St. Mary's Soccer/Volleyball Mid-Season Review: 8th Grade Girls

First, I wanted to thank all the kids and parents who have come out and supported our two newest sports, volleyball and soccer. It was a goal from the beginning to implement new and exciting activities and I think collectively we have all done a wonderful job in making this dream of sorts come true.

Below are some thoughts about the individual teams, the good and bad, half-way through the season. For the next few days, we will focus on one team each day.

8th Grade Girls Volleyball

I think far and away this is the most athletic girls class in the last several years at St. Mary's. This is no knock on any other classes, but clearly, we have athletes in this class, capable of doing some great things in the athletic field.

I remember reffing a CYO girls basketball game with this team at Holy Name, before I became Athletic Director and I said to myself that this will be a class that will compete for years to come. The coach at the time did something I will never forget. I overheard him say in the huddle to give the ball to his daughter, and pretty much everyone get out of the way. He even mentioned specific names of girls on the team to NOT touch the ball. And this was probably in the 4th or 5th grade?

But back to the current girls. The other day they won a set in volleyball. I don't know if anybody realizes what an accomplishment this is. I don't think I am blowing it out of proportion. Here you have a team that has probably played since 3rd grade, and for sure a few years at least. Then you have us, who started playing about 5 weeks ago. If you ask their coach and even girls on the team, they probably would tell you they should've and could've won that game.

From the beginning, Iris just seemed like she had a knack for volleyball. She transferred into the school last year and I didn't expect her to want to play. Good thing she did, because she was simply amazing on Saturday. She can serve, return, and it would not shock me if she played volleyball in high school. Iris does a great job of taking command and having confidence in herself, something that may be lacking with some of the players on the team. Have faith in yourself...see ball...hit ball. It's all mental.

One other person I want to point out is Katlyn. The first game I saw her play, I felt she had trouble picking it up. She was unable to serve it over and had trouble getting to the ball. 3 games later, she served with ease and even served it too hard on set point. Her turnaround from game 1 to 4 was pretty astounding.

The only knock I have on this team is how serious they take playing. On one hand, there's no reason to get bent out of shape and have a stupid game make you emo. But sometimes I don't know if there is enough care. Last year, after a basketball game they should've won, they all seemed to brush it off. If that was my team, I would've gone nuts (See me tossing scarf at St. Monica's a few years ago). With a little more focus, I think they could be even better than they are right now.

I'd love to touch on everyone, but we just don't have enough time. Just know that
I'm very proud of all you girls and keep fighting, because you're almost there.