John Marshall boys cross country coach, showed up for the first practice on Monday with damaged goods.

He recently broke his collarbone in a fall from his bike, meaning he won’t be able to run with his cross country boys any time soon. But soon he could be cycling alongside them.

Whatever the case, he was in a good mood on Monday. This was clearly due to his first training session. His runners were more motivated and eager to run than they had been for years.

They hope to repeat their title as Rochester City Champions, an honor they won last year.

“Day 1 was really good,” Sonnanbend said. “The turnout was good and the kids were motivated to be there, especially our older guys who were eager to get the season going. They want to defend their city championship. These guys are more serious than usual.”

They kicked off with a 6-mile run on Monday. Sonnabend plans to up the ante on Tuesday with a run on Soldiers Field, followed by a swim in the Soldiers Field pool.

• At Century, Karen LaDue leads the girls soccer team.

LaDue has high hopes for this group. The Panthers finished 8-1-2 in the Big Nine Conference last year and 10-5-3 overall.

LaDue is expecting something similar this season, and what she saw on Monday didn’t dissuade her.

“The kids have improved,” LaDue said. “I think we have more firepower, which is always fun. But Monday was a good day to get a little bit of savvy and get everyone together. We’re remembering where we were last year and now looking at what we need to do going forward. I think the football knowledge of the players is there.”

• There was a person in southeastern Minnesota that we hadn’t seen in 47 years.

Instead of spending his usual 10-hour first day of practice teaching all of the Tigers’ age groups how to bump, pass and smash in the Stewartville gym, Hall of Fame volleyball coach John Dzubay was in his kitchen.

Dzubay retired at the end of last season with five state championships under his belt and 1,039 career wins, more than anyone in Minnesota history.

Instead of practicing volleyball on Monday, Dzubay devoted himself to another passion: baking blackberry pie.

“I wasn’t sure if I should answer the phone,” Dzuaby told a reporter, “because my hands were full of flour. I baked four cakes yesterday and I’m making five today. I know what’s for dinner – blackberry pie and ice cream.”

Dzubay says he felt good without playing volleyball for the first time in ages.

“I’ll miss it once the season starts,” he said. “But I haven’t thought about it much. The first week of volleyball practice is always very hard.”