We’re proud to be a part of an ongoing partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is sponsoring our Player of the Week award. We’ll be releasing a featured vballrecruiter.com Player of the Week, sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Tuesdays. Below is this week’s Player of the Week: Marissa Jones.

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From swimming and tennis, to Girl Scouts and Miss America pageants, from community service projects to martial arts, somehow not only was there still time for volleyball but the sport rose above all else for Marissa Jones. The soon-to-be freshman and Class of 2027 5-star recruit just completed the 2022-23 club season setting for A5 14 Helen, which earned an AAU 14 Open silver medal and finished tied for 19th in USAV 14 Open.

She’s preparing to begin her high school varsity career at Woodward Academy Prep School in Georgia. She actually was the first-ever eighth-grader to compete on junior varsity at her school last season, so the high school experience won’t be a total new one. But playing on varsity will. Jones – who loves science, art and math – first started volleyball at 7 and has been playing club now for five seasons. At first she was juggling both beach and indoors, but it was a lot and she decided to focus on indoor only. She naturally gravitated toward the setting position and loves all that goes into it.

“I have always trained as a setter and have played the setter position for the last five years,” Jones said. “Even though I am a physical setter, one aspect I love most about setting is the analytical side of it since I am intrigued with the brain. As a setter, I study the game watching a lot of games from back in the day. I also study both my hitters and opponents. I try to learn my hitters, so I know how to best set them. As a setter, I think it is important to run a smart offense, to isolate or overload my hitters. I study my opponents so I am prepared on the court.”

Jones – who completed middle school with a 4.11 GPA and is enrolled in honor classes at Woodward – has also been influenced by her martial arts training. She currently holds a first-degree black belt and she said the discipline of martial arts has helped with volleyball.

“I started martial arts when I was 5,” Jones said. “It was really cool. As I got older it helped with my meditation and being a peaceful person by controlling my emotions. It helped me with my coordination and to master a lot of different movements.”

While the next four years are going to be spent attending high school and competing in club, the future is an open book. When it comes to volleyball, Jones certainly has aspirations beyond the short term.

“After high school I want to attend college and play as a setter on a D1 level,” she said. “After college, I would like to play as a professional setter and represent my country at the Olympics one day. Once my professional volleyball career is over, I would like to become a doctor. I think neuroscience or dermatology would be cool areas to work in.”

As our featured Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, we recently spoke with Jones about volleyball and more.

Who is your role model or icon you look up to?

Jones: My mom and Alicia Glass are my role models. My mom makes so many sacrifices for our family and is always supportive of not just our family but so many others. Over the last 5 years of my volleyball journey, my mom leaves work early to take me to volleyball practice. Because it takes us about 90 minutes to get there, she waits patiently on me for hours. I feel very blessed that both my parents have never missed any of my games. When COVID-19 happened, my mom was working in public health on the COVID-19 response. While she worked on the COVID-19 response she often spent 13-14 hours a day working tirelessly, but still was always there supporting me on. I have seen how hard she works and she has taught me what it truly means to work hard and help others unconditionally.

I also have admired and looked up to volleyball setter Alicia Glass for a long time. When I first became a setter, my mom asked me to do a book report on setters. As I began to research setters, I realized quickly that there was not many African-American setters that have played on a D1 level or professionally. I learned about Alicia Glass and her many accomplishments as a setter while at Penn State and on a professional level, including the Olympics. I studied her old games and how she led her teams, becoming inspired. I taught myself how to do a setter dump when I was 9 years old after watching Alicia Glass do it in a game. I will never forget I did it in a tournament in Tennessee. I think my coaches and everyone were shocked. After the game, they asked me how did I learn to do it, and I told them watching old players on YouTube and my cousins’ team. Alicia is always so positive on and off the court. I hope to one day be able to meet her.

What is your favorite food?

Jones: I am a pescatarian so I’m not a big meat eater. I will eat some chicken, but mainly fish.
My hands down favorite food is sushi. My all-time favorite food is California roll sushi, broccoli with a Shirley Temple to drink.

What is your favorite tournament of the season?

Jones: I have a few that I like but my all-time favorite hands down is always AAU Nationals. Well, for starters who doesn’t like visiting the Sunshine State with Mickey Mouse? Then you get to compete against great competition with so many good teams from across the nation. I get to see a lot of my friends from clubs like Borinquen, KiVA and OTVA just to name a few. Plus, AAU Nationals is always so supportive and shows a lot of love to me as a player which means a lot. I was selected 3x AAU All-American as a setter, which is such an honor.

What is your favorite team bonding event?

Jones: I think my favorite team bonding event has been when my team went to Main Event one year. We were all so competitive and it was just fun to bowl and play video games joking around with each other.

What is your favorite quote?

Jones: I have two favorite quotes I use routinely in my life. Kobe Bryant always said, “If you do not believe in yourself, no one will do it for you.” The second one I love refers to learning from your challenges and it is: Success is how high you bounce back when you hit the bottom. Always rise up and win.

If you could have a super power, what would it be and why?

Jones: If I could have a super power, I think it would be pretty amazing to pick the power to heal. I would pick the power to heal to help athletes when they get injured. That is so hard to deal with. I would also like to help other people heal when they are sick. I like helping others, and think this would be a great super power.

What do you do outside of volleyball?

Jones: I love art, so outside of volleyball I love to paint, sculpt and visit art museums. I also am an active Girl Scout, so I love going to Girl Scout camp, hiking and working on my service projects. I recently completed the requirements for the Girl Scout Silver award, which is the second-highest award. I also love to swim.

What is one thing that may surprise people about you?

Jones: I think people would be surprised that I was a pageant girl with the Miss America organization for many years. I used to compete and was selected as the Miss Atlanta princess twice, Miss Stone Mountain princess once and won the people’s choice at the Miss Macon pageant. Every year I loved competing in the Miss Georgia Pageant, but when I got serious about volleyball it conflicted with my tournaments so I paused it. The other surprise is that I am big into marital arts and earned my first-degree black belt last year. Martial arts have helped me learn discipline and the power of meditation.

If you could have dinner with anyone past or present, who would it be and why?

Jones: I would pick Michael Jackson because he is my all-time favorite artist. I love his music and dancing. I would ask Mike to look at my moonwalk and give me a few pointers on how to moonwalk like him.

What is your favorite number and why?

Jones: My favorite number is 27, because it was my first jersey number and has stuck with me. It also will be the year that I graduate from high school. I am a spiritual person and it has a symbolic meaning that you are on the right path and doing things in alignment with your divine purpose.