As spring sports are coming to an end, so is our Edison Boys’ Volleyball season. This season has been long and hard. The boys dealt with numerous obstacles: new coaches, teammates quitting, playing new positions their strength isn’t at, balancing their long practice and game schedules along with their school and personal life, etc. In between, our boys also had internal conflicts over game plans, communication/teamwork with coaches or each other, and increase pressure.

Today, we bring several varsity players to this interview to ask about their season and how they were able to solve these conflicts. 

Sutsakon Souvannasane

How was this season different for you compared to your past seasons?

• This season was definitely more challenging. Being on varsity is a whole different level; the level of athleticism is way higher.

What do you think could have been improved?

• Taking the time to condition and develop more of my muscles.

What were your strengths and weaknesses in terms of teamwork and personal skills?

• I know that I can trust my teammates on the court, but communication and chemistry is always something that can be strengthened. For personal skills, I want to learn how to properly dive without hurting myself.

How much did you improve this year, and is this improvement enough to satisfy yourself?

• I improved on my blocking and reading the opponents’ next moves. I am where I expected to be but I want to push myself harder.

Did you have any burnt-outs when your schedule was too packed with other things you also wanted to complete?

• Since our gym is currently getting worked on, our home games are at Gaston Middle School. This delays our game by a couple of hours. I did have a burnt out recently because I came home around 11:30 pm; I wasn’t able to finish my homework.

Were your coaches understanding if you had personal issues and couldn’t make it to practice/games? 

• My coach is understanding, as long as we notify her and have a reasonable answer, we can be excused.

Where did the pressure mainly come from, how did you relieve that stress?

• I put pressure on myself. On the court, I want to do as much as I can to win. To relax, I spend time with my girlfriend.

Were you satisfied with the results this season ended with?

• At the moment, we are at ⅖ of the season, I do feel like some games we could have won.

In what ways, skills, mindsets, and communication do you think could have made your team stronger?

• To learn to move on and try again is a good mindset. It’s ok to make mistakes but, learning “how are you going to fix it?”. 

Bringing the team to the next year, how well do you think it will do?

• I think we can do great. We may lose some of the seniors but we have the strength to keep fighting even if they’re not here.

What can the coaches do to improve the team’s learning from their mistakes?

• I’d say to make it feel like there will be consequences for mistakes. If it’s frequent mistakes then that’s understandable. 

Does playing in the games feel more pressured due to competitive wise, or is it more because you’re scared to lose?

• For me, it’s both. I want to win for myself, but if I lose I don’t want to disappoint the team.

How does the team keep each other’s spirits up during the game when it isn’t going well?

• We gave multiple chants and celebrations we do on and off the court. Such as if one of our players gets a block, we say “WHAT KIND OF PARTY IS IT, BLOCK PARTY”.
  

Andrew Yang

How was this season different for you compared to your past seasons?

The current season is much different from my last season in the sense that the competition is much tougher and this time around, I have younger players looking up to me. I joined this sport really just to have fun and have an additional extracurricular, but being at the varsity level, it’s harder to do so. I don’t look forward to practice anymore like how I once did playing frosh.

What do you think could have been improved?

Something I believe can be improved would be scheduling and maybe in some world where miracles are the norm, varsity doesn’t have to wait after every match just to play. For example, I know that soccer, JV, and Varsity play at the same time. Having both frosh and JV play at the same time would be a dream come true. I’d be able to head home at 5 or 6 instead of 8 all the time. Scheduling is a problem that stems from the lacking of a gym. Due to the reconstruction of our gym, indoor sports have to practice at Gaston and Computech Middle School. Normally it’d be fine, but since it is not our campus, we have to go by their schedules, so practices end at 7 and games end at 10 or later.

What were your strengths and weaknesses in terms of teamwork and personal skills?

Our teamwork, when we’re on it, we can contend with even the best of D2 schools (to an extent), but we aren’t always on it. We make a lot of mistakes, so we’re honestly like one of the lower-tier D2 schools. Individual skills, however, I think we are definitely fitting of D2, it’s just that many of us are unfortunately short. For example, I’m 5ft 8in, and many of those from Bullard, a school from the same division, is 6ft and taller.

How much did you improve this year, and is this improvement enough to satisfy yourself?

This year, I certainly improved. My mechanics got better, but I’m definitely not satisfied with where I’m at.

Did you have any burnt-outs when your schedule was too packed with other things you also wanted to complete?

I’m currently burnt out right now. My work ethic has been on a decline, I’m behind on work, and some of my grades are dropping. I have a 3.83, but that’s only because my teachers haven’t gotten to grading yet, which I’m grateful for.

