- 2021 Highlights
Personal Statement
Throughout my life, volleyball has been constantly present - I was practically born with one in my hand! My mom and my aunt played in college, my uncles played in high school, and my grandma even had a sand volleyball court in her backyard. Being surrounded with volleyball made it natural for me to enjoy the game. Long term exposure to volleyball quickly made it my number one sport.
Playing volleyball has taught me much over the years, but one of the most formative lessons happened in 5th grade. We were playing against a team that was much better than us, and I made a few errors and was getting frustrated. However, after getting beaten badly in the first game, I decided to stop playing over-cautiously, served like I knew that I could, and helped our team bring it back and win the match. Looking back, this was arguably my most important volleyball experience, because it really taught me the value of resilience, and to always try my best no matter the odds. To this day, I still have the words “fortitude”, “grit”, and “moxie” on my bedroom wall – posters that my dad made for me that afternoon.
I was neither very tall nor very athletic going into my sixth grade year and I had to work hard to become only a mediocre player. Over the summer before sixth grade, I experienced a growth which suddenly made me one of the tallest players on the team, and that, combined with the practice I was putting in helped me become a starter.
From grammar school, I went on to play club and high school ball and it has become my favorite sport. I love the fast pace of the game, the team dynamic, the competition, and all of the different situations that can happen during a match. It’s the reason I get up every morning before school to work out and improve my game. I’m working on explosiveness, footwork, and hitting power.
My dream is to play volleyball in college while earning an engineering degree. I know that balancing the demands of college athletics and a rigorous major will be tough, but I believe that I am more than up to the challenge. I have played year-round sports (until I chose to focus exclusively on volleyball this year) while taking all honors-level classes.
There are several characteristics that have served me particularly well in volleyball. In particular, I have been told that I am coachable, as I always work to understand and execute on my coaches’ instructions, and I do not hesitate to put in the work required to develop as a player. I strive to squeeze every drop of value out of practice to help my team win in competition.
