Could Olivia Schneider be the next Dancing With The Stars contestant?

If so, the St. Charles North senior is already off to a good start as a setter for the North Stars’ volleyball team.

“Footwork is very important,” Schneider said. “If you don’t get your feet in good position and if your hands aren’t high enough, the ball’s not going to come out right.”

Footwork is important to being a good setter, but it’s only part of the equation. As a team’s sparkplug and team leader, a setter has to be many things.

“You need somebody patient and giving, somebody who doesn’t get too tied up emotionally in the match and makes sure the offense is running smoothly,” St. Charles East head coach Jenny Kull said. “They’re the quarterback of your team. They need to be steady and confident.”

Many aspects of volleyball are technical — an outside hitter needs to time the jump and arm swing to meet the ball at its highest point — and so is a setter’s job, but it’s also a very mental part of the game. In addition to speed to get to the passed ball and solid footwork, a setter has to perform the job just so to make the entire offense hum like a well-oiled machine.

“Your hands they tell you to keep your thumb at your hairline and keep your hands high so you can push the ball where you need to push it,” Schneider said.

The setter also needs to be the eyes, ears and brains of the team, and should the need arise any other part of the body as well.

“They need to see what the other team is doing defensively,” Kull said. “They have to remember how the other team sets up its block and they have to know our tendencies and our strengths, and how to use them.

“They really have to understand the game.”

3 keys to playing setter
1. Vocalize You need to be vocal. You need to make sure you tell the hitters where to be and what to do

2. Ball hog You kind of need to be a ball hog. You know the second ball is yours so you have to go after it

3. Work ethic You have to put in a lot of outside practice to be a good setter, otherwise you can kind of fall behind
Source: St. Charles North senior Olivia Schneider

Pro model
Players that epitomize the position

Caitlin Schneider

Olivia Schneider’s older sister was a Republican all-area selection as a senior setter in 2006, and the model by which the younger Schneider patterns her game. “I saw the way she played, the way she ran the team and the confidence she had,” Olivia Schneider said. “It made me realize if I wanted to be a setter I had to take on the leadership role.”