Volleyball has been a lifelong obsession for Van Buren senior libero Jada Perryman. It’s something she has done since second grade, and she never gets tired of it.
“I just love the intensity of a game; there’s never a dull moment,” said Perryman, in her second season as a starter. “You’re always doing something. It’s always intense, you’re always running, it’s always loud. It’s just a very exciting game.”
She also loves playing for Van Buren[1], and really enjoyed Sept. 13. That’s when the Pointers captured the championship of the Fort Smith Invitational tournament.
“I think that we’ve trained hard this summer,” Perryman said. “We worked really hard to accomplish what we just did, and I’m really proud of us. And I feel like, yes, I have improved a lot since last year, and just like I’m making a difference on this team.”
While gaining a year of starting experience, Perryman also wanted to exhibit stronger leadership skills entering her senior year. And being a libero, that really brings out vocal leadership as far as Perryman is concerned. Perryman said she has become more steady with her game as a senior in contrast to her junior season.
“I feel like this year, I just have to be more consistent,” she said. “I think last year I wasn’t as consistent. And I think this year I just need to, you know, be there for my team and be the consistent player that they need me to be.”
Perryman has found her muse when it comes to volleyball in her new first-year coach with the Pointers, Whitney Adams.
“She’s brought a lot of energy and she’s brought a lot of knowledge to this team,” Perryman said of Adams. “She just knows what to say and knows what’s going on constantly when you don’t know what you’re doing out there; she’s going to know what’s happening, what you’re doing wrong, and she’s going to be there to help you and fix you.”
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Perryman herself aspires to become a coach in her future.
“I would hope to; that’s definitely the career I want to pursue,” she said. “I love doing this, and I think I would just love to be able to continue that in coaching.”
But beyond this season, Perryman believes she still has playing days remaining in her volleyball career, and is trying her best to get noticed by several college coaches.
“I am trying to go to camps, and I’m trying to get recruited,” she said. “I’m on a couple of recruiting apps, and, you know, I’m just hoping that a coach will see my potential and see what I can do and will recruit me.”
And what would Perryman’s recruiting pitch be to prospective college coaches as to why they should pick her to be a part of their program.
“I think that I give 110% all the time,” she said. “I’m working on and off the court constantly. I’m a big leader. My ability to read the ball, I think, is very well. And I think I have a lot to offer to a college.”