Junior Mia McCaffrey has dedicated herself to volleyball, and said it has played a big part in making her who she is. Driven by the same determination, McCaffrey has also joined the girl’s tennis team as a result of a surplus of time brought about by the pandemic.

Influenced by her parents who first met while playing volleyball, McCaffrey started in the Clackamas Recreational Volleyball league when she was in the first grade and fell in love with the sport.

McCaffrey has played volleyball at La Salle since her freshman year and has since been grateful for the rigors and challenges volleyball has presented her with. She said that she realized how time consuming volleyball practice and matches after school could be and developed time management skills and discipline. These are useful for the array of clubs she is in, including Asian Pacific Islander Club, Service Club, and Snowboarding Club. 

Motivated by her coaches who have helped her develop life skills, McCaffrey aspires to become a leader on the court. “I’ve always wanted to become more of a leader on the court because I’m relatively a quiet person,” she said. “I try to work hard to help bring my teammates up and be a good teammate. 

As a soon-to-be senior, McCaffrey is ready to fill the leadership role that she looked up to as a freshman. “I always look up to the seniors, because of how hard working they are,” she said. “It’s kind of surprising to me that I’m going to be a senior next year after looking up to them every single year.”

In the last league game of the season, the girl’s varsity volleyball team won against Wilsonville High School 3-2. McCaffrey called this a high point in their season, as they “really came together as a team.”

McCaffrey is not only dedicating herself on the volleyball court; she is also trying to venture onto the tennis court. Bored by the doldrum of the pandemic, McCaffrey joined the girl’s tennis team with her friend, junior Julia Kwiecinski, in response to the effect the pandemic has had on her recreational tennis club. 

“I wanted to try something new to kind of fill my time,” she said. 

The pair ended up enjoying the team, as they found it to be a close community and grew to play at a competitive level. “Since it was new, we knew that we wouldn’t start out the best, so we just listened to what our coaches had to say and tried to be coachable and develop those new school skills that they’re trying to teach us,” she said.

McCaffrey said she wants to continue with tennis next year in part due to the community that the team evokes.

With hopes to participate in tennis again and pursue a leadership role in volleyball, McCaffrey is looking into possibly playing at a collegiate level, but until then is looking forward to her senior year.