The Oak Park boys’ varsity volleyball team has been CIF champions for three years in a row.

The majority of the team’s players — 12 of 15— are seniors, approaching their final season at Oak Park High School, and they’ve some goals to accomplish: team bonding, team focus and, of course, a trip to state.

Senior and setter Adam Parks wrote that working together as one unit will be crucial for the team’s success.

“The team needs to focus on all of us playing together for each other. We have to have a mindset that we are playing for one another as family and not playing for ourselves. We have a lot to prove this year and it can only be done as a team as a whole,” Adam Parks wrote.

Senior and outside hitter Alex Parks agreed that bonding as a team is an important aspect of the sport.

“In order to be successful, we need to bond more as a team and actually become a family instead of just teammates on the court. We need to practice well and take every moment on the court seriously,” Alex Parks wrote.

When describing the community that already exists in this senior-dominated team, junior and outside Tim Baldwin wrote that the general atmosphere is fun and hardworking.

“Our coach, Adam Quinn, does a great job of having us all work together as a team and we all know each other really well. It makes our practices a really unique environment where a lot of growth is able to be achieved,” Baldwin wrote.

Adam Parks said he thinks that there will be a difference in performance between last season and this season.

“We picked up a new player and have all had a lot more experience through club volleyball and practices. We are constantly pushing each other and are constantly improving in some areas. We have a lot more to prove this year and we are doing our best [to] step up and rise to the occasions,” Adam Parks wrote.

Winning at state is one of the team’s main hopes, according to Alex Parks.

“My hopes for this season are to make it back to state after winning a third CIF in a row and to actually win a state ring this year,” Alex Parks wrote.

Adam Parks said he shares the goal and says that it will be a challenge to overcome.

“I hope to step it up and become an even stronger team than last year,” Adam Parks wrote. “Going into Division 1 this year for CIF is a bigger challenge for us and I hope to rise to the occasion and prove that that’s where we belong.”

Next year, after the Parks brothers depart for to play for the University of California, Los Angeles, and the rest of the seniors move on to other schools, the varsity team will need new faces and new talent.

“It’s going to be a transition period without them,” Baldwin wrote, “but the Oak Park volleyball program is such a strong program, and there are a few sophomores that are really going to go far in volleyball.”