The face in the mirror belongs to a libero

Looking back in the mirror each morning is a volleyball specialist. Looking back is a libero who digs up rocket spikes that can’t be dug up. Looking back is a defensive star who walks onto the court for the first serve and doesn’t leave until the last point.

Though she is barely 15, Amelia Held looks in the mirror each morning and knows who she is.

Or does she?

Vincent Bingham isn’t so sure. The former longtime coach of the Jefferson County Jets Track Club now is the director of operations for the University of Kansas track and field program. He looks at Held and sees a gold medals and blue ribbons. He remembers her Jets’ days and sees Held as a successor to Jets greats Brittany Borman and Alyssa Allison, both collegiate standouts with U.S. national team experience on their resumes.

Aaron Portell may not be certain either. Held bloomed into one of Jefferson County’s top freshmen basketball talents for Portell’s 26-3 St. Pius team last winter. In the winter season’s most memorable game – St. Pius X’s 65-59 three-overtime win at De Soto – she came off the bench and scored 12 points and made five steals in a game that decided the JCC race.

Maybe even Chris Reid isn’t so sure. After an injury sidelined his team’s top hitter, the St. Louis CYC Green coach penciled his defensive specialist into the key role for last month’s USA Volleyball junior nationals at Reno, Nev. Held delivered a head-turning showing as an outside hitter, powering the team to a third-place finish in the U-15 age group and earning a spot on the all-tournament team.

So is she? Or isn’t she?

Is she the libero she sees in the mirror? Or is she a track star? A basketball standout? A powerhouse outside hitter?

Held feels the tugs to other sports and other positions. She hears the talk about basketball and, especially, track where Bingham coached her to high jump and multi-event national titles at the Junior Olympics. Bingham doesn’t hesitate to point out that there could be a bright future if she commits to track.

“He’s tried (to talk her into focusing on track) and I assume he’ll keep trying,” Held says.

Volleyball, though, is her love. Specifically, playing libero has her heart.

“I’ve been a libero pretty much the whole time I’ve played (club ball),” says the St. Pius sophomore.

As a libero, she is the center fielder who challenges the best hitters in the country to deliver a hit she can’t chase down.

“As long as you have the right attitude, I think you can pretty much get anything up,” she says.

That theory gets a test when she’s plays for St. Pius and faces the top hitters in the Jefferson County Conference.

And the tests get tougher when her CYC club team faces the top teams in the Midwest and, at nationals, the best teams in the country.

“It’s a challenge. That’s why I like playing better competition,” she says.

“I think it’s fun.”

Fun is no small part of the mix for Held. Good thing since volleyball is penciled onto her calendar most days, weeks and months of the year. She plays 2 1/2 months with her St. Pius team and follows with 8 1/2 months with her club team.

“There’s plenty of volleyball,” she says of the schedule.

Plenty is not too much for Held. When high school practice begins Aug. 9, she’ll be anxious. Same for when club practices start again in November.

The plenty of club ball is what Held loves most.

“Our team likes to work,” she says of the two- and three-time -a-week practice sessions team holds from winter to spring to summer. “It’s like non-stop repetitions.”

The test of non-stop practice reps and top-level competition connects Held and her CYC Green teammates like sisters.

“It’s so intense,” she says.

That is especially true late in the year when national honors are up for grabs. Held’s team has been to the junior nationals each of the last three years and has finished first (2008), third (2010) and fifth (2009).

This year’s national tournament was different because Held was filling in for the injured Melanie Crow at outside hitter.

“That was a lot of fun. It was really exciting,” she says. “It was like a new experience.”

Held says she’ll go back to playing libero when club play resumes in November. As impressive as her play was at the junior nationals, she is a better fit at defensive specialist.

“I’m not big enough (to be a top hitter),” she says. “If you’re a really good hitter, you’re usually 6-foot or taller.”

The pressure to perform is ratcheted to a high level in club play.

But the dial is turned to 11 when national tournament time comes around.

Every serve, every spike, every dig is crucial. Every moment is magnified.

“It does get overwhelming,” Held says.

Overwhelming, though, is what Held and her CYC sisters want. It is why they practice. It is why they play.

“That’s what we look forward to the entire season,” she says.

And that’s why, when she looks in the mirror each morning, she knows who will be looking back.

It will be a volleyball player.

Because that’s who she is.