Practice makes perfect! The girls’ JV volleyball team practices every day after school for 3 hours. They also came in during summer to practice 5 hours every day.

The members of the team are being prepared to move up to varsity. They are coached by Mr. Nick Baumgarten, and this is his first year coaching volleyball.

“The gentleman that was the head coach before me, Jose Garcia, was the ‘gold standard’ of what a volleyball coach should be, and I wanted a chance to learn from the best and pass it on to the next generation,” he said.

Coach Nick himself hasn’t played organized volleyball, but considers himself more of a recreational player. He said that they didn’t have a boys’ volleyball team back when he himself came to Miami Senior High School.

Nick thinks the most important position in volleyball is the setter who provides the second touch of the ball to set it to someone in the front, who then strikes the ball over the net. The setter is located at the right back.

Other important positions are the outside hitter, middle blocker, and opposite hitter which are the three people on the front to block. The opposite hitter is on the right front, the middle blocker is in the middle, and the outside hitter is located on the left front.

The two coaches of JV volleyball team have different opinions about the team. Nick says, “They have a lot of inexperienced players who are new to organized sports, but with a lot of hard work, the future could be bright for them.”

On the other hand, Coach Jose Garcia, who assist with coaching this year, said, “They’ve showed tremendous improvement from when they started and where they are currently now.”

The girls have different views of losing and winning in their games. Some think it depends on the loss and some thinks it doesn’t matter. “If it’s a loss, it’s still a loss,” said freshman Tais Dion.

Sophomore  Arianne Alvarado explained,  “Our reactions to a loss depend if it was a good or bad loss.”

Sophomore Candace Garcia said, “I don’t mind losing because I learn new things from every game and that has made me a better player than I am now.”

There’s so many reasons why the girls think being part of the team is the best. Nathaliy Deleon, a sophomore, thinks the best part of being on a team is meeting new people. Other players like being able to do something you love and the adventures along the season with a new family.

With the good comes the bad. “The worst part of being on the team is when the girls stop trying, and at practice when they make the same mistakes over and over again,” said junior Kiara Rosario.

There’s only a few girls that really want to get far with volleyball. Freshman Sarah Castellanos plans on going to college playing volleyball. “I want to continue playing the sport that I love and get somewhere with it in life,” she said.