Were your coaches understanding if you had personal issues and couldn’t make it to practice/games? 

Yea my coaches were, but I’d just get no playtime the next game.

Where did the pressure mainly come from, how did you relieve that stress?

Because I’m the highest jumper, she has me switch around two positions that require lots of jumping, and most preferably high ones. However, because the foot works are different, and I’m really only practicing one of those footwork at practices, I get frustrated when having to play the other position at games. I mess up, and we lose points, and I get unhappy, then volleyball doesn’t seem as fun anymore. This frustration though gets relieved when I’m messing around with my teammates on the bus ride back. Also, our manager’s mother is a very lovely and sweet lady that is always bringing us food. She even drove to our Madera games just to bring us food.

Were you satisfied with the results this season ended with?

The current season is not over yet, but I’m fine with however it turns out.

In what ways, skills, mindsets, and communication do you think could have made your team stronger?

Our chemistry is not the best, we don’t communicate as much as we should and we’re a real coin flip team. I think many of us are no longer eager to play and are really just there in hopes of having a good time.

Bringing the team to the next year, how well do you think it will do?

I can’t say for sure since about half of our team will be graduating this year, but I can really only hope for the best and that the underclassmen improve to at least the current varsity level.

What can the coaches do to improve the team’s learning from their mistakes?

Our coaches really don’t really coach in all honesty. One is just there and the other is only supportive. The head coach gives advice once every 2 practices, and they’re all obvious things that are honed with more actual playing experience and can’t really be evolved on the spot. Then the assistant coach like I said, is just there. They just threaten our mistakes with running really. In all honesty, I think if they actually still played, they’d be better at coaching. It gets them into the right mindset and perspective that a player also has. All the best coaches are usually the ones who still play, or understand the players and game well.

Does playing in the games feel more pressured due to competitive wise, or is it more because you’re scared to lose?

Competitive wise is the right answer. I’m not very scared to lose. Frankly, all I joined volleyball for was an extracurricular, friends, and having fun. The competition is very different from how it was back in freshman year though. Team skills and effort outweighs those of individual unlike in JV and Frosh.

How does the team keep each other’s spirits up during the game when it isn’t going well?

We try to be loud and not frown. However, some people aren’t very good at this and get angry and then start yelling. However, I’m usually just trying to stay smiling.

Jaiden Vang

How was this season different for you compared to your past seasons?

My season was completely different from my past season which was the freshmen team. Since we had to go through quarantine, I had no time to play. Coming back and going into varsity was a big change.

What do you think could have been improved?

For the program itself, I think the motivation for the team was a big factor to improve since we had late practices and games. Some players didn’t want late practices but we had to work with what we got.

What were your strengths and weaknesses in terms of teamwork and personal skills?

For the team, our strengths were our compatibility and personal skills. A weakness within that was to harness those skills and put them together to make things work. Teamwork was there but communication and chemistry could have been improved. For myself, I’d say my strength is taking in a position that most don’t play. I enjoy it and believe I’m able to fill my position. A weakness that I know of right away is the bad habit that I developed during volleyball. But those habits could be worked on and changed into better habits. 

How much did you improve this year, and is this improvement enough to satisfy yourself?

After coming back from quarantine, I had few expectations to be able to play as I did previously, but I was able to get back in the groove of it. I found my skills again and I believe I improved greatly. Getting into shape helped me perform how I wanted and help my teammates improve as well. I am satisfied as of now, but I know can be much better for next year.

Did you have any burnt-outs when your schedule was too packed with other things you also wanted to complete?

I did have a couple of burnouts and I know my teammates did as well. My schedule is especially packed during our season and sometimes I felt like skipping out on practice, but I made sure I had time to go and found my motivation to improve myself. I’m generally busy without hobbies or school and finding a balance isn’t easy, but I’m sure I worked it out the best I can. When I had burnout, I just told myself that I’m there for the team and they need me as much as I need them.

Were your coaches understanding if you had personal issues and couldn’t make it to practice/games? 

Our coaches understood our issues and reasons if we needed to be gone from practice or games. However, they were strict and made sure our reasons were valid. I believe this keeps us in check and makes sure that aren’t ditching practice without a solid reason.

Where did the pressure mainly come from, how did you relieve that stress?

Pressure mainly came from the fact that I was the only setter on the team and all of my teammates relied on my performance for success. I relieved that stress by ensuring that I don’t get tired and keep myself improving to better myself and my team.

Were you satisfied with the results this season ended with?

Our season isn’t over, but I’m satisfied with what we have so far. Our division is tough but we are playing at our own pace. I’m hoping for improvements throughout the season.

