Rising Star/South Georgia/October 2013
Ellie Stark
Valwood School
Valdosta, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Every once in a while it’s good to turn over a new leaf and try something new. Ellie Stark, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Valwood, decided this year would be a good one to do that very thing. In the past, she had always spent her late summer/early fall playing softball. This season, she decided to lay down her glove and bat to play volleyball.
Her volleyball career is beginning at the same time as Valwood’s – this is the first time Valwood has had a volleyball team. Stark really didn’t know what to expect playing organized volleyball but she has been pleasantly surprised with how things have turned out. “I’m enjoying playing volleyball. It’s a lot of fun and I’ve done better than I expected,” she says.Volleyball is a game of communication and precision. Good volleyball teams are made of players who are great communicators. Athletic ability is always good to have, but an athletic player who doesn’t communicate well doesn’t do a volleyball team much good. That’s one of the earliest lessons Stark had to learn and it is something she keeps in mind each time she steps on the court. When Stark spoke with In the Game, it was early in the season and the Valiants were just getting their volleyball legs under them. Valwood had won two games and Stark was playing on the varsity team with the high school girls. She plays left back, and her job is to recover the ball after a spike and move it up to the hitters. “I’ve been working on my overall skills. Since I’ve never played before, I need to learn the game. I’m trying to improve my passing and be more efficient there,” she says.Another sport she has played for quite a while and for which she has shown a great deal of talent is basketball. Stark usually plays on the post or the wing and is very good defensively. 
This year, Stark could find herself playing with the varsity as well. “I love going after the ball. I try to get the ball any time I can. I don’t mind battling for it at all,” she says. One of her primary goals for the upcoming season is to get better offensively. She would like to get better from the free throw line and shooting in general. She is also doing dribbling drills on a Rip Stick. “I need to work on my ball control and that’s a good way to practice.”Stark is also a very good student who stays busy reading, and working as president of the Student Council and on Odyssey of the Mind projects.
Stark has been selected as a participant in the Duke Talent Identification Program and last year missed her basketball team’s playoff game to take the SAT for the program. “I was upset that I couldn’t be at the game but I had to take the test. It was a rare opportunity and I had to take it,” she says. She scored above average, according to Duke’s selection criteria.Stark is one of the rare students who not only enjoys reading but she prefers to hold a book in her hands – no Kindles or other electronic devices. “I just enjoy picking up a 
book. I read because my mom reads. I grew into it as I got older,” she says. Her favorites are the books in The Mortal Instruments series. What about that other series popular with young adults? “I haven’t read the Twilight books. And I don’t plan on it.
Ellie Stark also plays soccer. A defender, she has played soccer most of her life. She enjoys the game but she has really fallen in love with volleyball. As she gets into high school, she could see herself really focusing on volleyball. “I play soccer for fun. It’s something just enjoy doing,” she says.Favorites:
• Sport you wish you could play: Swimming
• Subject: Science
• Least favorite: Math
• Last movie: Safe Haven
• Dogs or cats? Dogs
• Pepsi or Coke? Coke
• Superpower: Fly
