With new and returning players, boys volleyball is on its way to a great and successful season.

In preparation for this season, Birmingham Community Charter High School Patriots have been working on passing, setting, hitting and learning their rotations. As for junior varsity, it’s a lot of the players’ first time playing and learning the game.

“We practice passing, serving, hitting and just working as a team in general,” junior varsity outside hitter Rami Charr said.

At practice, they start off with two laps around the main gym and they group into a circle for stretching. They warm up with passing, throwing the ball to each other. Then after they’re done passing they go into the butterfly drill where they line up in two lines on each side of the net and one line throws the ball over the net and the other passes the ball to the person in the center. Later, they rotate to the next spot. They then get into practice where they work on passing and hitting while working on communication.

“Every day I do 500 passes and 300 digs — that’s when you dive for the ball — and that’s on my free time,” varsity sophomore Om Patel said. “At practice, we focus on hitting, positioning and formation.”

Making their way to championships and obtaining rings are their top priorities for this season and plan to do so through teamwork and communication on the court.

“Going through our rotations that our coach gave us and communicating is very key in volleyball,” junior varsity middle blocker Christopher Sarenana said.

Currently, the Patriots have a record of 1-1 with a loss to Francis Polytechnic Senior High School with a score of 3-0 and a win in their latest game against James Monroe High School with a score of 3-1. The junior varsity team has a record of 0-2 with both losses to Polytechnic Senior High School and James Monroe High School.

“Our biggest challenge during this season is probably El Camino Real Charter High School because they always go against Palisades Charter High School and that’s like the championship so we really have to prepare ourselves,” varsity middle blocker Antonio Serrano said.