Girls’ varsity volleyball keeps team intact using online preseason

The Girls varsity volleyball team kicked off preseason training over Zoom on Feb. 1 to get in shape for the upcoming season in March, originally pushed back from October 2020. Head coach William Humes will direct physical practices on the court while assistant coach Kira Wildes runs online preparation and team bonding during preseason.

Even though at-home practices could make players rusty, Wildes said she’s optimistic about having an online preseason. As always, she said, adaptability is the true key to success.

 “I have high expectations for what our team can do, provided that we are able to find ways to learn how to play together in this new environment,” Wildes said.

Throughout February, Mondays through Fridays will be reserved for team workouts led by a player of choice, designated using a self-assign Google document. To make these workouts more lively, players can choose music in hopes of emulating a traditional practice environment. At-home workouts naturally won’t be as engaging as team activities, so by using a more interesting set up for practice, the team hopes to make things much closer than they would’ve doing workouts by themselves. 

By using upcoming weekdays to train, players will be ready for the first in person practice Feb. 28.  

  “I would expect to see a few changes in the warm up style so that we can streamline and make the best use of our practice,” Wildes said. 

Practice procedures will take advantage of kinesthetic stretching and strength training to further enhance performance on the court. 

The team says it’s no surprise the current situation is only encouraging them to step up their game — after all, tenacity is a West Essex principle.