Volleyball remains constant for Rochester’s Jackson Smith through multiple cross-country moves – Post Bulletin

ROCHESTER — Jackson Smith is no stranger to change.

After all, he’s lived in six different cities throughout his young life. One constant has remained: volleyball.

Smith was born in Selma, Ala., to his parents, including his dad, who is a pastor at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester. As the son of a pastor, Smith moved around a lot with his family. From Alabama to Ruston, La., then Fort Worth, Texas, to Milwaukee, Wis. and Orlando, Fla., before ultimately landing in Minnesota.

“(Volleyball has) been super constant for me. I know I can at least go to the sport that I love playing, no matter where it is,” Smith, a senior outside hitter on the Rochester Mayo/Century/John Marshall boys volleyball team, said.

After he graduates from Mayo High School on Saturday, Smith will move once more for college to study and play men’s volleyball at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Maya Giron / Post Bulletin

One of the most recent changes in his life came when he learned boys volleyball would become an official varsity sport in Minnesota, sanctioned by the MSHSL.

Smith was introduced to volleyball in middle school in Orlando, playing sixth through eighth grade until he came to Rochester for high school. Smith tried out a few different sports for the Spartans, including football, basketball and track, but always came back to volleyball. He became an integral part of the boys club volleyball scene in town and was more than ready to step into a leading role this season.

Honestly, it’s a change he never anticipated. During his freshman year in 2022, Smith attended the meeting where the proposal to make boys volleyball a sanctioned sport in Minnesota was on the table. The proposal failed by one vote.

It eventually passed the following spring

with the first official season set for 2024-25.

After everything, Smith still wasn’t sure if Rochester would have a team if it couldn’t find players or raise enough funds. That was until head coach Deb Frederick gave him and the other dedicated club players the green light.

“It’s been really cool to see the growth and development,” Smith said. “I think just seeing it all unfold is kind of surreal in a way, because I didn’t expect any of this to happen. … But when coach pulled us aside and was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a team this year,’ I was like, Oh my gosh.

“It didn’t matter who we played, didn’t matter what jersey we wore, I just knew that I was playing my actual high school sport. It’s just a bunch of gratefulness, a bunch of just being thankful for everyone who’s been a part of it. … The fact that we’re having practice right now is just such a blessing in general.”

It all came full circle.

Smith undoubtedly left his mark on the Mayo club team and now with the Rochester co-op team. This season, he leads the Spartans on the stats sheet almost every night, but he also leads by example in practice and beyond. Frederick knows exactly how much he means to the budding program.

“This is year four for him, with me, so we’ve gotten along most of the time,” Frederick said with a smile. “But like most coaches and athletes who you trust, there’s always growing pains. I will be sad to see him go. He’s a good kid. He’s a good human being.”

The first season has been a learning experience for both new and experienced players. They’ve worked on team bonding, getting to know each other as classmates first and teammates second.

Recently, they’ve discovered the importance of starting a match off strong and having a short-term memory of mistakes. These are both skills they will carry into the playoffs; the Spartans earned the No. 3 seed and open the Section 1 tournament at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mayo against New Prague.

“We need to start off games swinging, like be aggressive coming out of the gate,” Smith said of the Spartans, who finished the regular season at a solid 14-7. “And when things start to (go) not our way, on to the next point. Forget about it. If you and a teammate did something wrong, next point. Forget about the play. … We say, ‘be a goldfish.’”

As much as Smith is a natural leader, this sport and this year taught him it’s OK to take the backseat now and then.

“Early in my career, you could say, I thought I had to be Superman and play everything and be everywhere,” he said. “But in reality, if we want to win, if we want to go far in the postseason, even in college, even for the club I play for, I need to learn to just play my position and trust my teammates. They’ve got this.”

As he prepares for his first and final varsity playoff run, Smith said he is taking time to think and pray. His faith means everything to him, and it’s true now more than ever as he finishes out the season and gets ready to start his next chapter.

“Just trying to see what the Lord has for us,” Smith said. “Reading my bible is the thing that helps me a lot. It kind of calms me down for the playoffs, especially when things are ramped up and we don’t know who we’re going to play. We might play Austin for a fifth time this season; we just don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of nerves going in.”

Of the 10 teams in the Section 1 tournament bracket, the top six seeds will receive a first-round bye. First-round games will be played Tuesday, May 27, at the higher-seeded schools.

Mayo/Century/JM drew the No. 3 seed and is joined in the bracket by No. 5 Austin (12-10) and No. 10 Southland (0-5). The Rebels will face No. 7 Lakeville South in the first round at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Spartans and Packers automatically advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 28. Rochester will host No. 6 New Prague while Austin heads to No. 4 Farmington. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.

The MSHSL boys volleyball state tournament is set for June 10-12 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.