By Paul Doherty Sports Editor Morgan Hill – While most high
school student-athletes are just getting back into the swing of
their respective fall sports, one Morgan Hill youth has been
training hard, competing, and going for the gold all summer.
By Paul Doherty
Sports Editor
Morgan Hill – While most high school student-athletes are just getting back into the swing of their respective fall sports, one Morgan Hill youth has been training hard, competing, and going for the gold all summer.
Valley Christian sophomore Rachel Alvey plays volleyball, at the highest levels, almost all year round.
Alvey was the only freshman on the high school’s varsity team last year, wowing opposing coaches and providing confidence to her older teammates, all at the age of 14.
At 8 years of age, she started playing volleyball with her older sister, Melissa, in the United States Youth Volleyball League, an outdoor recreational program that was started in Morgan Hill, but is now based in Torrence, Calif. The United States Youth Volleyball League’s Mission is to provide every child between the ages of 7 and 14 a chance to learn and play volleyball in a fun, safe, supervised environment.
One of the main tenents of the program is to encourage children to do their best with their abilities.
With an emphasis on positive reinforcement, the program seeks to build confidence and self esteem in each child.
Alvey had been around volleyball her whole life as her dad, Randy, played volleyball recreationally in college, and encouraged both his daughters to play because of his enjoyment of the sport.
Alvey joined the Golden Oak Volleyball Club in Morgan Hill (now Adrenaline Volleyball Club) and played there for two seasons.
When she was 10, she joined Club Yahoo! In San Jose and spent three seasons there, discovering her knack at the setter position.
At 13, Alvey played for Vision Volleyball Club in Los Gatos, and last season, at 14, she played for the City Beach Black 15-1’s team.
The City Beach club team is comprised of three 15-and-under teams, the 1’s, 2’s and 3’s, the 1’s being the highest level of competition.
Assistant City Beach Black 15-1’s coach Dave Winn is also the head coach at Palo Alto High School, and he remembers watching Alvey play against his team last season.
“Athletically she is amazing,” Winn said. “I thought she was at least a junior when we played last year, but when I found out she was only a freshman, I had to get her on our (club) team.”
At 5’7″ tall, she can can reach up to about 9’4″ and she has the ability to make her teammates feel really comfortable on the court, Winn said.
“What makes her happy is setting up a teammate for a kill,” he said. “She doesn’t talk or yell a lot, but she can take just about any ball and turn it into a good set for a teammate.”
Travelling to Minneapolis, Minn. with her City Beach team to compete in the National Division for the USA Junior Olympics July 1-4, Alvey helped City Beach earn a bronze medal, and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
City Beach had to go through stiff competition in four local and regional tournaments to get into the Junior Olympics, let alone earn a medal.
After returning to Morgan Hill from Minneapolis with the bronze, Alvey was quickly back on the court with another team, the USA Volleyball Girls Select A1 Team (15 and under).
To make the USA Select team, which Alvey has for the last two years, she had to try out at either a particular high-performance tryout or at a national qualifier.
This year, approximately 1,400 girls tried out for the select teams, and only 50 of those girls were chosen and then broken up into five teams of 10: Red, White, Blue, Gold and Silver.
Alvey was chosen to be on the White team, which is second to the top of the group.
Simply making this team means that Alvey is considered one of the top 10 setters in the country for her age.
She flew to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. July 15 and trained with the USA Select Team for about four days before being assigned to the White team and then training with them for another three days.
The USA Select Championships ran July 22-26, and Alvey’s team took second place.
“Rachel won’t say anything about her being talented,” her mom Theresa Alvey said. “She really tries to stay humble about all of this.”
Humble as she might be, Alvey is always on the go and always making an impact on the court.
“There really isn’t much of an off-season for me as I pretty much play all year round with a couple weeks here and there off to rest,” Rachel Alvey said. “The last two years I made the USA Select Team, so I only had about 10 days rest and then I flew out to Ft. Lauderdale to train and compete through end of July. Next summer I plan on doing college volleyball camps to explore my options, and I also plan to fit in some family time away from volleyball before school starts.”
Since Junior Olympics, Alvey’s received quite a few college student-athlete forms, and it’s been fun filling them out as they give her an idea of what’s out there, she said.
“Since colleges can’t talk to me till my junior year, I have lots of time to think about it,” Alvey Said.
