Jr Boys Volleyball: Practice Makes Perfect

Written by: Emma Dampier and Roxana Ghorbani

Photos by: Roxana Ghorbani

Contributors: Luca Chourbagi, Jessica DeMelo, and Ava Puhlmann

At Blakelock, there's a sport for everyone. A perfect example of this is the greatly anticipated, latest fall team: Jr Boys Volleyball.

 Even though the team hasn't had much luck in their first few games, their head coach, Ms. Northey, is expecting a much better outcome for the rest of the season. When asked about the season so far, she said: “ Even though we started off rocky,—I’m confident we’ll start pulling some big wins soon.”

The team is hardworking and you can barely tell that they haven't had too many wins, they never miss a practice. They show up, work hard, and have fun while doing it. An especially essential part of a team is its team captain, Parker. 

When asked about the team captain, Ms. Northey describes him as, “A patient natural leader who uplifts his teammates and acts almost as a floor manager on the court.” As for the rest of the team, they're described as an amazing group that stands out as individuals and a team with great communication skills. 

The feeling is mutual between both players and coach, during the interview they told us: “She's awesome, It's her first year as a head coach and she's doing really well.” This team is such a close-knit group, not unlike a family. 

An ongoing obstacle for this team has been the lack of time. They only have one or two practices a week, followed by multiple games. At the end of these practices, it feels as if they just haven't had enough time.

“The more time they have the better they become as athletes,” Ms. Northey says. The game they had against Iroquois Ridge High School proved some challenges for the team. Starting with a win in the first set, then a loss in the second, to a close fight in the final set. Thankfully, the Tigers were able to pull through and secure yet another victory for the school. 

You could feel the tension radiating off both the players and students on the bleachers. This high-pressure game brought out the best in the players. They moved as a unit and made a point to bring each other up and congratulate each other even if no point was scored. 

During the interviews, some of the players expressed that the Iroquois Ridge game is their best memory so far this season as this win was a win for both the team and the school. The cheers from the bleachers were deafening, you couldn't hear yourself think!

We hope this energy is brought to the rest of their games as it seems to have a positive effect on the team's confidence. Even though the game went as well as it did, the players acknowledged that they still have things to work on regarding communication. 

Nevertheless, we are sure that they’ll continue to do great things for Blakelock, and win more games in the future.