TALLAHASSEE, FL. (WTXL) - This weekend, the 14 Elite Tallahassee Juniors Volleyball Club takes a plane to Minnesota for a chance to win a National Championship, something that's never been done before in the Big Bend.
They're a talented group, albeit young, but they don't play their age at all.
"I guess it's kind of normal to be tall and stuff like that," laughed Baby Cooksey, who enters the ninth grade at Wakulla High School next season. "I mean, sometimes we'll play teams and taller."
"They're like, you guys are 14's?!" added Macy Maxwell, a rising freshman at Leon. "We're like 'yeah,' they're like, 'oh we thought you were 18's or 16's or something!'"
No, the oldest girls on this squad will be entering high school in the fall, but their will to win, well beyond their years.
"This team is competitive. We have a very, very talented 16's team, and they don't care if they scrimmage them," said head coach Erica Bunch. "They'll talk to each other, and they push each other. If one's not doing well, the other one will pick them up and their feelings don't get hurt by that."
"We have a lot of people and they try and they try their hearts out for the ball," said Maxwell. "They just play really good with each other and we bonded well."
That bond is paying off. To qualify for Nationals, the girls went undefeated in winning the USA Division at a Qualifier in April - the first team from the Big Bend to accomplish such a feat.
"Until after that first point, those nerves will be there," said Bunch. "We're walking into a facility with 150 courts in one room. It's something that's totally different, and for you to have this - it's huge."
For them to have this at such a young age? Priceless.
"It's not normal for a team that doesn't know each other to come together and play this good and we did and it's unbelievable," said Maxwell.
"I never would have thought that we'd be representing Tallahassee and going that far," added Cooksey. "It's really exciting."
It'll be even more exciting if they can bring home that National title.
