Dickson’s interest in volleyball growing

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This article was published 25/03/2017 (3112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Payton Dickson has only been playing volleyball for two years but she has found success as a setter with the Cats Club Blue 14-and-under girls’ team.

The five-foot-six Dickson played last season with the 13U Blue squad but has really enjoyed the learning curve of applying her skills on the volleyball court as she made the jump up to 14U.

“It’s been really fun,” Dickson said after her team’s first match Friday in the Cats Classic at the Healthy Living Centre. “I like competitive volleyball and I really like the sport.”

She also plays badminton and basketball, figure skates and is a long-distance running track and field athlete. But volleyball is quickly gaining popularity in her mind.

Dickson, who lives on a farm just outside Carberry, attributes her intrigue in the sport to extended family members who have also risen through the ranks of the Cats program.

“I have older cousins who play and I’ve watched them and I’ve really liked it when I watched them,” she added.

Dickson is admittedly very soft-spoken but her play on the court does plenty of talking.

“She’s definitely one of the players who keeps a level head the whole game,” coach Zaina Bird said. “We can count on her to stay focused if it’s game point or if it’s 0-0, it doesn’t matter she’s got the same mentality.

“If the ball is coming to her we know it’s going to hit her if she’s a setter, and whether she steps back to serve she’s always consistent in every skill that she has in volleyball and she is quiet in her words but she speaks volumes in her skills, which is a huge asset for the team.”

In addition to Dickson’s on-court abilities, Bird has learned a lot about her young setter.

“She has a lot of passion for the game, obviously coming from a family of volleyball,” Bird said. “She has so much care for her teammates and for us coaches she’s always very respectful to other players. Her sportsmanship is really amazing.”

However, there are areas of her game Dickson is striving to improve in, including her serve. She feels it isn’t as consistent or powerful as she’d like it to be.

According to Bird, Dickson already has a strong skill set but in order to go far in the sport, which she is already considering, there are things she must strengthen.

“Within herself she sometimes hesitates, I think, and that comes with the communication because if the ball is there with another girl she will usually take it but if she doesn’t she shies away because she is timid about hurting another player,” Bird said. “It’s something as a team we are working on is getting that communication up.

“Her biggest strength would be her positioning, whether it’s setting or hitting, she remains really square all the time.”

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