By Ronny Gonzaga ‘27
The Conestoga Valley High School boys volleyball team is preparing for the upcoming season. Coaches have started hosting open gym practices to keep returning players sharp and introduce new student-athletes to the team. Jonathan Arteaga (12) said open gyms help him maintain consistency in his skills. “Open gyms… help me work on my form,” Arteaga said.
Last season the team faced a player shortage, making it difficult to fill every spot on the team. Despite this challenge, the team performed well. Senior Kenji Van, who has played since his freshman year, took things into his own hands and recruited students to try out for the team. Arteaga is one of many players who Van persuaded. Arteaga said, “I wasn’t interested in volleyball, but Kenji insisted too much, you know I had to do it.”
Coach Davis explained that the team has high hopes for this new season. He added that the boys are having fun at the open gyms and this method can attract new athletes to this sport.
The team expects to be better than last with new fresh and experienced players. Van hopes that this season they can reach states. Even though it is too early to predict the future, Van assures they can do it because they have been working really hard with the extra hours in open gym. He said, “I actually think we have improved… and can do better this season.”
With all the effort put by the team, fans will have to wait until the start of the season and see if their hard work pays off.