In what ways, skills, mindsets, and communication do you think could have made your team stronger?

Our mindsets could have been more stable and set in stone. Communication and commitment to the team are major factors and if we had more time to work together, we could improve much more at a faster rate.

Bringing the team to the next year, how well do you think it will do?

Next year, I believe we’ll do a bit better. We are losing key players since they are graduating, but we have promising players coming up and I’m sure our current players will improve by next year.

What can the coaches do to improve the team’s learning from their mistakes?

I believe coaches listen to the players more and in our skills to help us improve with the skills we have instead of the skills they expect us to have.

Does playing in the games feel more pressured due to competitive wise, or is it more because you’re scared to lose?

During games, I’m not pressured or nervous, I’m more excited. Excited to see how our team performs and how good our opponents are. They are motivated me because they are good. I used to be scared and nervous, but trusting myself and my team helped me cope.

How does the team keep each other’s spirits up during the game when it isn’t going well?

We pressure ourselves that we will get the next tone. Yes, our spirits get down but pushing ourselves, without doubt, is important to keep hopes up.

Calvin Threlkeld

• How was this season different for you compared to your past seasons?

Because of Covid, a lot of guys haven’t been through both JV and frosh, so we don’t have as good of a technical foundation as years past.

• What do you think could have been improved?

Our coaches suck, they don’t really teach us anything and basically, we can only improve a little bit as a team under them and can’t improve individually at all under them.

• What were your strengths and weaknesses in terms of teamwork and personal skills?

Were able to try new things on the fly and rise up to the challenge. We’re also a really scrappy team so we get a lot of epic digs and are able to keep the ball in play. Weaknesses would be that for all that scrappiness we still don’t have great communication and sometimes a really good dig gets wasted because no one knows who should get the ball.

• How much did you improve this year, and is this improvement enough to satisfy yourself?

I’ve worked a lot on my jump serves in practice, tweaking little things here and there to try and get it consistent and powerful enough to use in games. I’m not really satisfied because I feel like I’m plateauing and the coaches are not able to help me at all because they don’t know anything about volleyball in my opinion. I’m also not satisfied because I’m pretty much confined to playing my position and I never really get to pass or work on other useful skills that I’d like to get better at.

• Did you have any burnt-outs when your schedule was too packed with other things you also wanted to complete?

Absolutely, there was like a two-week period at the end of the third quarter where I had a lot of homework and all my time was going towards practice and I felt like I wasn’t getting much out of practicing; so I was pretty unmotivated.

• Were your coaches understanding if you had personal issues and couldn’t make it to practice/games? 

Yes and no, they usually didn’t care when I first told them but then they gave me shit for it after. For example, there was one time when I missed a Thursday practice because I had to go to LA for a doctor’s appointment, she didn’t care when I told her but then I had to run the next week cause she got mad, but I really don’t mind. 

• Where did the pressure mainly come from, how did you relieve that stress?

I didn’t feel like I didn’t really have much pressure overall, but I know the team counted on me to come through the hits when we weren’t doing so well, but usually, I’m able to help get us out of whatever rut were in during games.

• Were you satisfied with the results this season ended with?

Yes and no, I think we played really well against like Sanger but then we didn’t play well against Bullard. Overall I think we’re gonna end at a place that I’m satisfied with, I’d just like us to perform at the level that we’re capable of for all the games. 

• In what ways, skills, mindsets, and communication do you think could have made your team stronger?

If we had a lot more technical training, I think we’d all improve because the coaching is pretty lacking in that department. I think our communication and mindset could go hand and hand with overall improvement because sometimes we have great chemistry and as a result, we have good energy and mindsets. However, as soon as we start losing, our communication and thus our mindsets go down the drain.

• Bringing the team to the next year, how well do you think it will do?

Depends on what happens, if coach Lo can take over the program, I think we’ll be in good shape, but if not we’re kinda doomed not going to lie, however, they’re only losing me and Tim, so we might be all right.

• What can the coaches do to improve the team’s learning from their mistakes?

They’re not productive to the team when it comes to improving. They should change the content of our practices because we spend like an hour doing the same thing and it’s usually not a very durable drill. We need to be doing productive drills for like 20 minutes or however long is necessary at a time if we want to see improvement. 

• Does playing in the games feel more pressured due to competitive wise, or is it more because you’re scared to lose?

I’ve played a lot of games so I don’t really get the jitters anymore, but I feel like the team often gets nervous and jittery at first, and then more comfy throughout the game.

• How does the team keep each other’s spirits up during the game when it isn’t going well?

That’s definitely one of our weak points for sure, currently we kind of rely on like a few hitters to get us some points back, and only then do we get our spirits back up.