This was my 2nd year of playing volleyball in the OSC team but will not be travelling for SAISA due to expenses and studies which I must focus on. Since I’ve had one season of volleyball experience last year, this year I signed up for SAISA volleyball as an opportunity to improve and learn new skills which will help me improve my match play skills. This year my goal was specifically to improve my volleyball skills as a ‘libero’ player, who is a volleyball player who plays in the back court for receives, taking this step shows the challenges I’ve undertaken. Along with my aim, I also wanted to identify my strength and develop my areas of growth in athletics.
Warming up on the court. Taken by Josh
The sessions began normally as it did last year, this year many new students participated in volleyball which gave me an opportunity to interact with them and learn from them. During volleyball sessions of Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, I was active throughout the week and was well balanced because sports after school was a relaxing period where I was able to utilize my energy onto my physical. Since last year at the end of volleyball session my discomforts in volleyball overcome, and this year I was trying new technical skills needed in volleyball such as proper movements on the court, identifying the receive position and area, communicating with other members, and moving in a play.
Towards the end of the volleyball season I felt confident in playing match-style games and play as libero. I learned a lot more than what I’ve expected and opened a new comfort zone in my athletics. One of the highlights in volleyball was that I was able to connect the learnings from other sports such as football into volleyball such as positioning, spacing, and most importantly was calling for the ball. This would be my last year in participating school volleyball, but I definitely improved my physical health along with physical. Volleyball was a great experience in the past 2 years, however I wasn’t able to show my abilities in SAISA level tournaments. Doing SAISA volleyball could have been an amazing experience when competing with other schools however I’m satisfied that at least I got out of my comfort zone into a new sport.
Warming up on the court. Taken by Josh