The dedication that freshman Kai Park has for volleyball began in the summer when school was out and the heat was blazing. He was hanging with his friends when he was encouraged to try and play.
“I started liking it so I played my eighth grade year at Cario Middle School,” Park said.
Park said that his coach, Bruno Kretzschmar is his biggest supporter, which he finds to be an important aspect for athletes.
“No matter [what] mistake I make, he’s always there telling me what to do to tell me how to fix what I did,” Park said. The Wando boys volleyball season came to an end on Oct. 10 against Cane Bay High School and Park said he has made a lot of progress by the end of the season.
“I definitely improved a lot. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t really know how to play that well and now I feel like I can actually play for the team,” Park said.
As an athlete, motivation keeps Park going throughout the season and gets him up in the morning. It’s what gets him hyped up for games and gives them the ability to play his greatest.
“I push myself along with my teammates just to make ourselves better and the best that we can be,” Park said.
In the offseason, Park said he plays as much volleyball as possible outside of school, but he plays another sport that takes up his time.
“I mostly try to get as much practice in as possible… I would play club volleyball, but my soccer season starts and kind of interferes with it,” Park said.
For Park, playing on his team has made him realize the importance of teamwork and what it can bring to the game of volleyball.
“I learned that you can’t just play by yourself in volleyball, if you do, you’re going to let your team down and your team will lose,” Park said.
Out of all of the advice that Park had received from his coach this year, one piece really stood out to him.
“The best piece of advice I received from my coach is definitely don’t focus on your mistakes too much because you will just bring yourself down,” Park said.
