Volleyball captain’s confidence hopes to bring victories home
Number five Julia Potts, 19-year-old-sophomore setter, and one of the newly voted captains of the 2010 Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah volleyball team. Potts is a native, born and raised in Price, Utah. She discovered her love of the game at the age of 13 when she tried out and made her junior high school volleyball team without any prior experience. After finishing her high school career at Carbon High School, Potts was offered a spot on the USU-CEU volleyball team, and is now returning for her second year.
This archived article was written by: Daylan Jones
Number five Julia Potts, 19-year-old-sophomore setter, and one of the newly voted captains of the 2010 Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah volleyball team. Potts is a native, born and raised in Price, Utah. She discovered her love of the game at the age of 13 when she tried out and made her junior high school volleyball team without any prior experience. After finishing her high school career at Carbon High School, Potts was offered a spot on the USU-CEU volleyball team, and is now returning for her second year.
Her hero in life is her high school coach, Cami Carlson. They both grew up playing sports. She is a great friend who pushed her in the right directions with love and compassion. Potts looks up and respects Carlson for her humility and attitude towards everything, “She just has her head on straight and knew it wasn’t necessarily all about sports.” Potts said.
She is confident in the abilities of the team this year. Potts says, they have the ability to really “put the ball down” which in non-volleyball terms refers to the way the front line can spike the ball which is also the way you score the majority of points.
Another aspect of the team she believes will help them improve this year is their relationship with each other. “The team this year is very friendly and encouraging on and off the court. We are all friends which makes practice run more smoothly, and gives us the upper hand on learning and accomplishing more not only by our coach but by each other.”
Potts believes the most efficient way to help her team is positive encouragement and to lead by example. When Potts comes to practice she shows up to work hard and improve, not only for her, but also for the team. When she shows up to practice, she gives 110 percent and expects everyone else to. This season they’re determined to be better than last year. With the new ability that USU-CEU has brought to the table, they can only dominate.
When asked about the Coach Barraclough, Potts smiled and described him as, “Awesome, he really knows what he is doing. I am excited because his experience will help us better our abilities and knowledge of the game.”
When Potts isn’t on the court she can be found hanging out with friends, working on her studies or watching ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” If she seems shy at first don’t worry, she just needs to come out of her shell, then you will see a funny, outgoing girl, who is ready to lead the team to a successful season.
