With the new year comes new opportunities, and the 2018 Boys’ Volleyball Team is no exception.

Last year the Boys’ Volleyball season was cut short due to a major shortage of players and a general lack of interest in the sport. Players also cited problems with the previous coach, Keith Hart. However, this year there is a new coach and new players. The 2018 team said the season is looking quite positive.

New Boys Volleyball Head Coach Jonathan Good, who usually coaches Junior Varsity Girls’ Volleyball, said he wants the team to be competitive and also build up their experience. Jace Rath, a freshman, expressed his gratitude for Coach Good.

“First of all, I want to thank Coach Good,” Rath said. “Because the other coach happened to leave, which was a bummer, and the whole team quit, which was also a bummer, but Coach Good stepped up and he is definitely a very good coach.”

Noah Skowronski, a junior, agreed with fellow teammate Rath.

“I love Coach Good,” Skowronski began.  “Coach Good is awesome. Keith was not awesome. Well, he wasn’t like not not awesome, but he was kinda like ‘Oh, let’s focus and work on stuff all the time’ and Coach Good is like ‘Let’s play triples for five minutes!’ and then we’d play for like twenty minutes. So that’s fun.”

Coach Good explained how he plans to run this season.

“This season will be different than any other I have coached as there was no team last year, so everyone will be playing on Varsity, and we are rebuilding the program,” Good said. “So, since we are rebuilding, we do need to win games so that boys will want to join the team in the future, but we also need to give everyone playing time to build up their experience.”

Coach Good then went on to give details about this season’s team. So far, the Bear River Varsity Volleyball team won Friday’s home non-conference match against Encina Prep from Sacramento by a score of 3-0. Coach Good said he expects to gain more players.

“As of now there will be only a Varsity team consisting of all grade levels,” he explained. “Right now we have about 10 players. Hopefully (we) will end up with 11 or 12 after Basketball and Soccer are over.”

Skowronski shed some light on the 4-1 season so far. Bear River lost 3-1 to the El Dorado Cougars last Thursday. Prior to the loss, Skowronski voiced his thoughts about the game.

“The season is going pretty well,” he said. “… We haven’t played anyone who’s particularly good. When we play El Dorado, we might lose, because coach keeps hyping them up but, then again, he really hyped up Capital Christian and they kinda just fell over.”

Although the Bear River Varsity Volleyball Team lost their most recent game, Rath is optimistic about the progression of the season.

“Our season is going really good so far,” Rath said. “On the court, I’d say we are a very good team for hitting and blocking. I’m not so sure about passing yet but we are definitely moving along. We have a lot of good passers that are definitely going to be used and valued throughout the season.”

Senior Sam Nichols shared the same views as Rath.

“I’m excited for the year,” Nichols said. “I think that there’s like a lot of potential in the team and that we’re going to get better throughout the year. There’s a lot of hope in our future.”

One important foundation to any team is how well the players get along. Luckily for our Bruins, all is going well according to Skowronski.

“We get along pretty well,” Skowronski admitted. “We don’t really have any bickering, of any sort.”

Rath agreed and added to Skowronski’s statement.

“We have a very strong family-like bond going on within the team because volleyball is a very team-based sport, and it’s very mental,” Rath said. “It always helps to know your players, and to know them well.”