This volleyball invitational has been hosted at Huntley for thirty-eight years. Sixteen great schools from large, medium, to smaller sized schools are enrolled in this tournament.
Glen Wilson, the Athletic Director, and head varsity volleyball Coach Naymola start preparing for the Huntley volleyball invitational starting a year in advance. They also start sending out more information to other schools in the last few weeks before the tournament.
“We typically get ready three weeks in advance or so just to kind of start assigning our workers scheduling the pools. I mean, the coaches want that information as early as possible. so, you know, getting that out for all the schools and just, you know, kind of matching up the pool plays so that teams are playing conference schools,” Coach Naymola said.
Other than Coach Naymola and Mr. Wilson they receive a lot more help in order for this weekend’s tournament to work efficiently. From players to staff and assistant coaches the tournament is able to go off without a hitch.
“Absolutely. Our awesome administrative assistant helps get me prepared to work with coach [Naymola] or if it’s something with hospitality, that’s arranged by our assistant ad, making sure that our facility is open and ready to go. And this year with homecoming shift a little bit, who’s going to be where our awesome grounds and operation person Mr. Mino is one that maybe you’ve seen and set up the gym for volleyball on a Tuesday or Thursday,” Wilson said.
Although JV and varsity athletes are a part of the tournament they recognize the hard work that the sophomore and freshman teams put into running a tournament.
“So our sophomore and freshman teams are really helpful when setting up for tournaments and working with tournaments and they’re really a big part of keeping the tournaments going and we’re really grateful for them. Even though they’re not playing in the tournament, they put in so much work and they give up their time on the weekend to come ref games, work the tables, and also work concessions, they’re really so important to the way that our program functions even outside of tournaments, so they really help a lot,” varsity player Georgia said.
The tournament turned out to be an overall success, while also continuing the thirty-eighth year of this invitational. The Huntley volleyball team was able to come out in second against 16 great teams. It shows the hard work of players, coaches, and staff who put in their effort, time, and hard work for a tournament to run smoothly.
They were able to play great because of the excellent preparation and dedication of the staff and players.