Misfortune can throw athletes off their game, or inspire them to respond with more determination and drive.
Reeths-Puffer volleyball standout Madisyn Dykema chose the healthier approach, and she’s having a great senior season because of it.
Dykema transferred to R-P from Hudsonville High School at the start of her junior year, then was frustrated to learn that she was ineligible to play for the Rockets last fall, due to Michigan High School Athletic Association transfer rules.
She was upset about missing an entire high school season, but instead of dwelling on her disappointment, she focused on learning and improving her game during her year on the bench.
Over the winter Dykema accepted a challenge from her travel team coach and moved from middle hitter to outside hitter, where she had to develop more power and agility. That turned out to be a very good thing for the Reeths-Puffer team this season.
R-P Coach Justin Birr knew his biggest challenge this year was finding a big hitter to replace standout Brianna Stawski, who graduated in the spring.
Luckily Dykema stepped right into that role, after training all winter to be a more powerful hitter. She’s off to a great start this season, leading the Rockets with 47 kills through eight matches and giving opponents someone to fear at the net.
So it looks like everything is working out pretty well for Dykema and the Rockets, after all.
“She’s doing a great job,” said Coach Birr, whose team is 3-3-2 so far this year and will play Muskegon on the road on Thursday. “She filled a pretty big void. She’s one of those oddballs at Reeths-Puffer – a single-sport athlete – and she’s very motivated. She has definitely improved if you look at her vertical jump and swing mechanics.”
Dykema serves during an early season match in Coopersville.
Dykema’s story is unusual in several ways. For starters, she didn’t transfer out of Hudsonville because she had to. She chose to because she wanted to have a new experience.
Her parents purchased a home in the R-P district in 2020, but still kept their Hudsonville home. Dykema stayed at Hudsonville High School for her sophomore year before transferring to R-P.
“My parents were like, if you wanted to switch schools that’s always an option,” Dykema said. “At that time the thought had never crossed my mind, and I told them that I was fine. But around the middle of my sophomore year I started wondering what it would be like. Was I missing out on a new adventure? So at the end of the school year I talked to my parents and my coach and decided I wanted to try something new.”
Her decision automatically made Dykema a frequent traveler, because her family still lives in Hudsonville for most of the school year, so she has to make the 45-minute drive back and forth between home and R-P every weekday.
“My brother is a junior at Hudsonville, he wants to finish there, and my parents were not going to force him to transfer, so I drive and it works out well for both of us,” Dykema said. “I do a lot of driving. I did not dislike Hudsonville. The two schools are just on different sides of the spectrum, and I’m glad I got to experience both.”
Dykema (6) has improved her defensive game and now is able to play well in the back row.
Her decision also kept her on the bench during her junior season of volleyball, something she realized was possible when she transferred to Reeths-Puffer.
She said R-P Athletic Director Cliff Sandee dug deep into MHSAA rules to see if there was a way for her to play, but she had to settle for practicing with the 2021 Rockets and watching the matches from the bench.
Dykema said that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“It was a bummer at first, but looking back now, I’m very appreciative of the fact that I was not able to play,” she said. “You experience a whole new level of the game from the bench. I learned so much more.”
She said one good example was being able to observe players on the court and how they react to certain situations.
“There’s a dynamic in volleyball, physical and mental,” Dykema said. “I noticed that if someone struggles a bit and gets upset, sometimes the whole team does the same. I learned that no matter what happens on the court, you have to have the mental part down.”
Dykema leads R-P in kills, a main offensive stat, and digs, a main defensive stat.
Dykema has done more than improve her offensive and mental skills this season.
During preseason workouts, she accepted a challenge from Coach Birr to become a better defensive player so she could stay on the court when she rotated to the back row. She answered that challenge and has become one of Reeths-Puffer’s better defensive players with a team-leading 37 digs.
It’s pretty rare for a team’s top offensive hitter to also be a top defensive player, but Dykema is doing it.
“Usually hitters are not the best passers or defenders, so you usually rotate them out and put defensive specialists in, but from what I’ve seen she’s a full rotation player,” Birr said.
“I had never played in the back row in my life,” said Dykema, a tall player at 5-foot-11. “I was never a passer, always a hitter. I was put in to hit then taken out. But when the coach mentioned he wanted to put me in the back row, I worked all summer to get it down.
"I had my brother and neighbors and friends hitting the ball at me. I told them to swing as hard as they could. My coach gave me the opportunity, and I didn’t want to let my team down.”
Dykema’s willingness to have a positive attitude about her lost season, her decision to drive back and forth to school every day, and her determination to improve is a testament to the kind of athlete she is, according to Birr.
“She’s a great kid – coachable, hard-working and talented,” Birr said. “She loves the game and devotes a lot of time to getting better.”