Alyssa Millan, a senior at Plainfield East High School, is a talented and passionate athlete on the Girls Varsity Volleyball team. Here is what Millan said in regards to her experience as a volleyball player.

Q- How long have you been a member of the girls volleyball team? What inspired you to join volleyball?
A- Alyssa Millan: “Since freshman year, ever since I was little, I always watched [volleyball]. I played prior to high school, so ever since I was little, I always would watch the Olympics, and I thought it was really cool. I started playing and then I decided to continue playing after middle school and the start of high school.”

Q- How many days and hours a week do you practice volleyball with your team? How often do you compete?
A- Millan: “We practice 2 hours every day after school, and then we have about 1-2 games a week, and then sometimes occasionally tournaments on the weekends.”

Q- What does volleyball practice typically look like?
A- Millan: “So we start with warming up, we do dynamic stretching and then we do ball control with partners or with three people, and it’s just like passing, setting, and then we go to drills, and we do serving before that, so we’ll practice our serving and then we just do drills based on what we need to work on in a game to prepare for our competitions.”

Q- What do you do to practice volleyball outside of the season?
A- Millan: “Outside of the season like in the summer, I like to play beach volleyball on sand courts at parks.”

Q- Who are you most looking forward to competing against?
A- Millan: “Plainfield North, they’re the last game of the season.”

Q- Do you have any personal records you would like to beat?
A- Millan: “I wouldn’t say I have any personal records, but I was MVP of JV year, so I want to try to get one for Varsity.”

Q- What do you hope to accomplish at the end of the season?
A- Millan: “I hope we make it past our regional game. Last year we lost against our regional game, so I hope we can make it to semi-regionals or sectionals this year.”

Q- How have you benefited from being a part of the team?
A- Millan: “Really just like friendships. I kind of came in since volleyball season starts before school starts, and as a freshman, not knowing many people, that was a great way for me to meet new people. So I would say that, and it just bettered me as a player too.”
Q- What challenges have emerged? How have you overcome these challenges?
A- Millan: “I think mental toughness during a game, especially with a varsity game. There’s huge crowds, so it’s hard to, you know, get in the mindset of staying focused and not letting the crowd or the competitor’s crowd get to you while playing the game.”

Q- Do you have any routines/good luck charms before competing?
A- Millan: “I guess the only routine we do before competing is we do run outs. We run out to a song and kind of just warm up to a certain song while it’s playing.”

Q- What would you say is your favorite part about being on the volleyball team?
A- Millan: “I would say my favorite part is, again, just the friendships I’ve made out of it, and playing with some of your closest friends who you see everyday is super fun. Also, the bus rides to and from other schools are super fun.”

Q- Do you plan on continuing playing volleyball in the future?
A- Millan: “I do. I want to play in college.”

Q- Is there anything else you would like to add?
A- Millan: “I would say even if it’s not volleyball, just staying involved is the best thing.”