Rebecca Elise Breeden '17 Recruiting Profile

     Growing up as a child of divorce, my parents had very different expectations for me. My father wanted me to win the science fair, my mother wanted me to break records in track and field, but I realized I wanted to play volleyball.  I was an abnormally tall, fourth grader that my P.E. teacher took a special interest in.  She worked with me after school and told me from day one that I would be a hitter. As an athlete, self-determination and self-motivation is what defines me.  No one is forcing me to spend nights and weekends on the court, I play from a place of endless passion.  I have come to crave the speed and intensity of the game, something that I think mirrors the other activities and academic pursuits in my life.  I decided at the end of my freshman year, as my family was struggling financially at the time, that I could not just excel on the court, my academic abilities must be given just as much attention.  My goal in college is to give everything I have not just to the game but to my academic studies as well. 

     During the summer of 2016 I participated in community service projects in Ghana, Africa.  I taught English at a local elementary school. During our free time, I taught and played volleyball with the children, on a dirt field with a string drawn taut between two trees, to serve as a net.  Resourcefulness is a basic life skill in Ghana.   The sight of so much permanent poverty coupled by the never ending enthusiasm, determination, and passion of my students, was a humbling experience for me.  It has caused me to appreciate, even more, the resources I have in the United States, to passionately pursue my own athletic and academic pursuits.  As I recall my time in Ghana, I am even more motivated to value and embrace opportunity, to doggedly hone my skills as a volleyball player, and to play with passion and drive every time I step out on the court; knowing that children all around the world are not given these same opportunities. 

     Getting to the next level in life is an important theme in Ghana.  I explained to my students that when I play volleyball, or go to a class, I play and learn with everything I have so that I can make it to the next level.  Being a part of a team and creating support systems that will stand with you to win that game, is what volleyball means to me.   Volleyball is a source of passion in my life that I value for my sense of achievement, for the achievements of my team, and for the achievements of those individuals, who have so little, but from whom I learned so much, in the village of Krobo, Ghana.