Four years. The span of time it generally takes someone to earn a collegiate degree, or maybe also the amount of time in one’s term running the country.
It can also be the time it takes some to pick up a sport and become one of the best players in the area.
While Athens’ Sofia Smith is still relatively young in terms of years played, having started in just the eighth grade, the star junior is already eclipsing career milestones as the Bulldogs are in the midst of their best season in recent memory.
Early into the second set of Athens’ sweep over Wellston back on Sept. 26, Smith unknowingly made history. With balloons and other celebratory items hidden away in the corner of the gym out of her view, the Bulldogs’ setter recorded her 1000th career assist. Completely unaware, Smith was instantly surrounded by teammates and coaches in a hectic celebration that meant so much for the rising star.
“At first, I was kind of confused to be completely honest… I was not expecting it at all,” Smith said in an interview with the Messenger. “I don’t even know the words, it’s genuinely a happy moment in my life. I’ve never had that many people supporting me through it.”
While coaches and teammates got the first opportunity to congratulate the beloved member of the Bulldogs’ program, they weren’t the only people to make it possible.
“I went over to my mom to give her the ball and she had tears in her eyes,” Smith noted with a laugh. “It was a good moment.”
One of the first people to hug her on the court and arguably one of her biggest supporters is Athens’ head coach Hailee Hart. Speaking after the milestone game, she gushed over the importance and character of Smith, clearly emotionally moved by the moment.
The praise and support of her coaching staff isn’t forgotten in any sense.
“It’s so nice, Hailee [Hart] is honestly the best coach I’ve ever had. It’s a game changer honestly,” She said about her coach and how much she values the program she’s in. “Having a coach that is so supportive, is there for you and can talk about volleyball and stuff outside of volleyball. It just makes it feel like such a good support system.”
While that system and her talent has allowed her to reach such heights with still over a year left of varsity ball to play, it’s a story and progression that started not too far in the recent past.
As mentioned earlier, Smith is still relatively new to the game. It wasn’t even necessarily a want or passion to go out and play. She stated that her mother was a volleyball player in high school and was an influence on finally going out to play. Even still when looking at that year specifically, it was another late start for the now star setter.
“One day, I missed the first day of eighth grade tryouts. It was the second day and she was like ‘There’s volleyball tryouts, you should go try out.’” Smith said, reminiscing on the start of her playing days. “I just went, tried out and made the team.”
Now that she started playing, it was time to figure out her spot on the court. Particularly in volleyball, positional placement means so much to the flow and connectivity to a team.
If there’s no defense, you’ll give up a lot of points. If there’s nobody at the net, you won’t score a lot of points. If you don’t have someone able to set up those passes, there’s just really nothing you can do as a team.
Playing the part of the unsung hero and following along with the theme of spontaneity when getting into the sport, Smith just happened to randomly fall in perfect place on the court.
“When I first started volleyball, I wasn’t a setter. We didn’t have a setter for JV and it was either my freshman or sophomore year they just asked me to start setting,” She noted. “I wasn’t really looking for that role then Riley [McKibben], who’s our coach now, came in and worked with me a little bit.”
Fast forward a couple of years, Smith and the rest of the Bulldogs have sights on championships and long postseason runs. While the currently 16-3 Athens team is loaded with talent all around the roster, it’s not necessarily the play on the court that has allowed the Bulldogs to succeed so much.
“It’s so great. Honestly, I got so lucky… I think the reason why we’re so good this year is because there’s no tension, everybody likes each other and it helps in a team sport like this.”
Smith noted various team-bonding events like team dinners, bus rides, special practices and even meditation as a group as to why this collection of student-athletes are so close and interwoven.
The team bonding and other various activities will surely be some of the most fondly remembered moments as the years fly by, but it’s not necessarily the only good thing about this team. Still undefeated in conference play, Athens has only dropped a set in five of the 19 games played this season. When on the court, the team has usually been utterly dominant.
“Honestly, I haven’t been that nervous this year because of the other people on the team just being there for me,” Smith noted when asked about the pressures of being a significant contributor as a young player, instantly throwing praise to the other athletes around her.
What’s unique and special about this Athens team is that a lot of those significant contributors are still underclassmen with at least still one more year of varsity ball to play. While the program will eventually lose key pieces like Rylee Toadvine, Caitlyn Hayes, Alexa Reed, Maeve Schwarzel and Kate Legar, a bulk of Athens production still comes from underclassmen.
While, the loss of the seniors will clearly hurt, Smith still understands the situation for the future and the further steps the program can take.
“It’s super exciting. Of course I’m really sad this there because there’s so many seniors and I love all of them,” Smith said. “But it is nice knowing that we have a lot of good underclassmen.”
Smith is one of those key underclassmen set to take charge next year, but there’s still some time to think about that later. Athens is currently in the midst of a historic season and should have no fear once the postseason comes around.
She’s already hit one career milestone, we still have some time to see what the star setter can accomplish in the future as she continues to grow from relatively new, to an established veteran in the sport.
Local News
Comments / 0