Peachfuzz postponed

The first annual Peachfuzz volleyball game has been off to rocky start. The junior-senior volleyball game, which is sponsored by Leadership, was originally scheduled for March 18 but has been pushed back due to snow days and inclement weather. The game will now take place on April 30 in the main gym.

The inclement weather days have forced spring sports to have indoor practices, which take priority over the Peachfuzz game.

“We had to push it back because of the weather,” Leadership sponsor Carmen Bartley said. “Spring sports keep having to come inside for their practices and they get first priority.”

The Peachfuzz game is the male alternative to the fall Powderpuff game, in which girls play football, a sport that is not normally available for them to play in a competitive atmosphere.

In the Peachfuzz game, there are two teams of at least 15 boys each, with only six on the court at a time. They will be coached by AHS volleyball players, leading to its similarities to Powderpuff, where boys coach the girls.

“It’s funny to watch us play volleyball,” junior Michael Velasquez said. “It really shows that the girls that do volleyball in the fall have a lot of skill and have practiced for a long time.”

Despite all the rescheduling and multiple delays, players and coaches are still excited to participate in the event.

“I’m looking forward to playing with my class and also getting to play against some of my friends on the senior team,” Velasquez said. “We’ve had a lot of trash talking, I just hope it benefits the junior team.”

The Peachfuzz game will now coincide with Battle of the Classes week. This is more than a month after the event was supposed to be held.

“We chose that day because that week is Battle of the Classes week and we figured we could somehow tie the volleyball game into points for Battle of the Classes,” Bartley said.

Aligning the game with the Battle of the Classes is an alternative to the original plan of coinciding the game with Spirit Week.

The Peachfuzz coaches for the junior team are Erin Johnson and Kaitlyn Cook. The coaches for the senior team are Amy Reynolds, Chelsea Flores and Sarah Samee. The coaches have had to find a way to prepare their teams among the rescheduling crisis and inclement weather schedule.

“We’ve already had one practice where we taught [the boys] passing, setting, hitting, blocking and tipping,” junior coach Kaitlyn Cook said. “We also made a couple of plays so I’m hoping that by using the plays we can have a better strategy than the seniors.”

“Our coaches [Erin Johnson and Kaitlyn Cook] have done a good job in going over the fundamentals with the team,” Velasquez said. “It’s been really fun getting to play with the guys because none of us really have volleyball experience, we come from different sports like tennis and football.”