West Orange Observer: Sports Spotlight — Amanda Chambers

Amanda Chambers is only a sophomore on the Windermere volleyball team, but already she is a leader for the 26-2 Wolverines. At the libero position, Chambers is a go-to player for head coach Layla West and leads the team with 128 digs.

How did you get into volleyball?

My sister had been playing volleyball for a while, and I had been doing gymnastics, and some stuff went wrong there. I would always pepper my sister in the driveway, and my mom was like, ‘Hey, you should try out for the club team and stuff,’ and that’s how I got into it — I was about 10 years old.

Did you know what you were doing going into volleyball?

Watching my sister’s games and stuff I knew the basics of the game. It was fun learning new things, and I really liked it.

What’s been your favorite part about playing volleyball?

I play beach volleyball, but playing here, it’s a good change, because it is a lot of teamwork. For indoor, you focus more on your specific possession, so there are more guidelines on what you know you have to get done and it’s easier to get it done — especially when you have five other girls helping you do it.

Besides the obvious, what is the biggest difference between beach volleyball and traditional volleyball?

I’d say (beach) is more of a mental game, (because) there are two people and there’s a lot more thinking. (Because) there is just two of us, if one of us makes a mistake, it’s very obvious, so we have to learn to control emotions more. Here, with all the girls helping out, they are like, ‘Hey, you got the next one’ — it’s really good. 

In general, what would you say is the hardest thing about playing volleyball?

It’s the mental side. I tend to get more upset with myself when I make a mistake.

What’s it like playing alongside your sister?

She definitely acts more like a mom than a sister when it comes to volleyball. When we’re in serve receive, we’re usually right next to each other, so if the ball is coming between us, it’s a lot of bickering. We don’t really argue too much, so it’s OK — it bonds us more, I guess. 

Is there a highlight moment that stands out to you this season?

I’d think it would have to be the game against (Dr. Phillips) that we played recently — that was by far our best game ever. The entire team completely clicked, and we were more focused on winning than we were on not losing. We did a lot of preparation for it. I think everyone was a little nervous in the first game — especially losing that — and we were like, ‘OK, we need to do something different, because we can’t lose this,’ and everyone really stepped up. Since we did that good, now we know, ‘Hey, we can do that good every time.’