Personal Statement
I have been playing club volleyball since 9 years old in the USAV Rocky Mountain Region. I started as a practice team player for 12U. At age 10, I was starting all six rotations. Age 11 and 12, I played starting libero for 13U. I switched clubs for my 14u season because the club that I was playing for seemed to value the club over the girls who actually played for the club. I found this very discouraging. It seems all they cared about was the club name and getting money for the club. They were not interested in making ALL the girls who played for the club better. They seemed to favor only the ones who will get big scholarships.
I loved my coaches during my 14u club season. They knew when to take timeouts when we are heading in the wrong direction, and stayed calm and used firm and encouraging words to motivate us. I don't respond well to "scream coaching." If you have to scream at a player to get your point across or to scare them into playing better, you really can't "coach." I seem to do better with high intensity, serious practices where the coaches motivate through displaying a steady personality of professionalism.
I value my teammates over winning. I think friendships you develop during the season are much more valuable than a trophy. If you don't get along and improve as a team, what is the point? Teams that get along seem to do better overall than teams that argue and scream at each other during the game.
When I was 11, I tried out for the USAV HP camp and was selected to participate in the "future select" level. I really enjoyed the 5 day camp experience of playing with girls who were serious about learning volleyball. At age 12, I tried out again for USAV HP, and was selected again, but could not attend the camp due to family travel during the summer. In 2018 I tried out for the Libero position. During the tryout, I was selected to provide more reps for the evaluators. However, I only was selected for the skills camp, and not one of the national teams. I have since learned that it seems that girls who know the USAV coaches seem to get more visibility than someone like me who plays for a smaller, less-known club.
The summer before starting my freshman year, I was invited to play with Fort Collins High School varsity (ranked #3 in Colorado at that time) as a DS and backup Libero to a senior Libero headed to University of Wyoming. I was all set to play for FCHS, but was disqualified by the school district athletic office due to residence boundary issues. Because the decision and appeal took so long to resolve, I ended up having to sit out my freshman year because tryouts for the school the district said I was REQUIRED to play at were already completed.
In 2019, I transferred to Rocky Mountain High School as a sophmore in Fort Collins, Colorado. I started pre-season practice in May of 2019, practiced and conditioned throughout the summer with the program, then made the varsity team as DS/Libero. Again, there was a senior Libero who I played alongside. Eventually, I took over the Libero position by the end of the season.
In 2020/2021 season, I opted out of club volleyball after the season was cancelled/restarted two different times and my junior year HS season was going to interfere with club season. I played 2021 varsity as starting Libero, and was selected MVP for the team. I also tried out for "The Diff" volleyball club in Brighton, Colorado. I was selected to play Libero for their 18's open division team "Arete".
