Captains of the Week: Girls’ Volleyball

By BEEKE FOCK, JETT GOETZ, ANNA KIM, and LIANNA YANG

As the first ones to hype up the team and bring everyone together durings sets, seniors and girls’ volleyball captains Coco Barton, Sofia Morais, and Jackie Wood lead by example with their competitive fire and team spirit.

Barton emphasized how well the three captains work together on the court. “I think that we balance each other out really well. Jackie brings a lot of team spirit, a lot of that energy, Sofia gets along with everyone and she’s really good at bringing people together. I’m super energized just about the sport,” Barton said.

Morais agreed. “We work less like captains, and more like friends. We love planning team dinners or outings with the team. All three of us love the team very much.”

Senior Rupert Ramsey, a girls’ varsity volleyball manager, spoke to Morais’s energy. “She’s just so loving and supportive of the girls. She brings the energy on and off the court. She’s just a great leader, always positive around the team, leads by example, and tries to include everyone”

Wood outlined a few of her personal goals as captain this year. “One of my priorities is to be the best role model I can. That comes up a lot in the attitude I have. If I have a bad day at school, I try my very best to not bring that onto the court. I’m not gonna let my attitude bring down everyone cause when one person has a bad attitude, it does just break the whole team apart.”

Morais elaborated about the role that the coaches play in team building. “At the beginning of practice, Coach Bruce Shang always tells us to get with a new partner and say things you’re grateful for, or what your favorite song is. He’s really put emphasis on what being a team means and making sure it’s very united.”

All three captains shared the same 2022 season goal: to be NEPSAC Class A league champions. “In my prep year we won the whole thing, and it would be a super full circle moment if we could rally and win it again this year. The way that things have been going so far, I think that we have a really good shot at it,” Barton said.

“We want to keep energy consistently high throughout the game no matter what the score is.I think that’s one thing I try to focus on during games. Just like making sure everyone is hyping everyone up. Keeping everyone engaged and excited,” Morais continued.

Wood agreed, adding, “Honestly I’m super impressed. Both skill wise and relationship wise between the players has exceeded my expectations.”

The team has great chemistry, and this is also a high priority for the captains. “We work well as a team and people are coming in excited to stay longer, get the extra reps in, and I think it’s gonna be a good season,” Barton said. “[Our close game against Choate on October 1st] was a little rough, but I think that was partly because people were so excited they came like two hours early and played for hours before the game.”

Morais continued, “A divide between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen can be natural but everyone’s doing a good job of talking to someone new every day and making everyone feel welcome. Everyone just really loves playing volleyball and loves to be at practice.”

“I am totally in love with the captains­— Sofia, Jackie, and Coco - they are all just the most amazing people that I’ve ever met,” upper Nat Godfrey said. “They inspire me so much and they inspire the whole team. They create such a positive, safe, and welcoming environment and it’s incredible.”

Upper Sophia Dabney had a similar experience, explaining, “We have a pretty great team dynamic and it starts with the captains, being super supportive of everybody. The team knows that they’re always there for us and they’re always around to talk.”

Postgraduate Willa Hock added, “Coming in as a PG, my captains were very welcoming and created an amazing team atmosphere. I really appreciate everything they’ve done to foster this amazing team spirit.”

“Every single one of the captains has come up to me individually and just been like ‘If you need anything, let me know. If you wanna talk about anything, let me know. If there’s anything I can do, like, let me know.’ They genuinely care about me as a person and as a player, which means so much. For me they’re my captains, but they’re also my friends,” Godfrey concluded.