If you’ve ever walked to 7/11 after school, you might’ve seen a couple of boys toss around a ball right outside of the building. Little did we all know that those boys would soon become an official volleyball team. 

This year, after months and months of advocating for it, the boys volleyball team was officially started. When speaking to Gabriel Campos, one of the advocators of the team, and also one of the team captains, he mentions how he first went to Mr. Farkas, the sports director, to ask for an official boys intramurals. When more people joined the Intramurals, that’s when the boys volleyball team came to be.  However for Maiziah Stewart, another advocate for the team, and also the team captain, it was a much harder process since he didn’t exactly fit into the school’s athletic system. Despite this obstacle, Stewart was still able to overcome it, and tried as hard as possible to advocate for this team and bring it to where it is today. Even though the size of our team doesn’t compare to others they have still managed to win 4/8 games. Stewart expressed how he had expected the team to come this far, so he wasn’t surprised when they were doing so well as their first time being an official team. Because of the teams compatibility, and because of the fact that most of them were friends beforehand, it has allowed them to communicate well with each other, and has allowed them to grow both individually, and as a team. Justice Wright, a junior on the team, believes that if there were different people, there would be a possibility of the team flowing differently. Not necessarily because of the friendship itself, but because of the fact that there is a chance of other people not being as supportive as the team is now. 

I also had the opportunity to interview Ms. Mendelson, the coach for the boys volleyball team. She decided to coach the team because she saw that a large number of people in her gym classes were interested in the sport and she wanted to build on their interest it. Coach Mendelson actually advocated for the team alongside Campos and Stewart because of the boy’s ambition. She spoke to Mr. Farkas and told him about the large interest the boys had. 

Make sure to follow the team on Instagram (@amityville_boysvb) and check out their next home games on October 21st and 28th at 4:30 PM!