Growing as a high school volleyball athlete can be a journey of teamwork, discipline, and meeting individual and team goals. The impact of dedication and self-discipline can be challenging for some over the course of four years of volleyball, but your teammates and coaches will be there to help and encourage you along the way. As a freshman, playing at the next level can be overwhelming, and your confidence level can be low. Your first year of high school or playing high school sports is all about growing, learning, and making mistakes. The freshman team captains, Maggie Bueker and Willow Lovett, had a few things to say about being a freshman volleyball player and ways to improve their game. Buecker said, “I really just want to grow my skill level and mix things up to have more options for ways I can contribute to the game. She would like to leave her senior year with the program as awesome as it is now.” Lovett said, “I want to be a better all-around player, be smarter with my hits, be more aggressive and scrappy.”
As a freshman volleyball player, they have many responsibilities, like setting everything up, taking everything down, and being a good teammate. A common statement both freshmen said was that they want to get closer to the girls on the team. The challenges you face as a freshman volleyball player can be overwhelming, but the rewards and friendships made definitely outshine the hard times.
As a senior, Brooklynn Lowder, stated that she made some of her best friends playing volleyball. “Being on the volleyball team has made me work harder and overcome many challenges over the last four years. I have learned that listening to my coaches and input from my teammates is equally important. When your coaches and teammates believe in you, you really grow as a player.” Going into your freshman year, you just want to make friends and be liked by the upperclassmen. Lovett said, “I really want to grow closer with the girls and grow a better bond with them over the years.” That was one of her goals for her four years of high school volleyball, which should be easy for her to achieve because, like Lowder stated, she made some of her best friends through playing high school volleyball.
Going to practice, games, or maybe even school as a freshman can be hard on your mental health, and it can drain your energy. Balancing everything is hard for a lot of high school athletes. Going to school, homework, sports, family, and friends can be difficult at times. “One of the hardest things about doing school sports is balancing everything, and it can be draining at times, but I love going to everything because all the girls always bring me up, and they are so fun to be around,” said Lovett. For some students, trying to balance everything gets so crazy that they even quit the sport. Growing as a volleyball player is a roller coaster of events and emotions spread over the four years spent in high school. The impact that playing volleyball, the highs and lows, can leave you with memories, friendships, and lessons that last a lifetime.
