Volleyball
Open Letter from Sophomore Amanda Brand

As my family and I went to a board meeting determining my school’s future, I was hoping none of my sports were cut.  I went directly from my softball game to that meeting, to hear that half of Cambridge Central Schools sports were cut. I was highly disappointed, angry and sad that Volley Ball, one of my favorite sports was one of the cut sports.  My Mom assured me that we would still have a chance to get all of the sports back, it would just take a little bit of reasoning with Senator Betty Little and other politicians.  We needed them to give us back some funding, one time money they were going to give out to different causes.  Luckily and because of a lot of hard work from Mr. Canini and parents like my Mom, Betty Little heard our voices, and came through. 

It felt like it took years to hear if my sport, Volley Ball, among others, were going to be reinstated. I was at my travel league summer softball practice one night, the night of the board meeting, when Mr. Canini announced all sport were reinstated! I was so anxious to hear my mom say those words!

Volley ball started August 13^th, and I made the varsity team! I am a sophomore this year, and can not wait to get on the court to represent CCS!  Volley ball has been so fun, even though our assistant coach, Mr. Sutliff is on his honeymoon right now! We started with a lot of drills, but now we are focusing on positions on the court now.  We have a scrimmage on Thursday, August 30^th, at Mechanicville.  I play as a middle hitter, so I am one of the tallest girls, and I have to do a lot of blocking, and as you guessed it, I get to hit the ball or spike it from the middle of the net!  I also play back row, which is where mostly you pass, or “bump” the ball to the setter. I am very excited for our season this year with Head Coach, Coach Heim.  He and Mr. Sutliff are great coaches who teach us a lot.

Mr. Heim and Mr. Sutliff are dedicated to our sport, volleyball, and I am grateful for another year to learn from them. I know the future of volleyball is still in the hands of the politicians and our community. We have only been given this one year, as the money given to us from Senator Little was only a one time thing.  I am hoping everyone will understand how important sports like volley ball are for kids to learn and grow from, and next year, I will be writing you again, telling you about practice with Coach Heim and Coach Sutliff! We will have to work hard on fundraising this year to make that happen, but I am confident the CCS Community will make sure that we, the current students of CCS, have the same opportunities as you did, our Alumni! GO INDIANS!!

-- Sophmore Amanda Brand