Shoes squeak against the gym floor as the room darkens with green-and-gold lights brightening the room. Immediately, the bleachers fill in an instant with roaring crowds and exhilarating energy as the team runs out onto the gym floor. While this may seem like a typical basketball story, Floyd Central has a new sport in mind. ISHAA allows FC to make history. The latest men’s volleyball team takes to the court with determination and a drive to bring home new victories.
While the team startsis starting the season, its main goal is to win sectionals. This is their first year as an official ISHAA sport, so the boys are striving for more.
“I think winning sectionals is a big team goal for us. This is the first year that men’s volleyball is actually sanctioned. I think that it would be really great for us to get a sectional win at home the first year that it is an official sport,” said senior Will Croft
However, “For practice, we usually warm up, we play quads, which is four on four, where you play volleyball with four people on each side, and then we will just work on things we need for the next game,” said senior Landon Horvath.
Hitting, blocking, play rotations, and conditioning are all key parts of any typical volleyball practice, and while it may seem like a lot, students go above to prioritize their training during and outside of practice, working on things like improving their vertical and strengthening their ankles and shoulders.
“QUOTE”
Players are not only practicing to improve their personal skills but also to help build the team’s finesse. Junior Jesus Villalobos has realized this and works alongside the junior varsity to beat other high-level competition.
”As a junior varsity team, we’re just focusing on improving our skills as players and seeing how far we can go as a team and going against other junior varsity teams around Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky teams,” said Villalobos.
Before last season, the boys had never beaten the out-of-state teams. The private school volleyball teams are tough competition.
“We beat DeSales last year, which is a catholic school in Louisville, and we had never beaten any of the catholic schools in Louisville because they have a lot of better players than us. That was the first time in school history that we beat a team like that. We won in 5 sets; it was an electric game,” said Croft.
As they take pride in their victories, they stay humble, making each practice a chance to get better; they want to be ready for the next challenge, as they focus on growth.
“We were trying to go undefeated, but as of the last game, we lost, so now our main goal is to have a winning streak for the rest of the season,” said freshman Kellan Harvey.
Horvath and Croft leave their mark at FC to pursue further goals for the future, continuing their journey after graduation. They are both playing college-level men’s volleyball at their respective colleges. Croft plans to attend Mount Saint Joseph’s, and Horvath plans to attend Indiana Tech.