Every year, junior high volleyball coach Andrea Minnillo has to decide who makes the junior high volleyball teams. Typically, 11 girls make each team, out of the almost 50 that try out.
“It’s always extremely difficult, I always tell the players it’s the most fun and [least] fun part of the year because everyone tries so hard over the summer,” Minnillo said.
In previous years, junior high volleyball has had two teams: one for eighth grade, one for seventh grade. This year, Minnillo introduced a new addition: another team made up of a combination of seventh and eighth graders.
“Every year we have tryouts, it’s a very difficult time for myself and the coaches because we have so many girls with talent that try really hard, but we cap teams at a certain number,” Minnillo said.
Minnillo explored other options, such as creating a recreational team where students could sign up without needing to try out.
“We then were told by the organization for the rec teams that we weren’t allowed to have a WHHS-only rec team, so after that got shut down, it was really discouraging,” Minnillo said.
volleyball. “It’s one of my favorite sports, and I just like it because it uses a lot of the team, and I think it’s just so much fun,” Vivian Carmichael, ‘31, said. (Olivia Torbeck)
Although the season officially begins in mid-August, players interested in trying out have started attending weekly open gym practices 5:30-7:30.
“It was really nice,” B team member Vivian Carmichael, ‘31, said. “There were a lot of people, and you just kind of got to go and play volleyball, no judgment whatsoever.”
The entire team has grown over the season, experimenting with different positions to figure out which ones are the best fit for each player. For example, Carmichael is the setter for her team.
“I really like being in charge of the court because you’re supposed to get [the] second ball and then you’re setting it up for the hitter to get it over the net,” Carmichael said.
Minnillo believes that adding the B team is one of the best decisions she’s made this year, and hopes the program will continue to grow.
“I just saw them grow from tryouts, and I had not seen them play for a couple of weeks, but I just did, and I couldn’t believe they were getting so much better,” Minnillo said. “It just makes our program more competitive and better.”