Naamah Silcott named CIF All-City Division I girls volleyball co-player of the year
Silcott's award comes days after the BCCHS Lady Patriots varsity volleyball team wins the city championship.
June 23, 2021
Excited screams and jumping teammates surrounded varsity volleyball player Naamah Silcott when their team won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Los Angeles City Section Division I girls volleyball championship. The jubilation continued when, three days later, Silcott found out they were named the CIF All-City Division I girls’ volleyball co-player of the year.
“It felt like a dream I guess,” said Silcott, an incoming junior. “It didn’t feel real because something like that had never happened before. This was our first time winning Division I. Overall, it just didn’t feel real. It felt like we were on air.”
The championship was on June 8, following semifinals and quarterfinals in the previous week. The teams competing in the championship were Birmingham Community Charter High School (BCCHS) and Sylmar High School, with BCCHS winning 3-1. This was the first Division I girls’ volleyball championship title in BCCHS history.
“This huge weight had been lifted off of our shoulders after winning that,” Silcott said. “(We felt) like ‘oh, wow we can finally relax now.’”
On June 11, Silcott received a text from a friend saying that CIF had posted the co-players of the year on Twitter—and Silcott was one of them. Silcott and their teammate Laila Kelly were the only girls volleyball players this year to be chosen by the CIF LA City Section for this prestigious honor.
“The day that we won the championship we got a whole bunch of junk food to celebrate,” Silcott said. “I think that’s basically about all I did (to celebrate being co-player of the year). I didn’t do anything besides that, just kind of a small celebration which is really all I could have asked for.”
Silcott is a middle blocker and has played volleyball for six years, with many more to come. They are looking forward to the fall season but will also miss those of their teammates who graduated this year.
“I’m just excited for the new year to see what’s going to happen but I’m also really sad that a lot of the people (who) mentored me and basically befriended me over these last two years are leaving,” Silcott said.