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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — If you’re watching a volleyball match and new to the sport, you might wonder why one player on each team is wearing a different colored jersey than each of their teammates.

That one player is called a libero.

That is exactly what senior Maddy Leeber of West Forsyth plays. She’s all of 5-foot-3, and it’s the only position she’s known since she picked up the sport at five years old.

“You definitely have to be a leader on the court no matter what,” she said of playing libero. “Loud, trusting, I would say, is a very big word because you pretty much have the whole back row, and your hitters have to trust that you’re going to be there. So, I would say trust is a big word.”

The libero is a specialized position in volleyball that was added to the sport in 1995 and implemented in high school volleyball in the mid-2000s. Liberos are often called defensive specialists or ball-control specialists because they are responsible for a lot of passing and digging and are considered to be one of the most important positions in the game.”

Playing in her second season on the varsity at West Forsyth with Coach Lauren Gilon, Leeber played libero even on the JV team her sophomore season for Coach Tammy Lichty.

“I think she is a really athletic kid,” Gillon said. “And she plays beach volleyball and indoor, and she’s been playing volleyball for a really long time. So, I think her, just her level of experience is what makes her really a solid staple for the team.”

Leeber has also had to face some health problems. She has a condition called Patellofemoral pain syndrome, which according to MayoClinic.com, is: “…Sometimes called runner’s knee. It’s more common in people who run and who play sports that involve running and jumping.”

The knee pain often increases when running, walking up or down stairs, sitting for long periods, or squatting.

“So, it’s basically just kind of like tissue; cartilage kind of builds up in your knee, and over time, you grow it and kind of flattens out,” Leeber said. “Because I didn’t grow very much, it still builds up.”

Leeber just deals with the pain in her own way.

“She definitely plays through some pain,” Gillon said. “She’s getting her knee taped, knees, both of them taped pretty regularly. Knee brace on pretty regularly … So, it’s essentially where your knees ache all the time. So, she definitely has to figure out how to play with that and play through it. Some days, it’s going to hurt more than others, so (she’ll continue to be like the solid rock for the team.”

Very early into her senior season, Leeber will definitely have to use those libero skills this week. Leeber and the rest of the players for West Forsyth have something they’ve been looking forward to all through the offseason. West Forsyth (5-2 as of Monday) was scheduled to have played its Central Piedmont 4-A opener this past Tuesday at Mount Tabor.

That’s where the fun begins. West Forsyth was scheduled to fly Wednesday to Orlando, Fla. The team was scheduled to fly there to play in the KSA Events Fall Classic Volleyball Tournament, which will be played at Game Point Event Center.

“It was exciting to find out,” Leeber said.

West Forsyth started a fundraiser to raise at least $6,000 for 19 people – to cover the cost of airfare and hotel stay for each player and a coach. The team is staying on the same land as Universal Studios.

While playing in the tournament, West Forsyth has five scheduled matches, which start on Thursday — three matches on Thursday, beginning at 9 a.m. against Bishop Amat (Calif.), 10:30 against Timber Creek (Texas), and noon against Garner (Texas), and it also has two scheduled matches on Friday – at noon against Millburn (N.J.) and 1:30 against Odyssey Charter School (Fla.). Depending on how pool play goes, West Forsyth will play at least one game on Saturday.

“I just thought that this great group that I have this year – they’re such great kids,” Gillon said. “It’s a very talented group. There’s a lot of senior leadership. There are still a lot of young pieces. And it just seemed like it was the right group to take a big trip like that, like a big memorable trip.”
The team is scheduled to fly back home on Sunday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. However, there is a small matter of doing school work this week before the holiday weekend.

“Gillon, she has set up at least an hour or two for just studying work just to make sure we actually get our work done,” Leeber said. “(I’m) definitely going to get some work done because if not I will be very behind because (there is) a lot of classes, lot of work. I’ve just got to push through.”
With five matches in two days the players and coaches know that there is a reward by having time off on Saturday.

“I would say I’m pretty used to it growing up having tournaments on the weekends and waking up at like 5, 6 in the morning, having to play at 8 or 9,” Leeber said. “So, it’s definitely an adjustment because school has started this past two weeks, so it’s not too uncommon, but I’d say I’m used to it.”

Growing up, Leeber started out not playing libero as a freshman on the JV team for the Titans.

“I was a setter my freshman year because my coach wanted me to, at the time, Tammy, she wanted me to just see how I worked with new positions,” Leeber said. “And I thought I did pretty great at it.”

For most players in a select sport, it might be tough to grasp having to play on the JV team for two seasons. Not Leeber.

“I thought it was really fun,” she said. “Both years I played It was a really good group of girls. Tammy was a phenomenal coach. I would say her and Gillon pretty much the same. They have that competitive mindset. They want to win, but they also want you to play your heart out like it’s your last game every time.”

Moving up to the Titans’ varsity team before last season wasn’t too intimidating for Leeber. The team fared well, finishing 18-9 overall and 10-4 in the Central Piedmont 4-A.

“I would say it’s hard in general, no matter what grade level you are, because it’s a very tough and mental position to have because you always to have to always be in a good mindset,” Leeber said. “You just always have to be on it.”

Volleyball isn’t the only thing on Leeber’s mind. Leeber said she likes being organized and hates being behind.

“That’s one thing Gillon has taught us, like outside of sports, is just staying organized and being on top of your stuff because you’re representing not only yourself, but your parents, your school, your sport, yourself,” Leeber said. “And you’re just better off as a person that you can keep up with yourself.”

When the team returns to Clemmons, it has two conference road games next week – Tuesday at Glenn and Thursday at powerhouse Reagan.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ll do very well this year,” Leeber said. “We have a very good dynamic. We’re all really great friends. So, I’d say very confident that will do very great this season, and maybe (a) possible CPC championship.

“But I would say very confident that we’ll do really great.”

The regular season for West Forsyth is scheduled to end Oct. 10 at home against East Forsyth.

“Especially in practice, I’ve seen her really start to challenge herself,” Gillon said. “I can tell she wants to make it the best season possible. So, there’s a lot of self-discipline that comes with that. And I’ve seen her applying that in practice.

“And I think if she continues to do that, she’ll only like elevate her game as we go through the conference and go against the tougher competition later in the season.”

Although there is still plenty of season ahead, Leeber is a senior. So, her time is waning.

“I haven’t thought much of it,” she said. “I would definitely just say, keep going into it’s over because I don’t have much of a plan after high school. For just going to Forsyth Tech and just enjoying my time while I have it.”

Although not written in cement, Leeber wants to do something in the medical field, maybe as an X-Ray technician.

“I’ve had a few injuries before, a few MRIs, X-Rays, and stuff like that,” she said. “And the people who did that to me were very kind, very just open and explained just what was going on, and just very, almost motherly. So, I loved that and that kind of comfort. So, I thought that would be a great idea if I could do that for someone else who was in as stressed position as I was.”