The 2024 Volleyball Season has been emotional, filled with joy, tears, and long hours of practice. When tryouts started in August, people were excited but tense with numbers pinned to their shirts and the volleyball coaches examining serves, tosses, and passes. Freshmen couldn’t wait to get to know each other and create friendships.
When the season officially began in September, the freshmen team practiced in the Panther Den. The tight space made practice arduous at times, but the coaches and girls always made it fun. As we began traveling for games, bus rides were filled with laughter and loud music. Volleyball introduced Saint E’s Traditions, as teammates partook in Secret Buddies. An organized gift-giving experience, girls buy gifts for each other, leaving the bags of candy, personalized notes, and more in their secret buddy’s locker.
Coach Alex has been a supportive coach throughout the season, helping her players grow tremendously. Unable to serve at the beginning of the season, she worked with me, and now I consistently get the ball over the net to score that extra point in games. Practice times have varied throughout the season but are usually from 3-5 pm, giving us two hours to improve at the sport and grow closer as a team. The final game is quickly approaching: October 29th. After that, the season is over.
The several team bonding events throughout the season enabled teammates to get closer to one another and to forget about school stress. On one occasion, the girls wrapped one another in mummy wrapping, played “keep it up” with balloons, and performed dance challenges. As the season went on, the team began winning more and more games, strengthened by their bonding activities.
Joining the volleyball team in August, I was so anxious. However, since volleyball started before the school year, I became excited for the first day of school, already having built-in friends from the volleyball preseason. No sports season will be as memorable as this one was for me. I cannot wait until next year when, once again, players will wear their jersey numbers and the word “PANTHERS” on their shirts, proud to represent the Academy of Saint Elizabeth.
