My volleyball journey first started in fifth grade. I rocked my brand-new volleyball shoes and bright white turtle knee pads just like every other girl, itching to finally learn what volleyball is all about. Little did I know that it would soon be my primary sport and take up most of my life. I only played grade school volleyball that first year, but I dreaded my last game because that meant the season would be over and I would have to wait a whole year to play another game.
By the start of my second season I was begging my parents to let me play club. It took lots of “puppy dog eyes” and weeks of being on my best behavior, but my parents cracked and let me go to tryouts. I was ecstatic when I made the team with some of my closest friends and could not wait to be able to play volleyball for more than three-months out of the year.
Club was more serious than school volleyball so I was given a set position by my coach. I was told that I would be a right-side hitter but was quickly given the setter position instead. At first I was upset about this. It was going to be a lot more work and I did not have the confidence at that age to do it. My teammates were able to pick me up and I gave setting my biggest effort. It turns out that I wasn’t too bad at it! I continued to be a setter the rest of my grade school career.
Once I hit high school, I was thrown into the right-side hitter position. I worked hard at it and was able to find success. Eventually I was able to earn the chance to be both a hitter and setter. I once again gave everything I had into both positions and landed a scholarship to play college volleyball. I played at Kaskaskia College for two years as both a hitter and setter. I was given quite a few awards while at that school and that recognition landed me another college scholarship to go on and play at Missouri Baptist University.
It was my success and love for the game that brought me to want to help other fall in love with volleyball too. I now coach two different teams and get to watch girls grow in their abilities every day. It is both a challenging and rewarding position and I can’t wait to tell you all about it in my next post!
Volleyball through my eyes 