Shea, Smyth Gear Up for Volleyball Season

Shelby Smyth and Shannon Shea, co-captains of the girls volleyball team, are ready to start the upcoming season head on. The pair recognized that the team needed to come back from the summer in top shape, so they organized a series of summer practices for the team to polish their game before school starts.

“Every year as long as we’ve been in high school, the volleyball team has made pretty far it into States, but lost every time.  This year, were playing Andover our first game, and we really want to win,” said  Smyth. “So we want to start early, before the season starts.”

Smyth and Shea, who are cousins, planned practices for the team three times a week throughout the summer. The girls meet bright and early to do all types of strength training, including squats and jumps. After an hour and a half of cross training work, the girls play volleyball for another 90 minutes.

The nine hours a week that  Shea, Smyth, and the rest of the volleyball team dedicated to organized practices this summer has allowed the them to work out kinks in their game, and they hope to play smoothly as a team once regular season practices start in a few weeks.

“Playing with each other makes us so much more comfortable, we won’t even have to worry about it once the season starts,” said Shea.

Smyth’s mother, Jenny, said working over the summer has been great for the girls.

“The girls support each other; they bring the younger ones under their wing, and teach them the game. It s a team sport, you're all on one side of the net; you don’t have to touch the other team, you have to work together,” said , whose younger daughter, Michaela, will be a freshman volleyball player this year.

The summer sessions have been crucial for the incoming freshmen who hope to join the team this fall.

“A bunch of the freshman came and most of them have never played before. Practicing each week helps them so much, they are probably the best group of freshman I have seen,” Shelby Smyth said. Smyth was also fairly new to the game coming into high school several years ago, she said.

“Most freshmen have never even picked up a ball before. Scrimmaging with older girls probably makes them so much better,” said Shea, who didn’t start playing volleyball herself until the eighth grade.

The girls agree that setting an example to the younger players from the start is a good idea.  Not only will it increase the chances that this year’s team has to progress in States, but it will also help younger teams down the line as well.

“When the freshman come now, it will make the program stronger each year, and they will learn from example that doing something like this in future [will help] their team to be successful also," said Smyth.

In addition to leading practice sessions, Smyth and Shea have enlisted in the help of others this summer. Shea’s older sister, Kayleigh, several graduated seniors from previous years, and some members of the boys volleyball team have come to work with the girls on their game.

“My older sister helps us.  She’s taught us so much and helped us run the practices,” said Shea.  “[Kayleigh has] helped us get better by watching her play at the college level.”

The team has high hopes for the season, and they expect to make some moves after all the hard work that was put in this summer.

“We’re going to be in better shape this year. And we want to beat some rival teams," said  Smyth.

Jenny Smyth thinks that Shannon and Shelby have what it takes to lead the team.

"They are ready, like young people they have a lot to learn, but they are ready to lead the group. I think they will be great leaders," she said.