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There’s a special feeling that comes when someone feels like they’re flying. In volleyball, that feeling can come from learning to swing at the ball or from the perfect pass. For some, though, the feeling comes from simply playing the game.
Bradley Strange is finishing his senior year as captain of the boys volleyball team. This is the team’s second year as a sanctioned sport and Strange is the only senior on the team.
“What I find so special about volleyball,” Strange said, “is the game itself. The whole thing is just amazing to me. I could take any part of volleyball and practice it and learn how to perfect it, and I would have so much fun doing it.”
Strange began playing his freshman year, before boys volleyball was sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association and was only a club sport. He was originally cut because of the lack of students who tried out, but after recruiting more players, Strange brought in enough for a second team.
“Even if I didn’t make the team freshman year, I was going to play volleyball,” Strange said. “I was going to ask the coach if I could go to practice just to watch so I could get better for the next year.”
Four years later, Strange has taken the lead as one of two captains on the team. With that, he has also taken on the stress that comes with it.
“Being the only senior,” Strange said, “this is the only stressful situation I’ve ever been scared of. Especially with not taking the state championship last year, there’s a lot of pressure and expectation to go and take first this year and win.”
Last year, the NS boys volleyball team had a 21-10 record and were 6-0 in region, going undefeated until the state championship where they took the second place title.
“I’m really proud of what they’ve done,” Ison said. “Last year was a great season, but I think we have a lot more to look forward to this season just because of the kids who are on the team, their work ethic and just the people they are.”
The work ethic of the team comes from a shared sense of pride and expectation for their performance. The entire team has made it a goal to improve their skills through practice.
“Win state, that is the goal,” junior setter Sean Allred said. “‘Work, compete, WIN’ is the motto.”
Strange has led this standard by example and isn’t afraid to share his story of growth with the team.
“I’m blessed with athleticism that I got from my family genes,” Strange said, “but I’m nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary. I just put in the work and practice, practice, practice.”
This level of hard work and dedication has not only been noticed by the team but also by the leaders around him.
“I have just praise for Bradley,” Ison said, “he works his butt off. When he sets his mind to something, he does everything he possibly can to achieve it.”
Strange knows that the key to achieving their goals is keeping team morale up through tough challenges.
“Bradley does a good job of motivating people,” Allred said. “He is just always positive and he helps us stay up.”
It has become his personal goal to make a connection with everyone on the team and know how to help them grow as athletes.
“When someone looks like they’re unsure of themselves because they’re having a hard day or they don’t know if they’re that good,” Strange said, “I tell them that it’s just practice. And no matter where you start from, if you have a goal where you want to end up and you figure out how much you need to practice, you’ll end up there.”
Overall, Strange knows that to be the leader he needs to be as senior captain, the key is practicing enough to be able to face any challenge that comes to the team.
“As a team, we push ourselves during practice,” Strange said. “We do that so no matter what team we’re playing when we’re playing volleyball, it’s easy. Playing the sport, playing the games is the easy part and its practices that are the hard part.”
So far this season, NS boys volleyball is undefeated in region with a 5-0 record. Currently, Strange is ranked second for digs as the team’s libero and the team is first in region. The team is set to play Providence Hall on Mar. 25 at home to defend their ranking.
Lining up at her mark, she looked up at the bar, standing at 5 foot, 2 inches high. She ran up, took a leap of faith and without making any contact, made it over the bar, tying the school record for the high jump as a freshman.
Sophomore Savannah Christensen is now getting ready for her second year of track, and she is determined to make this year special.
“I wanna make it to state in the high jump, so I kind of just wanna get my own PR jump like 5 feet 3 inches or 5 feet 4 inches, just higher than 5 feet 2 inches,” Christensen said.
Besides making it to state for the high jump, having to jump 4 feet 11 inches, she also made state for a 4 x1 team, and the long jump – needing to jump 15 feet 7 inches, she jumped 16 feet 7.25 inches.
Not only does Christensen have high hopes of beating the school record, she is not afraid of the hard work needed to get there.
“I really like the sport and I just want to be the best I can be,” Christensen said. “It really bugs me when I’m not doing my best.”
Fellow teammate, sophomore Brielle Sorensen has seen Christensen in this light.
“Just sometimes she has bad days, and she’ll do bad in her race or she won’t do as good in something as much as she wants to, but then she’s always thinking of ways that she can improve,” Sorensen said.
Christensen’s mom Carlee Christensen has witnessed her ambition to succeed first hand.
“I think with being driven, she’s very focused. If she wants something she’ll work really hard to get it,” Carlee said.
Besides being an outstanding individual athlete, Christensen is known as a team player, both on and off the field.
“She wants to do her best, but she also wants everyone else to do their best. So she’s very supportive,” Carlee said.
Carlee has noticed Christensen’s willingness to pick up others around her, even if they’re on the opposing team. This kindness has shown through after an aggressive moment while playing basketball when an opponent was knocked down, Christensen helped the player up. This has created an example for her teammates and changed the atmosphere of the game.
“I like how she’s nice to you, when she’s playing sports with you, and when she’s not,” Sorensen said. “She’s also just really funny, randomly funny sometimes and then also she’s really nice.”
With being self driven, Christensen has been independent and self-taught throughout her track career. She kept asking her coaches to let her jump and when she finally did she state qualified for state,
“She’d been asking the coaches saying, “I want to do the high jump…” and they kept saying let’s wait, and somehow she talked them into signing up to do the high jump and she won that meet,”
Christensen has challenges she’s had to overcome, but she didn’t let them get in her way.
“I feel one of the biggest obstacles is I think for last year, this year we got new high jump equipment, but last year we really didn’t have a good set up, so I’m glad that we don’t have that anymore,” Christensen said.
During her previous basketball season Christensen faced a tough obstacle as she fractured her foot during a game.
“I think that drove her to make her more determined. She really hated just watching and not playing,” Carlee said.
Christensen didn’t let any of that stop her, she’s determined to push herself to her best, and in hopes this year to beat the school’s high jump record.
