By Timmy Hwang
Opinions Contributor
My first encounter with volleyball was in seventh grade when we played the sport in gym class. Of course, like most gym-class volleyball, we were allowed as many touches needed to get the ball over the net and we often resorted to newcomb, a cheap and easy way to simulate (not) volleyball. There were no positions, no rotations and no passes, sets or hits, but I always looked forward to it in school.
A year later, over the morning announcements, I heard there was going to be a volleyball introduction clinic after school in the gymnasium. My friends and I decided to go and try it out, and we found that volleyball was a whole different sport than the volleyball we knew. We ran a few drills, and I had a lot of fun.
I talked to the man running the clinic, Todd Elwell. He referred me to a club team and gave me the dates of the tryouts, which were in a couple of weeks.
I decided to go to see how it was, and I turned out to be the worst player on the team. I didn’t get much playing time, but I didn’t care. I had so much fun learning the fundamentals of the game that I would return home from practice and continue practicing them at home (my parents noted that I was making quite a bit of noise).
Then came the end of the school year. I went to a few volleyball camps and learned that different coaches teach different fundamentals, but most teach on a system called Gold Medal Squared, which was created by three of the most honored volleyball coaches ever and has led teams to win gold medals in the Olympics.
By the time the spring sports season came around, I was itching to play for South. I tried out, and found myself surrounded by some incredibly welcoming teammates – including, at the time, the three junior captains: Jonathan Lee, Jared Chin and Brendan Duggan. I also met up again with Elwell, whom we now knew just as Coach.
I played on junior varsity and later on in the season got to watch and cheer on the bench for varsity. Every day I would look forward to going to volleyball after school. I got to know many different people, each with a different story.
It was one of the most exciting transitions I have made, and whether it was playing on JV or cheering on the bench for varsity, I had one of the greatest experiences of my life and continue enjoying every moment of playing the sport as well as getting mental reps to improve my game each day.
So next time you have some free time after school and you hear that boys volleyball has a home game, come and stop by to cheer on your state champs!
