A pass, a set, and a hit. That’s what most people believe volleyball is. In reality, volleyball is a combination of emotions, personality, and dependence on your fellow teammates, as well as yourself.
After a lot of consideration and deep thought into his decision, Senior volleyball player at FHN, Eashan Patel decided to take a season off from high school volleyball for his Junior year. Patel is involved in many difficult clubs around FHN and Senior class president, so adding the stress of volleyball was not something he could easily accommodate. Thankfully for Patel, he had a lot of support his Senior year, and was able to find the time and the appropriate mindset to happily play volleyball for his final season.
“Definitely, now that I am on a team again, I remember how nice it is to have a group of guys just to do a bunch of stuff with,”Patel said. “We’ve hung out almost every single night for the last week. So that was something that I missed a lot, and I didn’t even realize I missed it until it came back.”
For every sport, taking a year off and returning to the game is a difficult task for athletes. What makes this even more difficult for volleyball players like Patel, is that volleyball is a game that relies on team chemistry, and a full roster of athletes who mesh well together. Without this, teams heavily underperform.
“I think it’s very important because there’s 6 of them out there and you have to rely on the person next to you,” varsity boys volleyball coach, Robin Yuede said. “I think that’s part of our growing pains this year, everyone is next to someone else that didn’t play, having only 3 returners. It’s about being able to trust that person and enjoy who you’re next to.
Yuede has been coaching boys volleyball for around 10 years now, and before that she had a 16 year career in girls volleyball. Yuede knows the ins and outs of volleyball, and has a passion for coaching.
The pressure that a volleyball player undergoes when returning to the court is overwhelming. Trying to bond with teammates, finding confidence in one’s skill, and trying to pick up right where you left off. However, it is said that volleyball is simply a mental game. The nature of the game is to have fun and play with confidence. With supportive teammates and coaches, this mindset is easily achievable.
“I wasn’t going to try out at all, the registration, everything had passed,” Patel said. “Then Coach Yudy pulled me aside and said, are you playing with my heart by being here? I said, What do you mean? She said, Are you gonna try out? I said, no. Then she talked to me, we had a 15-20 minute conversation during an open gym, and she said how she’s always seen my growth and she gave me a lot of encouragement… So then, I decided to come back.”
Moments and conversations like these prove how unique of a game volleyball is, and how the sport can make it easy on athletes like Patel to come back from a break even stronger.
“I think it is just such a beautiful sport,” Patel said. “Just because of how much you rely on one another, but also how independent it is. Just the balance of it is super fun, as well as the scrappiness of it.”
