By Rick Assad
In a three-way battle between Dolores Huerta Middle School, John Muir Middle School and Burbank Luther Middle School, Huerta prevailed in the Tri-School Volleyball Tournament held early last month.
This second-year tourney was held at Luther and is for eighth grade boys’ and girls’ from those three schools and it’s an important step in their development as players and it builds confidence.
All three schools had a team at Luther Middle for a total of six teams and each played one another in the morning and after lunch there was a playoff in the afternoon.
Jerry De Laurie was a former Burbank High boys’ basketball coach and is now a physical education teacher and a former athletic director and hoops coach at Huerta.
The Huerta teams consisted of Jax Mendoza, Luna Gomez, Trevor Pirzadeh, Diana Skriabina, Harrison Brown, Sofia Peraza, Conor Irving, Mokshitha Chandu and Jayden Johnston.
Also on the teams were Autumn Andrade, Siddharta Reynolds, Noa Garcia, Brandon Gaspar, Harper Ganzel, Wesley Lam, Ivy Flynn and Nathaniel Hernandez.
The other players on the squads were Maya Johnson, Henry St. Pierre, Luci Pangman, Patrick Collins, Violet Rave, Elijah Acquinto, Emma Whittekiend and Emiko Nagahori.
“I think our boys and girls team won this one-day tournament because Jamie Griffin has a volleyball club at school and opens the gymnasium at lunch and really promotes the sport,” DeLaurie said of Jamie Griffin, a one time volleyball player at Burbank High and former college volleyball player and CIF Southern Section official.
“She really enjoys getting students involved and encourages student participation. She has enthusiasm, passion and knowledge for volleyball,” he said of Griffin, who is a physical education instructor and department chairman at Huerta. “Our students feed off her energy and a lot of Huerta students have gone on to Burroughs to play on the girls’ and boys’ volleyball teams.”
De Laurie said that Griffin, who has been a teacher for two decades, directs the students’ interest in volleyball.
“I think Huerta is a good feeder program for our high schools. I know our students feed off her experience and passion for the sport,” he stated. “She has a lot of students come in at lunch to play and they have fun and really enjoy the excitement of playing volleyball.”
De Laurie said he thinks Griffin’s goal is for the athletes to enjoy themselves and always try their best.
“I think her expectations for the tournament is to have a positive experience and most of all have fun,” he said.
De Laurie envisions Huerta having a strong volleyball program in the future because of Griffin.
“In the last couple of years the volleyball participation has increased and I think our school will always be competitive and well represented with teamwork and sportsmanship,” he said.
Being involved in sports is always a good way to build confidence and self-assurance in youngsters.
“I think here at Huerta she [Griffin] plants the seed and at the high school level they become seasoned and developed student-athletes with great interest and a desire for the game.”
