The girl’s Grant Varsity Volleyball team has a strong eleven wins out of thirteen games played, as of Monday, October 18th. Throughout the season, the team spends hours getting stronger to face their competition. Coach Keenan is an inspiration to the girls, who teaches the importance of dedication and discipline, both on and off the court.  In her eyes “a successful team consists of communication between the players and parents.” When a gym is packed with fans waiting to see these girls dominate the competition, it’s easy for the girls to get lively and excited to play the game. Especially for Cadence Wodrich, she says she is “always thinking of what [she] can do better during the game!” 

Being on the team requires a lot of commitment and dedication from the student-athletes. From an outsider’s point of view, the time put in seems like too much to handle, but their passion for the sport outweighs that.  The girls on the team spend 17 hours a week at team practices, not to mention the work outside of practice, and game time. Schedules tend to cause a lot of conflict with practice times, with the majority of the girls on the team having jobs and having to find ways to accommodate their volleyball schedule into their life. Eligibility can be a struggle for some girls during the season, but Coach Keenan works to the best of her ability to make it a priority for the girls to put in their best effort in school.

The learning and growing opportunities these student-athletes experience allow them to grow as a person more and more every day. Being a part of the volleyball team helps build these girls’ futures by giving them a foundation to start at when they get to college. Volleyball is such a big part of their lives that they hope to continue into college. The players  “love [the] sport so much, because it’s like an escape from reality,” and look forward to the remainder of the season.