Olivia Wells
ASU Student Journalist

Paradise Valley's Amelia Casebolt realizing her greatness

November 3, 2020 by Olivia Wells, Arizona State University


Amelia Casebolt serving the ball during a game.

Olivia Wells is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Paradise Valley High School for AZPreps365.com. 

The core of Paradise Valley varsity volleyball’s defensive game takes form in 6-foot middle Amelia Casebolt.

Volleyball has been a part of Casebolt’s life since she was 7-years old. She learned from her babysitter, who played volleyball in high school and would take Casebolt and her older sister to her games and teach them how to play.

Marissa Scheeler, Casebolt’s former babysitter and now one of her club volleyball coaches has been a huge supporter of Casebolt’s volleyball career. Casebolt’s first volleyball coach, Scheeler has gotten to watch Casebolt grow as a person and as a player.

“Me babysitting consisted of giving them passing reps and start them playing volleyball,'' Scheeler said. "We would go to the park across the street and play volleyball all day long, and she loved it.”

Casebolt remembers when she felt like giving up volleyball, Scheeler was there to bring her back.

 “I was planning on not playing club that season,'' she said. "I was really emotionally worn down by how I was treated at my old club team, and junior year was the hardest for me school wise, so I didn’t think I was going to play club, I was just going to not play and just do school senior year. But, the club (Scheeler) was coaching called 'Ignite' needed a middle, and she contacted me saying, ‘Hey, we need a middle and I know you’re good enough to be on this team.' At first, I wasn’t going to because I was content on just quitting but I went to the tryouts and it turned out that I knew the whole team, I’d played with them in the past or played against them so I knew how they played. They were all so welcoming, even though I showed up last minute, and I feel like they really encouraged me to keep playing.”

Casebolt loves her club team now, and she hopes that it will get a season this year, because she wants to play with her teammates again. She used to hate playing when she was at her old club, but now she looks forward to every practice and game with the Ignite club.

The Trojans are definitely glad Casebolt decided to keep playing. Casebolt has proved to be a dependable teammate, making sure to block opponents' attempts and land a hit when needed. Scheeler said that Casebolt has improved on reading her blocks.

 “It’s such a fast-paced game, seeing where the ball is going next, especially when you’re in the middle of the court, you have to make such a quick judgment call and try to get to the pins as fast as possible and she has done a really good job on being the first to close that block,'' she said. "She’s definitely made a huge improvement on that.”

Casebolt’s older sister, Claire, used to play for the Paradise Valley varsity team, and they had played together when Casebolt would get moved up from junior varsity. Even though the sisters are close, Casebolt’s sister remembers it was a little strange for her.

“It’s weird to play with your sister, especially when you’re older than her,” Claire said, laughing. “But she’s a really good athlete, she’s a really competitive person and really focused on what she can do to help the team out. I always appreciated that about her.”

Casebolt found that when her sister and the other seniors graduated, she had big shoes to fill on varsity.

“The team before us was such a strong team so when we had to fill in, we had to hold ourselves to that standard but we didn’t know how it should be,'' she said. "It was kind of disappointing during our games, but we still won a lot of our games. It was just hard with such large shoes to fill but we grew a lot from it.”

On the court, Casebolt sometimes feels that when something goes wrong, even if it’s not her fault, she blames herself. Not every day is a good day, and Casebolt has worked hard on improving her mindset and her coaches and teammates have been there to help bring her up.

Casebolt’s team supports her because they know she’s great, and they want her to see that, too. Scheeler said: “I know she has it inside of her. In her eyes she’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I can,’ but we [the coaches] know that she can do it. It’s just about her realizing she’s there.”

After high school, Casebolt doesn’t know specifically what she wants to do, but she wants to keep playing volleyball and find her academic passion. She would like to do something creative, but she hasn’t quite found the perfect fit.

 “If she can find a happy balance that will keep her in the sport and somewhere high in academics, I think she will excel there,'' Sheeler said. "So I’d love for her to find that. I hope to help her find that and I think that’s what would be great for her.”

Her sister has confidence in whatever Casebolt does.

 “Her future is bright,'' Claire said. "I know that she has so many options and so much to find out about herself, she just needs to keep going and keep a smile on her face, and be the amazing Amelia Casebolt that we all know and love.”