Sports Tournament Insider, #1: Volleyball

By GABRIELLE SHIOZAWA

Moapa Valley Progress

The purpose of high school sports tournaments is to compete with other teams, learn new skills, and come away stronger.

Some of the best parts of tournaments, however, are the moments that happen off the playing field.

This week, we’ll take a look at what goes on at volleyball tournaments when our Lady Pirates come off the court.

The varsity volleyball team has participated in three tournaments this year: one in Reno, one in Las Vegas, and another in St. George.

Team captain Emilie Barraza explains that overnight tournaments, like their trip to Reno, are the most fun.

“After the tournament, we usually go eat dinner at a restaurant as a team,” commented Barraza, a senior. “And then we go into one hotel room as a team and just mess around and talk!”

Because they don’t stay overnight for tournaments in Las Vegas and St. George, the volleyball team has to instead deal with early-morning trips to make it there on time, as well as late nights coming home.

“There’s a lot of napping that goes on,” Barraza laughed. “Most of it is fun because we all get to spend time together!”

The car rides are full of team discussions about not only the sport of volleyball, but life in general, as well.

“Our coaches tell us what we can do better, and we talk as a team about what we think we can improve on,” said Barraza. “There’s a lot of strategy that goes on in, but we also just talk about all kinds of things.”