Personal Statement
Ever since my 7th grade year, when I won my first Juniors Beach Tournament, I knew that I wanted to continue playing volleyball. Play indoors. Play beach. Attend a D1 University. Play on the AVP Tour. Just play volleyball.
My combination of beach and indoor volleyball allows me to see the court at an advantage. It provides additional control and strategic plays. I train daily in traditional ways but also nontraditional ways like surfing to strengthen my arms. The sand helps enhance my jumping capabilities. When trying out for High Performance, when I had to be measured for my approach touch, the coach said, “wow, I wasn’t expecting that”. I believe this has everything to do with playing beach year-round. Beach allows me to play faster and makes me stronger. Indoors is more complicated but the training from beach gives me that edge in technique.
I’ve been the floor captain for all seasons that I’ve played in with both school and club since 7th grade. I’ve been playing on teams and have always been one of the youngest, if not “the” youngest on my teams. As a 15 year old, I was a starting outside hitter on the 18-1’s. As a freshman, I was a starting outside hitter on varsity and we won our league.
I won my AAA on the beach last summer- the summer of 2017. With that, I am one of the younger players to receive their AAA (at 16).
In addition to playing volleyball, I am the Junior Chair of the nonprofit the Tim Brauch Foundation. We create scholarship and leadership programs. Last year alone we sent 18 kids to skateboard camp over the summer. The year before we sent 8. We continue to grow our programs. This year, I wrote and was awarded a grant for $50,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. I've sat on this board for five years as one of the original junior board members and am now the Junior Chair.
Here's more about what we do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA73ltuDHhg
I want to up my game to the next level. That level is D1.
