CLARKE GODBOLD REPRESENTS U.S. IN THE JUNIOR OLYMPICS

Junior Clarke Godbold traveled to Costa Rica from June 5 to 10, representing the U.S. in the Junior Olympics for volleyball.

Since his father enjoyed playing volleyball in high school, Godbold decided to follow in his footsteps in trying out the sport. During the eighth grade, Godbold joined the volleyball team at Miraleste Intermediate School and has continued to play at Peninsula as well as on an outside club team since his freshman year.

To be selected as a member of the team competing at the Junior Olympics, Godbold had to try out independently in Anaheim. The tryout ran similarly to a typical volleyball game. Despite his doubt that he would not qualify for the team, he was assigned as the outside hitter.

Through his experience on the Junior Olympics team, Godbold believes he has grown as a player and even more as a person. He feels that competing in the Junior Olympics with people from all over that the world has impacted him greatly.

“The international way of volleyball is much different than the American way,” Godbold said. “It is much faster and the guys are a lot bigger, so we had to utilize our skill [instead of size] when playing against them.”

Teammate Scott Solan formed a valuable friendship and created many memories with Godbold. Solan provides an outside perspective on the athlete.

“It has been comforting to be on the court with Clarke,” Solan said. “He is a guy that really knows how to terminate the ball when we need it most, so having an asset like that on our side of the net is huge.”

Solan explains that the team faced many physical and mental obstacles as a group. For instance, the members were required to go on a strict diet and to endure a rigorous schedule of conditioning, weight training and drills. Furthermore, the team had to adjust to different competition surroundings, including the social atmosphere and time zone.

According to team captain Joe Karlous, Godbold was a strong player and had a major influence on the performance of the team. Karlous feels that Godbold is a determined player who gives his all every play without fail.

“Every player believed that he could perform at the highest level,” Karlous said. “[Godbold] was nervous at first, but when we played [other teams at the competition], he was unreal.”

Godbold is planning to continue playing volleyball in college and hopefully make it to the Olympics in the future.

“I just had a lot of fun there and [I learned] to cherish every moment on the court,” Godbold said.