Hard work paying off for Brownstown Central senior on volleyball courts

September 11, 2018

Heidi Booher always looked forward to the day she would be a part of the Brownstown Central High School volleyball team.

When she was in middle school, her mother was a volleyball coach, and she enjoyed watching her older sister (Trinity) play volleyball at BCHS.

Now a senior, the right-side hitter is making the most of her final season with the Braves.

Booher began her volleyball career in sixth grade. Her freshman year at BCHS, she was the setter for the junior varsity, and played right back her sophomore year.

Last season she was the setter for the varsity and this year she moved over to hitting.

“I set (attacks) up mostly to go line because I start my approach inside the court,” she said. “You’ve got to make sure the setter knows what you are running, and you have to leave at a specific time when the setter makes the set.

“We have hand signals. You’ve got to find the holes. Communication is very important, especially if two people go for a ball. You have to talk about who is actually going to take it. You have to say what set you want, and it’s very important for it all to work.”

Booher said blocking is another important part of her game.

“We usually try to line up with their shoulder and Coach (Jennifer) Shade tells us to either block angle so we can get the line, or block line so we can get the angle. We double-block everything,” Booher said.

She said that while it is an advantage to win the first set, the Braves have the confidence that they can come back and win two out of three or three out of five.

“We know if we don’t play well and we give away that first game that we can play better as a team and pull it together and win the next two,” Booher said.

Booher said she enjoys the home matches, and her favorite away gym is New Albany.

She said practice, “is critical. You have to practice well to play well.”

Booher said for the Braves to keep winning they need to say focused.

“We need to keep our intensity up, keep preparing ourselves in practice and get ready for the competition, and everybody get along,” she said.

She has played club ball since sixth grade and said that has been a valuable experience.

“That helped a lot because in high school you just play the same teams over and over again,” she said. “Playing club you get to see different teams and you see different things you don’t usually see in high school.”

She has played in national tournaments in Florida five times.

Booher has enjoyed being a student at BCHS.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve gotten to meet a lot of new people,” Booher said. “I like the atmosphere. It’s in a good community that comes together and supports everyone.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Booher file” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Name: Heidi Booher

School: Brownstown Central

Parents: Kimberly and Larry Booher

Sibling: Trinity

Sports: volleyball 4 years

Athletic highlights: winning Bloomington South and Hanover tournaments

Organizations: choir, booster club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 4 H

Plans after high school: attend Western Kentucky University, study mental health

No posts to display