The talent was always there.
It just needed to come forward.
Thanks to Malak Hamdou, Ameli Jaquez, Shamary Saray Irizarry Rosado, Amy Tang and Chrismylee Guzman Carter, it couldn’t have gone any better.
Those five athletes were among many reasons the Community Academy of Philadelphia High School volleyball team was able to bring home the Penn-Jersey Athletic Association championship. The Bruins defeated Kimberton Waldorf, a Chester County school.
The game was played at Holy Family University.
The team, which consists of players throughout the city, including Northeast Philly, has been working hard to bring home a crown. This year, they reached that goal.
“I’ve been hungry for a championship since my freshman year at CAP,” said Hamdou, a junior from Mayfair. “Each year I’ve tried to improve every practice. After watching a film over the summer I had a click in my brain that I never felt before. I had an entirely different understanding of volleyball and I told myself I was going to use it to my advantage.”
“Winning the championships felt like gaining a new family,” said Jaquez, who lives in Frankford. “I have never felt closer to the volleyball girls and this year has changed it all. It felt like I was able to prove myself after self-doubting my potential.”
The team has players from all over, including Mayfair, Tacony, Lawncrest and Juniata, among other places through the city.
But when they were on the court, that didn’t matter. They were focused on the task at hand, and the more they won, the closer they got.
“Wining a championship means that I am capable of more and so is my team,” Irizarry Rosado said. “It means that the dedication, teamwork, sacrifice and effort was all there. The most memorable part of playing for Community Academy was the sportsmanship. It’s like a family; it isn’t perfect, but we all love each other.”
“Winning a championship to me means more than proving people wrong,” said Guzman Carter, who lives in the Northeast. “It means proving to each other that through teamwork and dedication things will start to move. (We had a) serious talk before our senior night. This talk was emotional but had to happen for us all to move forward. After that talk we all felt closer with each other as a team and felt more comfortable with communicating with one another.”
It helps when you believe.
It means even more when you believe.
This team had confidence in each other and coach Danielle Ennis believed in every member of the squad.
“This season was tough emotionally, but through every challenge we kept fighting together,” the coach said. “They never gave up, no matter the score, the moment or the pressure, and that resilience is why I used the word unstoppable to describe them. From day one, they were hungry, driven to grow, compete and push each other to be better.
“We truly embraced our CAP E.A.T.S. motto every single day: effort, attitude, teamwork and sacrifice. And in the end, all of that heart and determination paid off as we won the championship. Watching them live out those values, even in the hardest moments, made this season something I’ll always be proud of.”
It wasn’t easy.
From the opening day until the day the team left Holy Family with the prestigious Penn-Jersey trophy, the season was a product of hard work.
That makes the reward that much sweeter.
“Winning a championship means that all the hard work that my team put in this past season has been worth it,” Tang said. “It reflects all the effort and sacrifices I’ve made in the past 4 years for volleyball.
“Our team this season was a group of girls who were unstoppable. We never gave up even during long days, tough practices and emotional conversations. Through all the ups and downs, we kept working as a team no matter the score or the situation.”
That was the job from the beginning.
The championship was nice, but Ennis’ philosophy was playing together as a team and taking care of business. After taking care of that, the wins – and championship – took care of itself.
“My volleyball team is filled with many different types of people, emotions, feelings and mentalities,” Jaquez said. “But as a whole, we are truly a CAP family and will continue to show, prove and have confidence in who we are. We demonstrate our effort, check our attitudes, have teamwork and, finally, make sacrifices with our time in order to be champions.”
They also had the perfect role model to lead the way.
“Coach Ennis has had my back from the jump on and off the court, I appreciate her dearly for that,” Hamdou said. “For me to change positions I was scared but she encouraged me to be the best I can be no matter what position I play.”
“The most memorable part of playing for Community Academy was learning to be a part of something greater than myself,” Tang said. “I have learned so much from my coaches and my teammates both from this year and the past years. Every year, I learned how to be a better teammate, to never give up and created strong bonds with my team on and off the court.”
