To most, the name Wilson means little. To someone who has seen the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks, it’s the name of his precious volleyball. But, to the girls who play on the intramural volleyball team “Wilson,” it has a different meaning. Team Wilson is the intramural volleyball team we formed as freshman. We have stuck together throughout our entire college career in intramural sports.
By a crazy coincidence our captain brought us all together. Many of us had been playing the game since we were 8 or 9 years old but had decided against playing in college. We lived on different halls and were from different majors, but we were united in our love for the game. Our captain (who sadly graduated early) somehow talked our way into being in the competitive league of IM sports. We showed up, most of us not knowing one another, but it didn’t take us long to connect. The setters quickly found their old habits asking us hitters where we “wanted the set”. All of us found our way into our old positions, we resumed rotation and it was almost magical how well we clicked.
In our freshman year we became a force to be reckoned with. It wasn’t long before we came out of the first season with an IM championship under our belt. Wilson returned sophomore year and pulled out another championship victory. It never took us long to get into our old routine; We know who our best passers are, and we can pick up on when someone is struggling in serve receive.
Our junior year was a heart-wrenching one. We came into the season hoping for a “threepeat”. We were undefeated the entire season, but we lost in the championship in three games. It was a tough setback. But, we are back for another season.
Our captain Jess said “playing volleyball with Team Wilson has been a lot of fun and a great stress-reliever. It has enabled me to keep bonds with girls I might have otherwise lost contact with. It was also awesome to play in a more relaxed setting while retaining competitiveness, because this helped with the transition out of high school volleyball.
The opportunity to play competitively was something I hadn’t been expecting coming to college. I never expected to find another volleyball team to plug into but I found it. I’ll always make time if I know I have an IM volleyball game. I’ll plan my studying around it just so I can be free for an hour.
We are just hoping to be able to end our senior year with one final victory, four out of four years in the championship, three years the champions. Here’s to hoping Wilson wins it again.
Author of this post – Ali Kjergaard
Hi there! My name is Ali and I’m a senior political science major here at Grove City College. I’m from Denver, Colorado but love getting to journey across the country for school. In the midst of studying here I also enjoy playing IM sports, working as a student ambassador for the college, writing for the college newspaper and drinking coffee at the local coffee shop in town.