Newbie On The Court
Hannah Hoftiezer sporting #15 is celebrating with the rest of the C-team for their hard work and efforts paying off. Countless hours spent together practicing and bonding helped ensure them that they had the teamwork needed to go undefeated at a weekend tournament.
Freshman Hannah Hoftiezer is a newbie on the CK volleyball team playing as #15, and she wants to improve alongside the most seasoned veterans. Hoftiezer said, “Being a newbie on the team is nerve wracking, but really fun, because although you’re not the most skilled on the team, it’s fun to watch the experienced players.”
She gets along well with her team members, having played with some of them previously at Ridgetop Middle School. The team eats dinner together every Sunday to bond. “The dinners are extremely helpful with bonding the team, because it’s basically two extra hours of spending time with your teammates off of the court. It not only helps us communicate better when you know who you’re playing with, but it also helps to create friends on and off the court,” said Hoftiezer. “The coaches are very encouraging and know how to fix your mistakes and to apply drills into gameplay. They’re very experienced and know how to do their job well.”
The biggest hurdle for Hoftiezer and the rest of her team is communication. She said it is because “if you don’t call the ball or tell someone else to get it, the ball will be dead. It’s hard to play if you don’t trust your teammates or talk.”
Volleyball matches do not come without tension and often nervousness, however, Hoftiezer needs to keep calm if she wants to perform her best. She said, “To keep a level head, I tell myself in my head a quote my dad would tell me on the soccer field whenever I’d get mad at my teammates: ‘mind of ice, heart of fire’, which means that your head is in the game. It not only helps me, but it helps the team, because when one girl has a bad attitude everybody else catches it like a cold.”
Hoftiezer may be a newbie on the CK volleyball team, but her schedule often includes even more responsibilities. She is a member of Freshman ASB as the secretary, as well as being involved in piano lessons and youth group. In order to balance schoolwork and all her other responsibilities, sacrifices must be made. For away games, she often does her homework on the bus as they return very late. She also makes sure to do her homework right when she gets home after practices unless her other extracurricular activities prevent her from doing so.
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