Throughout the spring, junior Asher Rennard faces the constant challenges of balancing life as a competitive athlete with school and hard classwork. Rennard plays for the Houston Volleyball Academy as an all-around outside hitter, while also taking advanced, college-level courses.
“I have to be on top of everything I do,” Rennard said. “And if I fall behind, it’s nearly impossible to keep up.”
Junior Jayden Meredith is on the same team as Rennard and shares many of the same struggles. For him, it can be hard to keep up with things in school as well. Meredith transferred to Kingwood Park for his junior year and feels like going to a new school has helped him strengthen his friendship with Rennard.
“Creating a better bond with one of my teammates is really nice and I’m getting to know him (Rennard) on a more personal level,” Meredith said.
Both players compete on the Houston Volleyball Academy 17 Performance Red, which is ranked second in the nation. They just won an international tournament in Italy at the end of March as well.
Their commitment to volleyball requires them to spend on average 10 hours at practice and five hours driving. They practice in downtown Houston five days a week, sacrificing their time outside of school. During the school year, their absences can range from a couple days to a full week.
“The less school I miss, the better my grades usually are but I feel like the extra pressure from extracurriculars has helped me prepare for later schooling and having a job and stuff,” Rennard said.
For Meredith, volleyball controls his schedule, which means he has to carefully manage his time.
“With volleyball, it is just my whole life and it just revolves around it, so I think having some rest days helps a lot,” Meredith said.
Sometimes when Rennard is back at school, he has to deal with a test or things that are due the next day. One time he landed on a flight and got home at 3 a.m. That same day he had to take a test. The travel can take a major toll on his schoolwork.
“The biggest challenge with having to manage volleyball and school is probably just having to do things that I don’t feel motivated to do, it really depends how stressed I am,” Rennard said. “If I’m behind, super stressed with school or at school, practice just doesn’t seem like something that’s more valuable to me. But whenever I’m not stressed with schoolwork, I like going to practice.”
Their volleyball tournaments and games have taken them across and outside of the country, going to places like Los Angeles, Orlando, Dallas, Austin, St. Louis and Puerto Rico.
“My favorite place I have been for volleyball is Puerto Rico, it is really beautiful and we go during a super nice time of the year,” Rennard said. “The tournament itself is super well done and they treat the teams very well. The tournament has its own social media that documents the whole tournament. The award ceremony is also very fun and prestigious.”
Recently, the team traveled to Pordenone, Italy, and they ended up winning the 44th Cornacchia World Cup. It is the most prestigious tournament they have competed in.
“The tournament is more than just volleyball. It’s an experience,” Rennard said. “The tournament starts with a parade with over 100 teams from dozens of different countries, and ends with a party where different cultures can interact and learn about each other.”
Meredith said the experience was eye-opening.
“It was basically a junior olympics and teams across the world came together and competed,” Meredith said. “It was really stressful, and I put a lot of time and work into it, but I think the dedication helped me.”
Rennard views volleyball as a passion and fun hobby and hopes to enjoy it in the future, pressure-free.
“I wanna try to play volleyball in college, but if I don’t enjoy it I’m OK with not playing in that era of my life,” Rennard said. “I don’t think I’ll ever go professional, because of my height I’m only 5′ 11″ which is very short. Professionals are usually like 6′ 6″, so it’s kind of like the NBA but volleyball.”
Meredith, on the other hand, wants to focus on trying to go Division I for college. He has already received attention from colleges, like Penn State, UCLA and more.
“I’m hoping to go overseas and maybe play in Italy for a long time or another place,” Meredith said.
Rennard and Meredith continue to be challenged with the task of competing at a high level of volleyball and dealing with daily challenging schoolwork.But they continue to stay committed and hard-working toward their goals.
