Joliet's Murray isn't one to sit

FRANKFORT — Phil Murray didn’t need to wrap a medallion around his neck or lug home a trophy to confirm what he already knew about himself and his teammates.

He was a winner when he stepped on the bus at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, a 30-minute ride separating him from the resumption of play in a 16-team boys volleyball tournament at Lincoln-Way East High School.

Murray was operating on the power of a heavily caffeinated energy drink he purchased a few minutes before at a neighborhood drug store. He slept a solid three hours — his words — after attending prom on Friday.

He chose not to stay in bed and bask in afterglow of sharing a special night with a special friend. Rather, he chose to participate and to throw himself out there on the court as an example of what a well-rounded educational experience can do for a young man or woman.

Murray is a 6-foot-4 senior who plays the middle hitter position for the Joliet Township boys volleyball team that dropped four matches over two days at Lincoln-Way East. The string of setbacks clipped JT’s record from 14-8 to 14-12.

The record is not an accurate measure of what Murray and his teammates took from the act of competing against a group of peers for points and a sense of self-worth. Too often emphasis is placed solely on winning and losing in sports, even on the high school level. More attention should be paid to how sports teach young people time management skills and prepare them to carry on later in life.

Just as classroom grades are important, so too can there be a social value assigned to attending a big dance. And one of the most important and sometimes most overlooked aspects of any young person’s education is also one of the most confounding concepts to grasp. Involvement.

No one should be allowed to sit on the sidelines. Sports like boys volleyball and girls water polo are gaining in popularity because of people like Murray. Other sports — like field hockey and bass fishing — are growing awareness legs, if not yet sprouting in stature or emerging in public perception.

Murray ranks in the top 25 of a graduating class of more than 500 students at JT West. He is a candidate for the school’s prestigious Mr. Alpha Omega award, given annually to the young man who finds across-the-board success. He was a runner at Troy Middle School before turning to volleyball and, more recently, swimming at JT, an unlikely turn of events in a school district with two campuses but no pool.

He set four school records in his first year swimming, including one in the 50 freestyle. He has plans to head off to the University of Illinois in the fall, to study aerospace or electrical engineering.

Chances are, he will swim regularly over the summer months. He most assuredly will play volleyball after he leaves JT, but in a sand pit, on a beach or at a backyard picnic, not in a competitive atmosphere like the one at Lincoln-Way East. He was one of five JT players to miss pool play on Friday, three of them starters. Four of the five attended prom — with coach Jason Herrmann’s blessings. The other was out of town over the weekend with his family because of a relative’s wedding in Michigan.

Murray, the Frederick twins — Dylan and Greg — and Joe Eskridge all returned for matches against Stagg and the Lincoln-Way East junior varsity squad. None of them were up to their usual snuff, not that it mattered. The quality of their play was of less consequence than the motives behind their actions.

“I guess it’s dedication to the team,” Murray said. “Prom is a big event. They schedule this tournament on our prom weekend pretty much every year, so we kind of knew it was coming. But it really hurt us to miss last night, with me and the Fredericks being gone, missing some key players there. We lost some tough matches to Naperville North and JCA.

“Then, coming back today, we want to be there for the rest of the guys. We’re role models for the sophomores. We can’t be missing things because we want to stay out as late as possible. We wanted to be here to set an example so when the sophomores move up next year they can set an example for the freshmen and so on and so forth.”

Murray’s example is one of finding a way — his multi-tasking skills sure to serve him well as days go by and years are put under his belt.

“Anyone can get all their homework in for the year if all they do is school,” he said.

Those who dare to go above and beyond are the real winners.

“I think it relates to real life,” Herrmann said. “As an adult, we all have multiple things we have to go to and do. You have family responsibilities. You have work responsibilities. And you have to juggle.

“And, to be a well-rounded person, you have to be good at all of those things. For me — and I think it’s this way for most coaches — the job is to instill those types of character traits into your players.”

Herrmann uses volleyball as a teaching tool, a means to an end. He was touched recently to meet up with and/or coach against three of his former players, Bobby Richardson (Plainfield Central), Barbie Miller (IMSA) and Melissa Barney (Plainfield East). At one time or another, they all made it up on time to catch that 7:30 a.m. bus, too.