After picking up volleyball in her backyard with her sister at age nine, Andover Girls Volleyball (PAVB) Co-Captain Violet Enes ’21 developed her passion for the sport through local school and club programs. Enes joined the team as a Junior and has played libero throughout her Andover career. According to teammate Michelle Brunetti ’23, Enes helped her build confidence on the court.
Brunetti said, “Violet has definitely helped me break out of my shell as a player… Since we played the same position, she coached me a lot. She really helped me become a more confident player.”
According to Enes, she aims to encourage every player to make a commitment to the team and to the Andover Girls Volleyball program, all while fostering a positive experience for the players.
Enes said, “We call ourselves the PAVB fam, so we’re like a family. We make sure to keep practices fun, but making sure that everyone is still really devoted and determined whether we have games or we don’t have games. My biggest thing with volleyball is learning how to have fun and work well with others. I know that from my past experiences with volleyball, it can be a really toxic environment, especially for girls volleyball, so just making sure that everyone has each other’s backs and building that sense of community, that sense of togetherness [is valuable],” said Enes.”
According to Brunetti and Warren Clark ’21, Enes works to maintain a close-knit team through her energy and commitment to genuine connections.
Brunetti said, “The main value Violet brings to the team is [that] she makes the team feel more like a family… She’s always encouraging us and she encourages people outside of volleyball. She’s really a genuine person and helps form those connections between people on the team… [She is] always hyping people up during warm-ups and her energy is really contagious and it brings the whole team up.”
“I think Violet emphasizes a lot on it being more like a family while still being a team. She makes everyone on the team a lot closer and she also helped me last year by welcoming me into that family a lot so that was really nice,” added Clark.
According to Enes, former Co-Captain Chioma Ugwonali ’20 modeled how to learn from mistakes and act with humility. Enes aims to relay this message to her team this season.
Enes said, “[Ugwonali] was just an amazing volleyball player and an amazing person outside of volleyball as well. She led by example on and off the court. The biggest thing I probably learned from her was humility. Just accepting things I did wrong and instead of being defensive, just to learn from it. That carries off the court and in everyday life and just being in the classroom and social interaction, just accepting what you did wrong and moving past it, learning from it.”
While the usual team traditions have been complicated by the new class schedule and social distancing requirements, the team is still staying connected via group chat and smaller practices on campus, according to Enes.
“We are still doing outside dinners together. We normally do team dinner every night during a normal season, but people have night classes so it gets a little complicated. But we have a group chat; we are going to the gym and doing lifting sessions, and just walking and talking, trying to keep in touch even when we don’t have volleyball, or going to the practices for the freshmen so that we can get to know them and spend some more time together with the coaches and all the new people,” said Enes.
