Amanda Harris '13 Recruiting Profile

From a very young age I was raised to be incredibly ambitious and to always chase my dreams; I am now 17 years old and this defining attribute in my life has not changed. Athletically I have seemingly basic goals, but in reality they will take an immense amount of work that I am willing to put in. In high school my goals have been the same since the first day of practice freshman year. I constantly strive every time I step on the court to improve in all aspects of my game; whether it be an offensive or defensive technique, overcoming a certain mindset, or even just being able to support my team. As a team captain senior year I have taken on the responsibility of pushing my team to improve on every point, and this mindset has helped me improve my game as well. Now that my high school career is winding down, my larger goal is becoming very prominent, and that is to play volleyball at the collegiate level. Volleyball is what I am truly passionate about and I can't imagine not playing once senior year comes to an end, and because of this I have been working even harder to excel in the game in order to get to the next level. Outside of my passion for volleyball lies a passion for education. I have always loved helping others and being creative with education and because of this I have always aspired to find an occupation that filled both of these interests; teaching English does all this and more. My dream outside of volleyball is to major in secondary education and minor in English so that I can share my love of writing, reading and the understanding of deeper concepts with those who are interested. Being able to be creative and metaphoric with writing is something my own English teacher taught me and that I had a great appreciation of. Her passion for what she was teaching was a very respectable trait and it is something I would hope to reflect in my future occupation. To play volleyball in college is a main goal of mine for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that I absolutely love the game. I love the competitiveness of each point, the bond you form with your teammates, the respect you have for one another, and how it feels when you make a great play. I love working as hard as humanly possible to make sure that ball never touches the floor on your side of the net and knowing that there are five other girls out there on the court who have your same goal in mind. Being a volleyball player means more to me than just playing the sport. It means that I am obliged to give my teammates everything I have on each and every play because I know that they do the same for me. It means that I am a part of something greater than myself, and for the two hours I am on the court, nothing can defeat us unless we allow it because win or lose I have learned that if I give 100 percent every single point, I can walk of the court knowing that I got better that game. That's all I can ask for. This passion that I feel for the game itself is what drives me and it is why I will not give up on my way to the top, no matter what may stand in my way.