Shoes smacking on the ground, player leaping in the air and the coach screaming the different plays to make. Players like Senthujan Selvamohan, Sentheepan Selvamohan, and Alex bartlett trained day by day to get the place that they are in now. 

Only 10-14 players that tryout to be in varsity make it to the team and some of the players that make to the team just ride the bench. In less than 20 years the participation of boys volleyball in high school has nearly doubled according to, avaca.org.

A current volleyball player on varsity, Senthujan Selvamohan, had to practice 5-4 days a week in the club and school season. 

There are six positions to play in volleyball OH1, OH2, setter, MB1, MB2, and Libero.

 “I would say definitely the libero or the setter (are the hardest roles),” Senthujan Selvamohan said. On top of being on varsity Selvamohan plays one of the hardest roles in volleyball.

“It’s all about putting your mind to it and just putting in the hard work,” Senthujan Selvamohan said. “You can’t just think you’re gonna make the team just because you beat another player. You have to beat out everyone that plays your position.”

According to scholarshipstats.com only 7% of volleyball players in varsity go on to play for college and only 1.2% of those people go on to play Division 1 in college. This shows how hard players have to work to get into college playing volleyball and getting into varsity is the first step to that. 

Senthujan Selvamohan’s younger brother is one of the two players that made it to JV at GBHS as a freshman. Sentheepan Selvamohan, said that he also trained really hard by practicing with his friends, his dad, and practiced with a club to improve at the sport.

“He hit balls at me, you had to receive it so I could work on my passing. And then at core, at practice. I just practice my serves to be like, really good at serving, and then I also practice my hits, just in case I become a hitter,” Sentheepan said. 

Sentheepan, He works just as hard as his brother, but the experience and the age gap shows that difference between how they play.

A captain of the frosh team Alex Bartlett, practices every single day for 2 hours at the park and he also plays for a club as well.

“I would basically just do, like 100 serves and like, a bunch of passing and just work like the basic skills, just to get my consistency down,” Bartlett says. 

“So you have to work hard, get as many reps as you can, take every opportunity and just be consistent if you don’t make it one year. You can’t just give up. You have to keep pushing through,” Senthujan Selvamohan said.