Alberton senior reflects on adapting to sports

ALBERTON – As the end of the school year approaches, Alberton senior Haley Marvin looks back on her experience and what she had to learn to succeed on the varsity sports teams.

Marvin was on the Alberton Lady Panthers basketball and volleyball teams for approximately seven years. Like many student athletes, she began playing when she was in fifth grade.

Marvin said her preference was for volleyball this year. She felt it was easier and less stressful than basketball. She admitted her feelings could come because this is her senior year.

“Basketball is at the end of the year and since I’m a senior everything is just dragging on, is most of it,” Marvin said.

She added she really enjoys both sports and likes playing them. It has not been easy playing both. Because the games use very different skill sets, Marvin had a hard time relearning how to move between seasons.

“You go into volleyball and it’s a lot different than basketball,” Marvin said. “Just trying to figure out how to use your body to do well in that sport.”

According to Marvin, she got used to the change in thinking over the years of playing. It took awhile, when she was in fifth grade, to get into the more physical aspects of basketball. Eventually she was able to get used to it and accepted the rough housing as part of the game.

“It’s different when you jump into practice and you start pushing each other and stuff,” Marvin said. “You never know when someone is going to hit you or when you’re going to fall.”

Because the teams are able to push each other around more, she feels basketball is a more intense game than volleyball.

“In basketball, you’re like right up in each other’s faces the whole time,” Marvin said. “In volleyball you’re across the net, so you can’t really get too angry at the other people.”

When she was in grade school, Marvin said the team was reluctant to be too rough in the game. She said the competition got more intense with the transition to the high school team.

“You know that the other person is trying to do the same thing to you, so you’re like ‘OK, we’re out for blood now,’” Marvin said. “As soon as practice is over, you’re still friends, like it’s fine.”

Marvin also learned the importance of good sportsmanship through basketball. Throughout the seasons, the team was encouraged to help opponents up even after knocking them down.

Marvin said she learned plenty about sportsmanship in volleyball as well. In her experience, the sport is more of an emotional game where players actively root their team on from the bench. For her, the pace of the sport caused more emotions.

While Marvin has enjoyed playing both sports, she does not plan to play either in college. She said sports were a high school thing and she was done with serious competitions for now.