Perfect Effort Starts with a Positive Attitude
Description
Our guest this week embodies the energy and enthusiasm you love to see in young athletes. Frisco’s Jules Hernandez, aka Jules The Rocket, is making her mark in volleyball. Some of the middle schooler’s accolades include GJNC National Champion, USAV High Performance Team, Future Select Team, and a bid to the 2021 AAU Jr Olympics Tournament for beach volleyball.
Enjoy episode #89 and other episodes of Hustle and Pro in our archives.
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Show Notes
[00:07 ] Quick hits with Jules Hernandez
[03:36 ] Sports Jules plays
[05:37 ] Playing style and position
[09:52 ] Accomplishment so far
[12:59 ] Goals
Resources within this episode:
- Jules Hernandez: Instagram | Facebook (Theresa Hernandez)
- Frisco ISD Sports: Website
- Kelly Walker: Bio | Instagram @kelly_walkertexas | Twitter: @kelly_walker_TX
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco:
Transcript: (machine-generated)
Welcome to Hustle & Pro, Season 2, talking sports and Frisco from youth to pro. Now here’s your host, Kelly Walker.
Welcome to today’s episode of Hustle & Pro. So, I want y’all to meet Jules Hernandez, a young volleyball player here in Frisco; making some heads turn. So, I’m excited to get to talk to you and learn about what you’re doing in volleyball. Hi, Jules.
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I’m so honored to be here.
Well, I’m excited. So, I know you’ve just been training a lot of our athletes. They come in here right off the court or the field. So, um, thank you for taking a minute to come and talk to me. Of course. Okay. So, with all of our guests, I’d like to do some quick hits to know you a little better. Okay. So, as far as your favorites – so, who do you look up to? Who are some of your favorite athletes?
Oh, okay. That’s- I have a lot of my favorite athletes. Um, Sarah Sponcil. She is a professional sand volleyball player. Okay. I really relate to her because she plays sand volleyball and I play sand volleyball. And she not lets no ball drop. And I play libero and I let no ball drop and it’s just, I relate to that. That’s awesome. And also I love April Ross because her energy on the court is just amazing. And also I think that’s my two biggest, um, athletes and those are great. Those are great. So, as far as teams in sports that you like to watch, um- I know we’re here to talk about volleyball, but are there other sports that you like to watch when you’re watching TV in different teams that you follow?
I normally just watch volleyball. That’s pretty much my main sport. Um, I don’t really watch other sports other than volleyball. So, no. Your volleyball all the time, all volleyball.Yes, but I do love- I am doing track this year and cross-country.
That’s what I love about middle school. So, we should say that you’re in middle school. And I think that’s one of the best things is when you do get to get, get to the point where you get to be a middle school athlete, a student athlete, you get to try things that you might not have otherwise realized, “Oh, I’m going to try track.” But, um, is it true that your coaches, like, encourage you to try to branch out and try the new things?
Oh, they’re like, “Oh, try basketball. Try soccer. Just do everything.” They do that to all their top athletes here. They’re just like, “Just do everything.”
And it’s so good for you because while you might not pursue that sport for very long, it’s really good to just try it and understand different skills and different things at different seasons and different sports go through and learn different coaching techniques and learn how to work with different types of, um, teammates.
Yes, definitely. Um, middle school is just a perfect time to just see, like, what you like, what you don’t like, just to try new stuff. And that’s why I’m definitely doing track and cross-country because I have good stamina. I’m really fast. And I just love running. It’s good for you then. Yeah, definitely helps. And it keeps me in shape, too, for volleyball. So, that’s really good making me faster on the court, too.
Exactly. All right. So, I always want to know what people’s favorite sports movies are. I know you’re young, you haven’t watched as many sports movies as many of us older folks like me. Do you have any favorite movies that you like that are-
I like Waterboy, um, Adam Sandler, I think that’s, that’s, um, I really liked that one because you know, everyone kind of underestimates him. And everyone’s just like, “Oh, you’re just this guy, you know. No one likes you.” But then he ends up being this amazing player with football.
That’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve had that as an answer. In fact, I know that I haven’t. But, I’ve had some other Adam Sandler, uh, sports movies, like Happy Gilmore. He’s so funny. I know. He’s great. Everything he does is great. Okay. So, I know, like I said, we’re going to talk about your volleyball world today. Um, and I wanted to know those other sports, which is great because I do think those skills help you. So, I always want to know, like from pro athletes, how far into your life did you play those other sports versus when you started focusing? So, you are at the age today where most of those athletes, their answer is, “When I was in middle school – when I was finishing middle school – when I starting high school – is when I dropped some of the other,” um, just, you know, sports that they knew they weren’t going to be kind of their main thing. Many of them do like you said and play an off season, like in track or whatever. But, um, they started to really, really hunker down and focus on that main sport, um, you know, seventh, eighth, ninth grade. So, my question to you is- it sounds like you’ve already, you know, decided that volleyball is your thing. So, when did that happen? And kind of tell me a little bit about that.
So, uh, volleyball, really started to get serious for me when my coach, Alex, um, asked me to be an alternate for his Elevens team and go to Nationals. And we won bronze medal that year. And after that, I was like, wow, this is, I love this. This is so fun. I want to do this again. And I’m going to come back this year and win. And that’s when it really kind of started to become just – I love competitiveness and the fire of it. And I was like, “I’m going to come back and win.” And that’s when it became serious.
So, help me with the math. Like, how old were you when that happened?
When my coach asked me to go, I don’t know, I was 10. Okay.
Okay. See, that’s good. That makes me feel better. I didn’t let my kids pick a one-sport to focus on or play club or competitively ’til 10 because I feel like sometimes when you do that earlier than that-
It’s just good to have to fun. Yeah. It’s just good to have fun and just try new things, make friends, you know.
Okay. So, I want to know more about you as a player, your playing style, um, your position. I know you mentioned libero earlier, so, so that one’s answered. But, um, so tell me about the Jules, The Rocket. Like, I see that hashtag or whatever when I watch your Instagram stuff. So, I feel like that is like, kind of like embodies your personality out there, right? So, tell me how that came about and how you feel like your personality.
It’s a really good story. Okay. Um, so I was on my Coach Alex’s team at the time, and this is when he asked me to be an alternate for his Elevens team. And every girl on the team had a nickname, but I didn’t. And so
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