Two Anderson teens head to Florida to play AAU Volley Ball

Ready, SET, go: Raschel Noble (Right) and Hannah Dykstra of Anderson are two of the eleven girls from Shasta County that will be traveling to Orlando, Florida on June 17 to play in a National Amateur Athletic Union Volley Ball Tournament at Disney World. Both young ladies play for the Shasta Magic.

Raschel Noble, 17, and Hannah Dykstra, 16, both of Anderson, have been playing the sport of volleyball for the past five years will be traveling with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) volley ball team, The Shasta Magic to Orlando, Florida to play in a National AAU Tournament at Disney World. Their other nine teammates are from area schools including University Preparatory, Foothill, Enterprise and Shasta College. They will depart from Redding on Tuesday, June 15. Upon their arrival in Florida, they will play in a three day round robin tournament then continue on to play an elimination tournament. They will also be able to spend a few days in Orlando visiting Disney World and seeing the different sites. The team will then return home on Thursday, June 24th.

Both Raschel and Hannah spend six months out of the year playing volleyball, for school and for the Amateur Athletic Union.

Raschel plays the position of Middle Blocker and Outside Hitter. She enjoys being able to hit the ball and being a team. Raschel will be a senior at Anderson Union High School in the fall. After high school, she plans to attend Chico State University, majoring in Civil Engineering.

Raschel is the daughter of Larry and Marti Noble of Anderson.

"I enjoy being a team. Everyone is there for each other and working together," said Raschel.

Hannah enjoys the intensity of the game and imagines the sets that she will put up, for another teammate to spike the ball. Together the team spends time mentally preparing for each game.

Hannah plays the position of Setter.

Both Raschel and Hannah are excited about going to play volleyball in Orlando. The Shasta Magic picked them up approximately three weeks ago, so the entire team has had three weeks to practice as one, preparing for tournament.

"Every member of the team brings their own skill with them into the game, making the team stronger," said Hannah. "Even if we are not winning, it will still be an experience of a lifetime."

Hannah is the daughter of Ted and Liz Dykstra of Anderson. Hannah is planning to attend University of California at San Diego after graduation to go into the field of Sports Medicine or Physical Therapy. In the fall, she will be a Junior at Anderson Union High School.

The parents of both Raschel and Hannah attend all of their games and are supportive of their daughters' pursuit in the game of volleyball. Both Raschel and Hannah plan on playing volleyball in college.

Holly Bredemann is the coach of the Shasta Magic AAU volleyball team. Both girls have also learned a lot from previous coaching at Anderson from Pablo Lana who coached the varsity girls' team and has also coached AAU teams that both girls have played on. Susan Romero will be the 2010 coach for the high school.

"Pablo has been a positive influence on us. He is knowledgeable of the game and has been a great coach," agreed both Raschel and Hannah. Spending the past five years playing volley ball has helped both girls in different ways besides the love of the sport and the hopes of scholarships, they are pushing harder to get school work done, figuring out what colleges to attend to be able to play volley ball and teaching the game to others. Besides playing volleyball, Raschel plays softball and basketball. Hannah participates in softball and cheer leading.