By Sayellor Taylor-Blackstone

   “I love being in powderpuff, it allows you to build relationships with people in other grades and talk to people you might not have talked to before,” says sophomore Emily Youngs, an underclassmen coach for powderpuff.

   “Powderpuff is a social event similar to regular sporting events where two teams go against each other,” she says. It “brings people together and really emphasizes school spirit.”

   Camille Snyder, a junior at Tempe Prep and upperclassmen coach, said powderpuff “has been a thing at TPA since before we even had a men’s team,” and also adds that “it’s a lot of fun to coach and play in!”

   The night consisted of two sets of upperclassmen vs. underclassmen games. “The underclassmen started off pretty good but it’s hard to compete against the upperclassmen, who had multiple boys from previous boys volleyball teams,” says Emily. 

   This night is also an opportunity for the boys of Tempe Prep to “try and learn a new sport in a fun but competitive way,” adds Kailey Gonzalez, a senior and upperclassmen coach of this year’s powderpuff volleyball team.

   One of those boys who competed in powderpuff was Joey O’Connor, a junior. He has been playing “for two years now and both times it’s been great.” Joey adds that powderpuff is “a great community event that helps the student life” at Tempe Prep.

   Each captain has ties to the night and have been involved in it for a long time.

   Camille coached her “freshman year, which was the first time the underclassmen beat the upperclassmen!” 

   For Camille, powderpuff is a great way to watch others get involved in her favorite sport. “My favorite part of powderpuff is watching them play and have fun! I really love volleyball so seeing other people have fun with it is amazing!” Being able to help more people enjoy one of her favorite activities is incredibly fulfilling.

   Emily has been attending these nights since elementary school, watching her older sisters play. She also adds that she has “played girls powderpuff since freshman year but this was (her) first year as a coach of the underclassmen team.”

   Kailey has been a coach all four years of high school and says she enjoys “coaching and getting to help the boys learn a new sport but also having fun playing against their friends.” 

   Kailey adds that “although it is not supposed to be very competitive, it is fun to see the boys put in all their effort to win.” Some of her highlights from the night are “when the boys are having fun and being rowdy, no matter if they win or lose.”

   Each had to take on lots of responsibilities as coaches. 

   Emily says that some of these include recruiting people, organizing a practice schedule in advance of the game with the team’s members and Mr. Lambros, and setting up before practices. As for the game itself, she was in charge of subs, calling timeouts and encouraging her team.

   Camille adds that, though they didn’t get much coaching time, “the guys were super easy to coach and wanted to learn so it made it so much easier!”

   Kailey said she and her fellow upperclassmen coaches, Camille and Aleksa Vignjevic, “scheduled practices weeks in advance to help with basic skills and to learn the rules of the game.” She also decorated team shirts and offered guidance throughout the game.

   Powderpuff is a great way to connect with people that you might not ordinarily. Camille says,  “Everyone should do powderpuff! It’s a lot of fun!”