Sydney Robinson '20

"Last year, we spent a lot of time learning about the sport and working on our fundamentals," Robinson says, reflecting on the challenges of leading a team that is new to a sport. "I totally remember those days. Volleyball is confusing! Once you get the hang of it, it's exciting and fun. But, it took a long time, and it was a challenge. It's hard to get an entire group of girls together who have never played the sport and turn them into a unit of six people playing well together on the court. I've had to think of how to lead in a bunch of different ways."

This year, the program fielded a 1st team and a 2nd team, and the 1st team finished 9–6. Still Robinson, wisely, understands that, although she may be a veteran volleyball player, she's still learning how to lead the new program. "I think I'm still learning how to become a better captain. I could always do better," she says.

"When you make a mistake in volleyball, it's really noticeable, because the ball goes flying," Robinson explains. "I've definitely had to focus on encouraging myself and my teammates to brush off mistakes. This is our first year having a 1st team and playing a 1st-team schedule, and we're going to make mistakes. The biggest lesson, I think, is to not give up. There will be hard times, and there will be mistakes that you're going to make, and you know they're coming. But, you need to push through that and know that everything's going to get better if you keep working at it."

Robinson's patient, evolving leadership style translates well to other areas of school life: She is a dorm prefect in Gardner House, a head of the Black Students Union and also serves as one of the school's Chapel prefects. She credits the students who led her when she arrived at Brooks as her models for leadership. "Coming here as a fourth-former, I knew absolutely nobody," Robinson says. "I was coming to a new place, and I admired the sixth-formers that year. They looked so adult to me, and I saw how they really led by example. I just wanted to follow in their footsteps."

One of the sixth-formers Robinson admired as a new fourth-former was particularly helpful to Robinson as she formed her own style of leadership. "When I was a fourth-former, Sophia Knopp '18 was my basketball captain," Robinson says. "She also gave me my tour when I visited, so in a way, she got me to come here. She was a great captain. In everything she did, on and off the court, she was always so caring toward me. I admire that, and I try to do the same thing now. I'm still working on it, and it's been fun."