Ever wondered what the girls on the LHHS varsity volleyball team are saying to each other when they huddle together before a big point and whisper secretly? LH senior Christina Flanagan shared the scoop: “we growl at each other – the Wildcat roaaaaar – to get the team pumped up.”
Christina plays libero for the Cats – that’s the player with flexible rotation rules who wears a jersey of a different color. Her teammates call her “Flanny”, or “Diva” when she gets particularly excited after winning a point and celebrating with a flourish. Before big games, you can find her in her room at home, getting focused with the lights off and her ipod on.
Christina hopes to attend Texas A&M, home of her role model, Tori Mellinger. Christina won’t be playing volleyball there, as Tori does, but she says Tori is one of closest friends and has a contagious positive attitude. “Tori will throw herself on the ground for a ball, she never gives up,” Christina told me, “and I want to finish my senior year playing like that.” She thinks winning the regional finals is a realistic goal for this team, “especially if we become more scrappy and keep the ball.” She says the new coach, Melissa Christman, has “been a friend on and off the court” and adds “I like the way she runs practices, she pushes us.”
When she’s not playing volleyball, Christina listens to Brad Paisley and watches her favorite movie, The Notebook. She’s a pet lover and shared that one day, when her dog was a new puppy, she walked outside to discover that the dog had fallen in the pool and was drowning. “I jumped in with my clothes on and saved it,” she said. Sounds pretty “scrappy” to me.
