Freshman to varsity is often a three to four year journey, starting at the bottom and working to get to varsity. Freshman, JV, and varsity teams may be very different in various ways, but one thing that tends to stay the same is the traditions, such as team breakouts, pep rallies and state send-offs. 

Specifically for volleyball, there’s the home game traditions. For varsity players, during a home game they get to decorate a volleyball with personalized notes and throw it to the supporting crowd of fans out right before games. 

“I love that, I always wanted to do that as a freshman,” senior Karissa Garza said. 

There are lots of traditions specific not only to varsity but also to the freshman teams. The freshman teams will vote on a player from the last game who had the most hustle and heart, someone who was cheering for her teammates on and off the court and who pushed herself and her teammates around her. But, traditions don’t have to have been made years ago to be considered a tradition; in fact some of the volleyball team’s favorite traditions are the ones that the players themselves made in recent years. 

“We do line dances before games. We started it at tournaments,” Garza said. 

Due to long waits in between games, the squad needed a solution for standing still for long periods of time and then immediately getting back into games. So, Garza found the perfect remedy for that problem- Footloose, boot scootin’ boogie, and the biker shuffle. Country line dances turned out to be the perfect solution to stay moving and keep their muscles warm. And sometimes, less is more when it comes to traditions.

“I like that we match on game days. We all look united,” freshman Megan Chapman said. 

On game days volleyball will wear the same shirt to show their team pride. 

Every sport may do this but it sends the same message: there’s a team and they also have a game today. Playing any sport at the highschool level is a big jump and traditions are part of the reason being a player is so special. Participating in traditions is a team’s way of respecting the previous players and also a reminder that you are part of something bigger than just your team, your school.