Righetti High School’s very own 6-foot-9 middle hitting senior, Garrett Passmore, has made quite the name for himself. After only two years of being on Righetti’s boy’s volleyball team, he’s been recognized as one of the team’s best players.
Passmore (No. 0) first got involved in sports when he was a child. Since he’s always been competitive, he loved the feeling of winning and immediately fell in love with athletics.
Although Passmore’s main sport is basketball, he’s passionate about volleyball, too.
His best friend, Bryant LaCount, first introduced him to the idea of joining the Righetti volleyball team. Passmore instantly took a liking for the sport and has been on the team for two years.
“My biggest challenge in playing volleyball is just being able to read the hitters and get quick out on the block,” he said.
When asked what he loves most about volleyball, he tapped into his sense of competition for the answer. Winning is great, after all, and knocking out other teams along the way generates an “awesome feeling.”
“One of my favorite things about playing sports on a team is that I get to hang out with friends and play the game,” he added, “and sports are also very stress relieving.”
In Dianna Strasbaugh’s nine years of coaching volleyball, the team has never made it past the Dos Pueblos volleyball tournament—until this year, that is. This season, the team shot past former Righetti teams to place third in the tournament. Strasbaugh credits much of the victory to Passmore for his intensity on the court.
“[Passmore] is a huge part of why we made it that far at Dos Pueblos,” the coach said. “He has great blocking, hitting, quick attacks, and is truly developing into a quick and smart player.” m
—Gabby Hendriksen
This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2009.