Whenever children discover their passion for athletics, it’s often expected that they will pursue it through their youth and adolescence, eventually participating in some competitive capacity.
They start off in elementary school, typically, developing the fundamentals and gaining a basic understanding of the game. This is the path most kids follow, and if they’re lucky, it leads to over a decade of commitment, flooded with moments to reminisce about long after the final whistle blows.
Not everyone is as fortunate, however. Some kids — for reasons beyond their control — simply never get the opportunity to participate in their favorite sport. Until a year ago, Molalla senior Benjamin Suarez faced this predicament.
He had gone his whole life without being properly able to represent Molalla in the sport that mattered most to him. Now, with the boys volleyball team in its first season as an OSAA emerging activity, and second season overall in existence, Suarez finally gets a taste of the experience he’d been missing for years.
“It's always been a family tradition during the summer. During weekends if we’re planning an event — like a family gathering — there's always a volleyball net there,” Suarez said. “I've been playing since I was a little kid. All the adults gather and you see them playing, you're like, ‘Oh, that's awesome. I would love to play.’”
“I used to do track and field but as a senior sport I decided to stick with volleyball,” Suarez continued. “I'm very passionate about sport. I love it. The season is going great. We've only lost one game and we don't intend on losing to that team again.”
Suarez and Molalla are off to a 4-1 start to the season, only losing to Silverton thus far. As an OSAA ‘emerging activity,’ boys’ volleyball, “(has) the potential to meet the required number of schools participating to be considered for official sanctioning by the OSAA,” this year.
“I was telling the organizer the other day that I've been coaching since I was 21 on some level, and this is probably the most energized I've felt,” Molalla head coach Lauree Nelzen said. “This is a passion of mine. I love this … It’s fun to see the parents get excited and the kids get excited. To be able to bring that sport in a different way to Molalla is great.”
Suarez is Molalla's libero and one of three captains, along with seniors Lucas Berreth and Jayden Nguyen. Nelzen said all three were “a core part of what we do,” and expects them to help establish a certain standard. Berreth and Nguyen joined the team last year and split their time with tennis.
“It’s really fun to finally get to see people that come from like PE classes thinking that this is a really fun sport, but not really being able to go anywhere,” Berreth said. “It's heartwarming almost to see high school finally get it, and the people that aren't necessarily capable of club finally being able to have some competition and play competitively.”
“The girls volleyball team really kind of inspired some of us to play, because of the intensity and the love that they had, it just looked so much fun,” Nguyen added. “When we heard that volleyball was getting started, we started going to open gyms and that was the start of it.”
Molalla remains relatively inexperienced despite its respectable record. Although Suarez and many of his teammates retain a bit of familiarity on the court, the lack of developmental years is still apparent, and often in ways Nelzen wouldn’t always expect.
“We're literally starting from scratch, from the ground up,” Nelzen said. “After about our second game, they're like, ‘What does side out mean? You say that in a timeout, what does that mean?’ It’s like yeah, OK, I have to explain that.”
“I said (to the) guys (that they have) to remember you're trying to learn a brand-new sport at the varsity level,” Nelzen continued. “Not at like fifth grade or sixth grade.”
Building a program is hard enough — having to consider and accommodate for other sports can make things even more difficult. Many of the athletes split volleyball with a spring sport; while Nelzen acknowledges and respects their sanctioned status, it often means the team doesn’t practice every day.
However, the team’s energy and receptiveness help overcome that barrier. They may not be able to practice daily, but when they do, they’re engaged and ready to work. As their knowledge of the game grows, so does the brotherhood.
There are no lasting disagreements or gripes on the court. Instead, there’s a chorus of cheers and endless supply of high-fives. Everyone simply wants one another to do well.
And that all starts with Suarez.
“He's one of those rare kids that just gets what it means to be a team and what it means to be a teammate,” Nelzen said. “Some of these boys are learning (that) it really is a true team sport — you literally cannot do it by yourself — and (Suarez) gets that.”
“I'm glad that he focused on just volleyball this year,” Berreth added. “Because I don't want to imagine a game where we don't have (Suarez).”
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