The best team to ever come out of New York State, that’s what they called us. “You girls are making a name for this club,” that’s what they told us.
Volleyball is not a big sport in New York. There are only about three big clubs in the state, and even those are hardly competitors compared to the powerhouses in Texas and California. A great New York team would hardly be called average by Texas standards. But we were different. Seven of our ten players had been together for at least three years. The previous year, on fourteens, we placed fifth at Nationals in the National Division. There is still a greater division, though, called Open. We knew we would make it there on fifteens; something no other New York team had ever done. And we did. Our coach met with our parents and told them to not expect much from us. “Open is a whole different world,” he warned them, “you can’t get frustrated if they don’t win a single game because that will probably be the case.” But, again, we did what others said we could not. We took thirteenth place. Thirteenth out of the 32 best teams in the country. Thirteenth out of the 300 teams at nationals. Thirteenth out of the thousands of teams across the country.
The following year, we were expected to do even greater. We returned all of our starters and then added two of New York’s best hitters to our roster. We won every local or regional tournament we went to, most of them were in the eighteens division. We played in the eighteens division at a huge tournament in Washington D.C. where we took fifth. When it came to qualifier season, we won two national qualifier tournaments; Chicago and Philadelphia. This was huge. Again, we made history. No team from New York had ever won a qualifier. “You are the best team this club has ever produced,” our coaches were proud to say. And no one could disagree.
Aside from being an incredibly successful team on the court, my teammates and I were best friends off the court. We would have sleepovers every weekend even though most of us lived forty minutes from one another. Most of my favorite memories involve my volleyball teammates. Being able to travel the country with your best friends, while also playing the sport you love, is incredible. We’ve been all over. Reno, Disney, Dallas, Minneapolis, Atlanta and plenty more. Even outside of volleyball, I have traveled to Aruba, Florida and Arizona with two of my teammates who I consider my best friends, even more so than my school friends. My family has gone to Bills games and tailgated with my teammates’ families. Our parents go out to dinner on the weekends, go to the casino together, and can talk on the phone about volleyball for hours. It’s incredibly cliché to say, but our team was a family — from the parents, to the players, to the coaches — we loved being together.
The accomplishments we had as a team on the court were extraordinary in themselves. But, more importantly, I know that the friendships I have formed will last a lifetime. We have suffered together through heartbreaking losses and have been right at each others’ sides during some of the most memorable moments in our lives. We’ve worked to help one another reach their goals and were right there cheering when they finally did. Teammates are different than regular friends; they will call you out for not doing your job, celebrate when you do something amazing and are incredibly trustworthy. If I had to pick the best part of my entire volleyball career, I would without hesitation, say it is the people that came into my life because of it.
