Pickens is transitioning from middle school to HS and has played club volleyball for a few years now, always as L/DS. Her HS is the defending state champs, and sends multiple kids to D1 every year according to our kids.
Yesterday were tryouts with 90+ kids trying out. Pickens was one of six incoming freshman invited to tryout with the varsity team (at 5 am ...). She received an offer to JVA and is at her first HS practice right now.
Step 1/2 for the week complete. Club tryouts begin tomorrow evening and run through the weekend. We are confidant in her top choice and hope the weekend wraps up early, but are unfortunately prepared for other scenarios.
As a related aside, the micro-geography impact on sports around here is amazing. We live in a small radius where volleyball is THE it sport for girls and everything is ultracompetitive. If we moved 1-5 miles in any direction, that changes and significantly fewer kids play that sport. Very odd phenomenon to experience imo.
on July 30, 2026, 10:07:12