Windham High senior Morgan Proulx is a member of the National Honor Society and involved with the school’s Interact Club, which involves community service. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
Windham High volleyball coach Chris Cloutier didn’t waste any words when asked to describe senior co-captain Morgan Proulx.
“Great player, great student, great person,” he said.
Proulx had been a captain for the Eagles, who reached the Class A semifinals before falling to eventual champion Falmouth 3-1, since her sophomore year and is considered the ultimate team player. This year she switched positions from outside hitter to libero.
“And she did pretty well,” said Cloutier. “She has always been looked at as the go-to person on the team for support and stuff like that. She was always looking to grow as a player.”
Proulx, 17, is a member of the National Honor Society and involved with the school’s Interact Club, which involves community service. She also competes in outdoor track. She is looking to study exercise sciences in college and hopes to become a physical therapist.
Q: You were selected as a captain in your sophomore year. That must have been a great honor.
A: It was. I was really grateful for the opportunity to be able to captain my team so early. It was a good opportunity to improve my leadership. That was one thing that I wanted to work on. Just having that opportunity with a couple of co-captains was really nice.
Q: What does it mean to you to be a captain?
A: It’s definitely the ability to connect with my team on a better level. I don’t feel being a captain I have power over them or anything. It’s more like being that person they feel comfortable talking to about anything and everything.
Q: You switched positions this year, from outside hitter to libero. Why did you do that?
A: Over the past year we’ve been struggling moving people around the court to even out our starting team. We lost a bunch of seniors last year, a few that were starters, and when we did we weren’t sure we were going to have a replacement this year for the libero position specifically. We had a few more outsides than we probably needed. So my team and I came up with the idea that I might as well move if I was going to move anywhere and give some of the other girls a chance to hit outside.
Q: As libero, what are your responsibilities?
A: As libero I’m pretty much running the defense. So the whole back row and I are talking all the time, constantly about where the ball is going. My coach wants me to be the one talking, making sure everybody is always focused.
Q: That seems like a big change from outside hitter.
A: It was really tough at first. Switching positions that quickly was difficult because I wasn’t prepared for it. I’ve played back row my whole life too because that’s what comes with being an outside. But staying permanently in the back row, with rule changes (she can’t jump to hit the ball), was different.
Q: What sort of community service have you done as a member of the Interact Club?
A: We went and worked at the Preble Street soup kitchen, which I’ve done in the past with one of my club volleyball teams, and I really liked that.
Q: How did you decide to look into physical therapy?
A: I recently started going to physical therapy for my back because I’ve had a lot of problems this year. And when I did go, my physical therapist, a couple of years older then me, seemed to really like her job. I wasn’t really sure quite what I wanted to go into but knew I wanted to focus on medical field. I did some research and really liked what I read.
Q: Volleyball is not a sport a lot of people say is their major sport.
A: Volleyball, I feel like, is overlooked in some cases. … But it’s a great sport to be a part of because I feel it’s kind of like a small family, at least our team is. I wish it was bigger. I wish that more people would get involved with it. But our middle school program has been coming a long way.
Q: How did you become involved?
A: My co-captain this year (Megan Fleck) got me into volleyball actually. She convinced me and a few of our teammates to join in middle school. And then after that I just really liked it so I continued with it. My freshman year I started playing club volleyball with Maine Juniors and I really loved it.
Q: What is it as a sport that you like?
A: I love that it’s not contact, for one. And that you’re constantly moving. It’s not like a single-person sport, it’s more like a team thing. You have to work together.
Q: How do you hope to be remembered?
A: I hope to be remembered as one of the people who brought this program to where it is now … One of the people who makes this sport enjoyable and a representative of how this sport and the people and the team as a whole should really be.
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