​New Girls Volleyball Coach: Aisha Umer

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By Maymuna Faqih

What motivated you to become a volleyball coach this year at PVS?
I wanted to become a volleyball coach at PVS because I played volleyball for a non-Muslim team and as the only hijabi, it was a struggle to integrate into their culture. When I heard that there was a volleyball team at a Muslim school, I was super excited to hear. I wanted to be able to encourage the girls to obtain and show their modesty to other people especially because the teams we go against are not Muslim. So I wanted to show them who we are by showing them that we are going to be respectful, and modest and that we can still play the sport and dominate.

What are some things you are trying to improve in this volleyball team?
Self-confidence, I think, is number one. I know that winning might be people's number one but it's not for me. I think building their self-confidence and building this character through sports for the team is my number one priority.

What are some challenges you have faced so far?
Maybe .. that it's hard probably trying to get parents to see why we are doing this, especially in women's sports parents usually don't tend to want their girls to play in a sport so getting parents just as involved as they would be in their sons playing sports.

How did you assess which position each player should have?
I tested each player in each position. We would have every player line up and they would bump, set, and hit and then I just saw who was better at which position, and then I put them in that position but a majority of our girls can do a lot of different positions which is good, Alhamdulillah.
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Do you have high hopes for this volleyball team?
I do. From the first time, I saw these girls. I went into this completely blind because I didn't coach them last year during club. This was my first year but even throughout this both high school and middle school have won one game Alhamdulillah. I've seen so much progress in them and seen the confidence in them go up.

What are your plans for the future of this team?
I want them to get better. Winning more games I think, may be even possible this year with this team but in the future, hopefully, they will have more school pride and more people at our games watching us and cheering us on.