Happy accident
Sandburg’s Aro realized during 2020 pandemic that he had ideal skill set for volleyball
Jeremiah Aro came to Sandburg as a freshman figuring basketball was going to be his sport.
He was raring to go but missed that season in eighth grade at Century Junior High because it was canceled due to concerns during the pandemic.
As a result of the downtime, Aro said Sandburg’s basketball coaches urged him to take up volleyball because it would help with his jumping ability.
“I was doing volleyball for fun and for basketball,” he said.
The basketball plan took a U-turn when Aro discovered he had the tools to be pretty dominant in the sport that was just supposed to be “for fun.”
The 6-foot-6 junior right-side hitter put down 15 kills and added three aces Tuesday night to help the Eagles pull off a 24-26, 25-11, 25-16 nonconference victory over St. Rita in Chicago.
Will Ashum chipped in with eight kills and three blocks for Sandburg (4-4), while Dominik Szklarz tallied 30 assists and Myles Aquino came up with 14 digs, five assists and three aces.
Lucas Olszewski led St. Rita (3-2) with 11 kills. Aidan Peloquin had seven kills.
As a sophomore, Aro was an explosive player at times. But after the season, he began playing club with Frankfort-based Ultimate and his game took off. He’s planning to take an unofficial visit to Princeton in the upcoming weeks.
“I’ve seen massive improvement,” Aquino said of Aro. “He has a lot more reliability and has more confidence, too. I feel like we can depend on him a lot more.
“He’s a lot more experienced, and I think that after that club season, he knows what to do with the ball. He has really been consistent.”
Sandburg coach David Vales is amazed at Aro’s improvement.
“The sky is literally the limit for