If you really knew Jinny Park, you would know that her real name before seventh grade was Eun Jin Park.  Anyone that pronounced her name wrong would always be scolded. “It’s Eun Jin, like Dungeon” her doting friends would say in grade school. After countless years of mispronunciations and frustrating corrections, Eun Jin decided that she could no longer keep going on with this. Throughout grade school, the name “Jinny” slowly became her popular nickname. So after she and her family completed all the documents and went through the long process, Jinny Park was born.

Jinny Park is a senior at Niles West. She is also one of the four captains of the volleyball team, alongside with Milena Zalloni, Sam Chao, and Molly Kleppin. You can always hear her livening up the spirits on the team when she shouts “It’s okay, get the next one,” or “push points, one at a time.” Her bubbly personality and natural leadership are always recognized on the court.

[singlepic id=196 w=320 h=240 float=left]Her volleyball career started in sixth grade. When she tried out at Park View with a “hey, let’s see what happens” type of personality, she was fortunate enough to be one of the few 6th graders to make the team that was split with the seventh graders. From then on, her passion for volleyball kept expanding. In eighth grade, she went out for Velocity, a travel team for West area students. There she was able to build stronger relationships with the coaches and experiment more with some of her team members now, like Brinda Shah. After doing Velocity for two years, she decided she wanted more of a challenge and looked into doing Energy volleyball. Since she knew her coaches more as friends at Velocity, she was looking to play with a more strict group of people and get a feel for volleyball players from other schools as well. Some of her teammates were also a part of this as well, including Juniors Krista Grunst, Laura Krikorian and Emily English. She did Energy for sophomore and junior year, then decided to quit it for senior year. “I just want to enjoy my senior year and my free time,” she says. As for her future with her volleyball career, she decided not to play in college. “I want to have a college life, and when you play volleyball, it becomes your whole life practically,” she says.

On the court, you’ll find that Jinny’s goofy charm is left at the door, since she knows that game time means focus time. Now and then she happens to mess up, but never let’s it get her spirits down. “I remember this one time where I was going for the ball after it was hit out,” she reminisces. “I went to go stop the ball with my feet, like they do in soccer, but I totally missed it and tripped and fell backwards,” she laughs. “It was so embarrassing!”

Off the court, Jinny is like any other regular teenager. Whenever she watches TV, That 70’s Show is the biggest hit with her. “I love all the characters,” she says. “Especially Kelso!” Being quiet is not at all a characteristic that Jinny possesses. Her jokester character always seems to charm everyone she meets and she can always find a topic to talk about with someone. Sushi is her preferable choice when it comes to her favorite food. “It’s the Asian in me,” she jokes.

“Subbing in..number 7, Jinny Park,” says the announcer on the sidelines of the Varsity Volleyball game. Jinny rushes in to serve. She grabs the ball, intensity and sweat running down her face, as she gets ready to serve. The gym is quiet as she throws the ball straight up in the air. Her body moves together while she jumps, and her right arm swiftly smacks against the rubber surface of the ball, with power, yet still controlled. The ball soars through the air while both teams focus on it’s exact movement. The balls flight comes to an end as it comes towards the other teams court. All six opposing players seem stunned during this time, not one of them in a confident position. The volleyball nears the floor, and suddenly the referee’s whistle blows, at the same time when the ball collides with the floor, not once hit by the other team, indicating a direct point for Niles West. The West girls come together, patting Jinny in a “Good Job” sort of way, and cheering in a cute clap like they always do when they win a point. The other side rolls the ball under the net, and Jinny takes it, ready to serve again.