Imagine a sunlit beach on the verge of nightfall. Then, imagine volleyball players too: one spikes the ball on the opposing team, and none of the six players can reach it. Now, picture volleyball inside a gym—five players in yellow and one in blue on the same side. A ball flying over the net with precision, and the libero calls out, “Mine!” Does this scene sound familiar? This is the average Thursday night in October at Alamo Heights Junior School. Through commitment and determination, they battle through everything like a family.

This family starts early.

The blue volleyball team wakes up early every morning and hits the court. First, the 7th-grade blue volleyball team begins practice with dynamic stretching to warm up. Next, they do shuttle passing, a training drill to focus on ball control. To finish off practice, they usually scrimmage and give their very best effort so they can perform well on Thursday.

One of the perks of being on the volleyball team is getting to leave school early for away games. Each player eats a meal before hopping on the bus and is allowed to use any device on the ride, as long as the pre-set rules are followed. They leave early to make it to the away games, which means getting excused (ABX-ed) from school at 3 o’clock.

Fast forward to Thursday at 3:00 p.m., and this team is on the road, hoping to come back with a win. They arrive at the game feeling excited, though the pre-game jitters start to kick in.

So, this is the end of our big family season. We hope you watched our team perform, and we look forward to welcoming them back next year.