Serving Into Volleyball Season: A Look at the GV Boy’s Volleyball ‘Greatest Season Yet’
GV JV Warm-up
With time to train, improve, and overcome, Boy’s Volleyball is already in play. The team has prepared for an amazing year, and only time will tell how far they go.
With volleyball being a spring sport, athletes have a whole semester in the fall to prepare themselves for the season. For some varsity players, this is their last year. It has been a year full of emotion and memory for them.
During pre-season, the volleyball program was given the opportunity to train more and focus on any weak points or flaws that the team may have in real-game scenarios.
Captain of the Varsity team, Jacob Navarro, shared his perspective on how the team has improved, “I think we’ve improved on communication, especially team chemistry; team chemistry is definitely a big must for us, especially since how we were last year, but now I think that we’re closer together which helps us understand more of how we’re gonna play together during games and upcoming tournaments.”
The team has demonstrated focus and commitment to improve in any area possible, which will help them successfully progress through the season.
Going to the Junior Varsity team for the volleyball program, Joshua Ylanan gave some words to express what he is expecting to achieve with his team this season.
He elaborated on his expectations stating, “My expectation is to win most of our games, I feel like that’s something that we can achieve because in our pre-season games we have been doing very well; we can continue that environment and that work ethic that we have and practice as the season goes.”
Navarro also had more detailed expectations for his varsity team this season by stating, “I want to see improvement mainly in passing, that’s even my downfall. That’s definitely a kryptonite to our team, if anything else it’s probably just controlled over certain situations like high-pressure moments in the game. Controlling ourselves; I need to control my emotions as we play, I don’t want it to get into our heads, especially since I’m seen as a captain. I don’t want to stress the team but rather focus on when we play.”
The volleyball program has definitely committed itself to improve as much as possible to be more than ready to kick off the season with a bang.
I think that [as a team] we’re closer together, which helps us understand more of how we’re gonna play together during games and upcoming tournaments.
— Varsity Caption JC Navarro
For the Seniors in the program, they’ve created relationships from the beginning of their volleyball high school career to their last year in Golden Valley.
Navarro shared his experience and relationship with his teammates throughout his years in Golden Valley by stating, “It’s been a good connection especially now with the players that we have. I played my JV season with Oliver, Peter, Daniel, and Darion so we had a great connection there…now this year that we’re all back together we’re starting to get that feeling of how it was before so I think we’re going to keep our mindset set to how we did last season. Still, we’re going to try our best to recreate that but make it better this season.”
The Golden Valley Volleyball program has prepared for an amazing season and is ready to face any challenges and obstacles coming its way. They’ve improved in many aspects and are expected to improve much more as the season goes on. The seniors will want to make this season one to remember in the history of Golden Valley.
Kicking off the season, these grizzlies went for a 3 streak win against Highland(2-0), Eastside(3-2), and Castaic(3-1). They have a close unfortunate loss against Hart(3-2) but pick it right back up with an incredible 9 win streak. Then, unfortunately they went on a 3 streak loss against Chaminade(2-1), Bell Gardens(2-0), and Hart(3-0). Most recently they defeated Canyon(3-0) at home.
These grizzlies will have a one week break from games for Spring Break but they will return stronger and ready to face Saugus in two separate games at home in the same week. Students are encouraged to attend games for the Boy’s Volleyball team this season and support these grizzlies in the stands; they will be going for it all!
Brandon Castillo is a staff writer for the Journalism Sports team. He is a young and talented senior ready to express what he loves the most through the power of writing, sports. He’s been part of the GVHS Boys Soccer Program for 4 years, did Cross Country for a year as well, and 2 years for Track & Field. Brandon has received multiple awards throughout high school in which he doesn’t remember because his hard work is recognized more by him than just an award. He’s passionate about writing a lot of sports articles, mostly Futbol(not called soccer). Growing up he’s always had a background of his entire family loving Futbol and that passion grew more and more as he watched and played the beautiful sport. Being part of the school’s newspaper and his journalism sports team was a way for him to express to everyone at school and push forward all the things he is passionate about. Not only that, he feels a sense of happiness being able to have a family in his journalism class like...
Arthur Betancourt is a senior at Golden Valley High School. He is involved in CSF and the school’s soccer team as well as previously being in the band program. As a writer on his team, he is heavily interested in all of the arts; however, music has always been his bread and butter. He would love to eventually work with music oriented topics and stories. His love of all things music stems from his experiences in his 7th grade Jazz band, and his various triumphs with his team.
Growing up in an immigrant family, he has developed a love for his Mexican roots and wishes to deepen his connection with the culture. Although he has since moved east from Santa Clarita, he remains in love with the city. Being a native to Santa Clarita, he knows the ins and outs of the city; appreciating it every day a little more.
