Girls Volleyball Sets Up for New Season
Carelle Zak ’21 serves against Lincoln High School. Photo Credit: Continental Studios
By NURSAT JAHAN and ZEHAA ALBRAIDI
The girls on the volleyball team are getting a fresh start as the new season begins.
Girls volleyball tryouts were on August 27 and 28, and makeup tryouts were on September 5-6. This season, the team consists mostly of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, leaving only two seniors on team.
Since the season started, coach Tommy Ma, who has been coaching the girls for two years, has been teaching the girls various drills and techniques to gain an advantage over their competition this year. Coach Ma has created a routine which the girls follow to help with their training and to get them in better shape.
“Our typical routine for training towards the upcoming games mostly consists of running laps, dynamic workouts, intense conditions, and technical play,” said Fay Berig ’22. “The conditioning helps us gain strength which is beneficial to us for playing in upcoming tournaments.”
The girls typically practice after school from Monday to Thursday (2:40 pm to 5:45 pm) and Friday (2:40 pm to 4:30 pm) in the G-gym. There’s no such thing as a rest day for these players because even on the weekend the girls practice for at least three hours.
“We practice every day for about three hours,” said captain Anisa Kaloshi ’19. “We do a lot of physical training for the first part of practice then work through the plays for the rest of the time. By the end of the day we’re definitely tired, but it’s a good kind of tired.”
Each tournament has brought challenges to the girls, but each defeat they had helped them improve as a team. They’re using these losses to become overall better players to help them beat their biggest competition.
“As of right now, our hardest competition would be Brooklyn Tech,” said Alba Hasangjekaj ’19. “They have improved greatly, as have we, and we have always been an on and off competition.”
They lost their scrimmage 0-3 to Brooklyn Tech.
“It really sucks because our team is strong!” said Berige ’22. “Hopefully we’ll take back the win in the second game.”
Their coach plays a huge part in the team, from teaching the players good techniques to always being there for them for every game. These girls couldn’t be more pleased with the coach they have.
“Coach Tommy Ma is a great coach,” said Lia Harutyunyan ’20. “He helps us mentally and physically, always giving everyone individual advice and always having our backs no matter if we win or lose. As a coach, he motivates and guides us to become all round better volleyball players.”
At first, these girls joined the team for the sport, but with each season they create a family and look forward to playing together.
“I’m looking towards team bonding because a team is like a family,” said Tiffany Ngo ’20. “Bonding time leads towards trust among players, thus making the team play better due to trust relation.”
For anyone wanting to cheer for these girls in upcoming tournaments, you can go on PSAL.org and see the days on which the team is competing and when.