Wiscasset girl digs (for) volleyball
Aleeya Jones,10, of Wiscasset, plays for the Maine Juniors Volleyball Club and the Wiscasset Christian Academy Minutemen; she's known as the mini-Minuteman, her mother and school team coach Julie Jones said. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Aleeya Jones,10, of Wiscasset, plays for the Maine Juniors Volleyball Club and the Wiscasset Christian Academy Minutemen; she's known as the mini-Minuteman, her mother and school team coach Julie Jones said. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Does a four-and-a-half-foot tall 10-year-old sound like high school varsity volleyball material? It does if her name is Aleeya Jones.
Incredibly, this past season was Jones' third year on the team at Wiscasset Christian Academy.
The daughter of Chad and Julie Jones of Wiscasset has been playing volleyball since she could hold a ball, according to her mother. Any time and anywhere the fifth grader can, she has one with her, even in the house.
“We've had a lot of broken lamps,” Julie Jones said.
The young player's constant practicing may serve her well as she seeks to work her way up the levels of competition in her sport. She has set her sights high.
How far does she hope to get? “To the Olympics,” she said at the school gym April 4.
The family is beginning to explore a program that could position Jones to pursue her dream. USA Volleyball, the sport's national governing body, uses its “High Performance Program” tryouts to evaluate junior athletes' skills and potential, according the USAV website, at www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball. Qualifying athletes enter a pipeline for training and competition, including international competition.
Jones tried out for the program in March, in Holyoke, Mass. Results are due in May. Making the cut would make her eligible for a week-long training camp in Oklahoma.
Whatever news the results bring, last month's experience helped build Jones' confidence.
“I was kind of nervous, but I just went out there and kind of faced it,” she said. “It wasn't so bad. It was fun.”
Other players trying out were much taller than she was, but she impressed everyone, said her mother, who coaches Jones' school team.
“She's fearless. And she just loves digging for the ball.”
As a setter for the school team, Aleeya passes the ball to a hitter who gets it over the net. She's a hitter for the Maine Juniors Volleyball Club.
Every Olympian started as a kid with a dream, her mother said. Aleeya enjoys the sport, is good at it, and gets added motivation from it to keep her grades up, her mother said. “School comes first.”
Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.
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