Melyka West is a senior at Struthers High School. She has been playing volleyball for almost 6 years now. West is the type of person who tries her best and gives her all no matter what.
The athlete has known that she loved volleyball since the day she first stepped on the court in 7th grade. Throughout all the bad games, rough practices and the feeling of quitting, the one thing that kept her going was her younger self. West would always think back to how badly her younger self would want her to give it her all, no matter how down she felt, and she continues to do that every day.
West wants to carry on impressing and making her younger self proud as she grows.
“The girl I was back in the 7th grade who had the dream of playing in college would want me to give it my all each and every day. No matter how bad the practice was, or how badly I wanted to give up, I kept pushing for her. And I continue to do so each and every day,” says the volleyball player.
As West continued to play volleyball in high school, she learned many important lessons. For one, she learned the importance of WE>ME, meaning volleyball doesn’t just work with one person, you need a whole team to make it special. The senior has also learned how much of a mental game volleyball is. It taught her how she can’t do anything to stop the game from going on; all she can do is figure out what she did wrong and try her hardest to fix it.
West has experienced how much of a in your head sport volleyball is and what it takes to get through that.
“I’ve learned how much of a mental game it is. It’s really easy to get in your head, but it’s really hard to get out. Volleyball taught me how to get out of my head when I was struggling. No matter what mistakes you are making, how you are feeling or what the score is, the game is going to keep going until the last point, so it’s all about what you do to change it. Similar to life, the world is gonna keep spinning, whether you like it or not, so you might as well keep going and be the best version of yourself,” says the D.S.
When the volleyball player isn’t in a good place, the thing that keeps her going is her family, specifically her mom. With this she has realized that after talking about all the good moments, the bad ones aren’t so bad.
The thing that keeps West going in volleyball when she isn’t having the best time is her mom.
“My family, specifically my mom. When I would come home after a bad practice or game she would sit down with me and remind me of why I was playing. We would sit there and talk about the good moments that overcame all of the bad, and how the younger version of myself would be so proud. The idea of making my younger self proud was something that stuck with me and pushed me throughout high school,” says the senior.
As West is a senior now, some advice she gives to upcoming freshmen is to enjoy every second of it. She would like them to not get caught up in their bad mistakes, rough games and tough practices, but to focus on what they can do better next time and how to make their high school volleyball experience better.
