The Selma High School girls volleyball team has started their season with a fresh victory, starting with Friday, September 6th winning 2-1 against Kerman. Then on Saturday, September 8, the team was victorious against Mendota with a score of 2-0.
With Coach Lopez guiding them throughout this new year, the team is anticipating to have a successful season for the rest of the year.
Although it may be heavy on the girls, it creates a strong training method that will guide them into victory.
This is Coach Lopez’s second year as the team’s varsity coach and second year as the JV coach. Being such a determined coach, she knows what her players are capable of and she hopes to guide them to the season they anticipate to have this year. She makes sure to communicate to her players that it’s okay to fail, as the important thing is how they come across these difficult milestones.
“It’s important that the players understand that an error doesn’t define them as a player,” explains Lopez. “It’s how they come back stronger from that error that defines them, and sometimes getting that point across can be a difficult task.”
Lopez has the system of the “3 C’s” that she implies in her athletic training to the players. It creates a better understanding within the team and their camaraderie.
“[The] 3 C’s: communication, collaboration, and celebration, which we implement at practice every day,” she explained. “It comes from having the athletes be each other’s biggest supporters.”
Overall, her goal is to make the team more competitive when in-game, so they are able to defeat difficult teams both mentally and physically.
However, the lady bears are doing great so far under this new season. Some players believe that in order to become better, they need to push themselves to the limits they’re unfamiliar with.
Valeria Quezada, a senior at Selma High, has been a part of the team for four years now. Quezada explains that this isn’t just any sport, but that it takes a toll on one’s mental and physical health and it carries dedication from each other.
“It is both a really fun sport just as competitive,” Quezada explains. “No one realizes how much of a mental game volleyball is until you experience it.”
To have a great season, the players encourage each other’s progress, creating a better bond within one another.
Kennedi Carrasco, a senior at Selma High, encourages each and every one of the players to highlight what everyone is doing great, as it encourages them to do better as time passes.
“I am always encouraging my teammates throughout the whole game with constant reminders that they are doing good and to keep going if we are down,” Carrasco says.
As the season progresses, the Selma girls volleyball team continues to hope for a successful season.
