Each month the school showcases a female and male athlete to be featured in an article recognizing their raw talent in the sport they are in. For this month, October, we spotlight sophomore Genevieve Gonzales for her abilities in junior varsity volleyball.
For Gonzales, this is her second year playing junior varsity volleyball on the Birmingham Community Charter High School team. It has also been a great experience for her thus far. The junior varsity girls volleyball team ended their season on Oct. 11 with 11 wins and seven losses.
Q: What position do you play and why?
A: I’m front row middle. I play because I guess my coach saw my strength in hitting.
Q: How long have you played volleyball and when did you start?
A: I started my freshman year. I’ve kind of just been playing on and off like outside of school.
Q: What’s your biggest accomplishment as a volleyball player?
A: I mean individually I feel like no one really has an accomplishment. We’re all a team and the game literally revolves around the team itself so my biggest accomplishment is just having support for my coaches and my other players.
Q: What’s your favorite memory from playing volleyball?
A: My favorite memory was when we went to USC to watch a professional volleyball game and we all stayed out and got dinner together. It was a lot of fun.
Q: How do you mentally and physically prepare for games?
A: Volleyball is like a very mentally challenging sport but I would say I try to hype myself up. I listen to music, I talk with my team, my coaches and we all just kind of hype each other up.
A: What’s the best piece of advice anyone has ever given to you about volleyball?
Q: Have confidence in yourself and don’t get in your head if you make any mistakes because we all make mistakes. Just have fun.
A: How did you first get involved in playing volleyball?
Q: I kind of just wanted to try out for fun and just do a sport for high school so my closest option out of it was volleyball and then I ended up making the team and went with it.
A: How do you balance academics and athletics and do you have any tips for other students?
Q: Well I get procrastinating, that’s one of a lot of the things that teens have but definitely having a balanced schedule and making time for doing your homework either during school or after sports. Making sure that you’re on top of your things is really important.
Stats: 11 wins, 7 losses for the Birmingham JV girls volleyball team.
