'We can beat anybody'
Tuba City's Roe has high hopes for volleyball team
By Ann Griffis
Special to the Times
TUBA CITY, Oct. 27, 2011
Tuba City's Jamie Roe
Roe is focused right now on making a triumphant finish to her final season with the Tuba City Warriors' volleyball team.
A Division III Section I team, Tuba City is only sixth in the AIA power rankings. However, Roe's goal is to bring home the volleyball state championship this year.
"I'm not impressed with the AIA rankings at all," she said. "We're 13-3. We're in the top four teams in the state because of skill, talent, and teamwork. We can beat anybody from the south."
Tuba City volleyball head coach Harlan Barlow agrees that the team is a state contender. Now in his eighth year coaching, and second year as head coach, Barlow believes the team will win.
"Tuba City went to state last year, when no one expected us to be there," he said. "We surprised a lot of people. We had graduated 10 seniors from the previous year, 2009, when we were the state runner-up. The girls were motivated to prove they could fill the shoes of their predecessors.
"They did fill those shoes! Although most of the girls were young and inexperienced, the team made it to the final four," said Barlow. "This year, we're a favored team to win. Roe is the backbone."
As middle blocker, Roe's duty is to protect the net.
"I have to be present for every block," she said. "If not, people on the opposing team will be free-swinging, getting kill after kill."
Roe dominates the front of the net with her explosive blocking and kills.
"Her block is really high. It's high enough that the opponent is not able to get the ball over. It's like a wall. It makes the hitter think, and creates an error," said Barlow.
Roe is a self-effacing person, who gives all the credit to her teammates for the Warriors' successes: "It starts with that first pass, and the set. If there's no pass, and no set, there's no offense! If I don't get that pass, I'm nothing.
"My team makes me who I am," Roe said.
"When I come out of the game, Becenti is the one who goes in. She controls the tempo, momentums, and intensity level for the team," explains Roe.
Tiona Huskie plays the position of libero, or defensive specialist.
"She comes hard every game. She will sacrifice her body to dig the ball out. She just dives! She has bruised hips and knees," said Roe.
Kamia Yazzie, a sophomore, is the setter.
"She runs our offense, and is taking great responsibility. She's not considered a sophomore, in my eyes. She has knowledge of the game," said Roe, adding, "Kamia's sister, Dakota, was player of the year in Arizona three years ago.
"My teammates are awesome. We make the opponent fight for every single point," said Roe.
In addition to crediting her teammates, Roe is grateful to coach Barlow for emotional support. Volleyball is a quick, intense game, moving as fast as two rotations in 10 minutes.
If Roe or another player makes a mistake, coach Barlow is there to calm and reassure them that everything will be all right, and help them move on.
In the recent Flagstaff Invitational, Roe needed all the emotional support she could get.
"They had a triple block against me!" she said of the Flagstaff team. "I had nowhere to go."
"I was really mad when I read next day in the Arizona Daily Sun that targeting me was their game plan. I didn't want to accept the fact that the team targeted one person," she said.
The opponent's game plan worked. Although the Warriors had won the Payson, Coconino, and Page invitationals, they lost two games against Flagstaff, and lost the tournament.
The Warrior's third loss was against archrival Monument Valley.
"MV is the team we always prepare for. That team has so much talent!" said Barlow. "We beat them at home, but lost there. The MV away game was really close. Without one of our starters, Becenti, the Warriors were still able to hang in there. We'd get a kill, they'd get a kill. It was a tough loss, but pleasing."
"We'll see each other at state. Monument Valley lost three times. Two of the losses were to us," says Barlow.
Roe loves the heated rivalry between Tuba City and Monument Valley and what it says about sports on the rez. Although she has done some of her growing up in Oklahoma, she thinks of Tuba City and the Navajo Reservation as home. Why?
"We play with skill and passion. Basketball is like a religion. Volleyball is becoming that way. We have dominance in those two sports. Among the final four in volleyball, three are usually rez teams," she said. "Playing sports is our thing!"
Roe values team camaraderie, and is looking for that same quality in the college teams that are hoping to recruit her. During a recent visit to NAU, Roe liked how the team reached out to her. She was able to watch one of the practices, stay in the dorm, go to classes with her prospective teammates, and "chill" with them.
Still, she remains undecided about what college she will be playing for following high school graduation in the spring.
"I liked NAU. The team was nice, but I'm making my final decision after I've visited the other schools," she said.
Roe comes from a family of athletes. Don Roe, her paternal grandfather, coached football, basketball, and baseball in the 1960s and '70s for the Tuba City school district, then became athletic director. He is well remembered for his intimidating build, crew cut hairstyle, and prominent class ring from Southeastern Oklahoma University, where he had played collegiate football.
Roe's father, James Roe, is currently the athletic director for Tuba City High. In 2010-11, he coached girls' basketball, and took the team to state.
Roe's mother, Sandra Roe, director of special education for the Tuba City Unified School District, is also an athlete who played basketball and ran cross country and track in high school.
"I grew up in the gym. I'm a gym rat," said Roe, who supplements her team workouts and practices with an independent fitness plan.
"I do speed training with boxes and ladders. With boxes, I get on, off, backward, sideways. It develops explosiveness off the ground. With ladders - or tape on the floor in the shape of ladders - I do different patterns, like two in, two out. It builds up quickness," says Roe.
"She does plyometrics. The workout with boxes and ladders is called plyometrics," explains Roe's dad. "She also does a lot with free weights. She has total body strength."
Roe has had to build up her skills in volleyball. While most of her teammates attended Tuba City Boarding School and began playing in fourth grade, Roe got a late start in eighth grade.
As a freshman at Tuba City High, she still had a lot to learn.
"Jamie Roe has come a long way. When she started, coach Evelyn Kiyaani (retired) and I knew she could learn the game, and go far," says Barlow. "It took a lot of time and patience to teach her to play volleyball. It was all back to basics. But, we knew she was a natural athlete, a very smart athlete, and we wanted to put that talent to use.
"I believe she is ready, right now, to play both basketball and volleyball at the collegiate level," said Barlow.