A single passion for volleyball is guiding Canyon High senior, Chandler Storer, into her senior year.
The Canyon native, did spend her early years playing basketball, but was challenged during junior high to try volleyball as well.
“I got started because in junior high they wanted all the basketball girls to play volleyball, so I decided to give it a shot,” Storer said. “I think that as I got older I got tired of basketball, because I had been playing it too long. I always wanted more excitement and fun, and I think (volleyball) is more of an exciting game for me. So I just kind of switched over.”
While basketball remained a passion when her family briefly moved to Kansas, it was upon returning to Canyon that she decided to focus solely on volleyball.
“When I started high school I moved to Kansas and played volleyball, basketball and softball there,” Storer said. “Then I have moved back and I decided to only play volleyball.
“Volleyball is a very demanding game. Everything has to be perfect. In basketball you can make mistakes and yet you can make up for it, in volleyball you have to be almost a perfectionist in everything if your team is going to win and do well.”
Although Canyon lost three key seniors, they will return eight seniors, of which Storer will be a starting outside hitter.
“I have always played outside hitter ever since I was in junior high. That is probably because I was so tall then and I guess I have remained one of the taller girls, so I have stayed outside,” she said. “As an outside hitter my responsibilities are to help block the middle hitters and right side hitters and outside hitting has a big responsibility because it is suppose to be one of the main hitters. There is a lot of pressure to do well.”
With the assistance of other talented, experienced players, Storer is more excited than nervous about this upcoming season.
“It will be neat to see us all work together because it will be almost just one class playing together,” she said. “I think that it will be fun for us to bond. We are all the same age, we all work well together and we will surprise people this year. I think that we will be one of the stronger teams in district.”
While speaking with confidence, Storer also mentioned the difficulties in overcoming the strong district that Canyon is a part of.
“We have to give 110 percent from the beginning,” she said. “We can’t sit back and relax, we are going to have to work really hard and we are going to have to push through those really tough games and give it our all to make it (to the playoffs.)
“A challenge for me is that I just want to be able to lead the team and always keep things positive on the court; to help everyone work our hardest and try to do our best in every single game.”
The Lady Eagles also recently returned from a team volleyball camp that provided some early season challenges for Storer and the team as a whole.
“We had two teams of six players at volleyball camp,” Storer said. “It was five of us seniors and one sophomore, and it taught us to keep going and keep pushing, because we were obviously tired playing three times a day. I just keep thinking that this is my last year of high school volleyball, so I want to leave a good impression on the program. I want to make it a good, strong, last year. So, I don’t have time to quit or be tired, I have to give it my all for the whole season. But it was a lot of fun, and we really learned to work together.”
Despite her personal convictions, Storer commented that it is the legacy of the Canyon High volleyball program that she wants to improve.
“I think that Canyon volleyball has had some struggles with coaches, but it is still inspiring because there has been really great girls that have come through the program and I want to live up to how good they were,” she said.
“It is a motivational thing; we want our team to do just as well and be just as good.”
