design: Lincoln Hake
photo: Aryan Bommena
This was it. The moment that she finally made a decision where she was going to play volleyball. This one Instagram post was going to decide her future as a volleyball player. She was going to post her verbal commitment to the college of her dreams.
Three juniors apart of the high school’s volleyball team went through the college commitment process and decided to commit to Division 1 schools. These three students recently posted their verbal commits on Instagram.
“I’ve known since a pretty young age that I wanted to play volleyball in college. The idea of becoming the best player I could be and playing with the best of the best in college was my goal,” junior Lily Barron said.
Barron will be playing volleyball at the University of Houston. She worked hard to get to this point in her career—putting in hours of dedication to achieve her goal. She has played club volleyball for Mintonette since 2016.
“When I was younger, my main goal was to be on the top team and then, after I achieved that, my goal changed to being the most hardworking player on my team and strongest player in the gym,” Barron said.
A teammate of Barron’s, who plays on both her club and school volleyball team, is junior Maddie Cugino. Cugino committed to Gonzaga University to play volleyball. Cugino set huge goals for herself at a young age and is achieving them due to her love for volleyball.
“The goals I set for myself were to play division 1 volleyball at a competitive level and make the U.S.A. N.T.D.P. [National Team Development Program] training roster,” Cugino said. “Volleyball is my love and passion. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without volleyball, and it makes me express myself in a totally different way that I love.”
Cugino’s goals and hard work, since she started club volleyball at Mintonette in 2017, led her to the place in her career she is in today. She is supported everyday by her teammates and coaches. Another one of these teammates is junior Angelena Greene who is committed to play beach volleyball at Boise State.
“I picked Boise because I fell in love with the environment and people surrounding the campus!” Greene said.
Greene chose beach volleyball over indoor volleyball. She has worked hard in both beach and indoor volleyball throughout the years, playing beach volleyball for Elite, but decided to continue with beach volleyball in college.
“I picked beach volleyball because of the people in the community. On the beach every athlete has their own sense of self control and over the years I fell in love with that aspect of the game. Indoor and beach are two different games and the people involved with the beach community helped me realize that it was the best fit for me,” Greene said.
These three girls have worked hard to get to the place where they are in their careers. They have had the help of their coaches and other teammates along the way.
“One person that really inspires me to keep playing is Chelsea [Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at the high school]. The time she takes in coaching me really means a lot and she always shows how much she cares about making me better and going out of her way to make sure I am at the top of my game,” Cugino said.
Coach Chelsea Conklin is an assistant volleyball coach at the high school and was brought on to the staff this year. She played volleyball in college and knows what it takes to perform at the best level possible.
“I have helped prepare future student athletes with what the process looks like and what to potentially expect as they start their search,” Conklin said. “I train student athletes to perform at their best level and encourage them if they are interested in playing any level of college athletics.”
Multiple people put time and effort into helping these three athletes achieve their goals of playing Division 1 volleyball. The athletes have all achieved their goals and earned the college commitment.
