Somadina Amaechina '23 Recruiting Profile

I officially started playing volleyball during freshman year when I made my LaSalle Academy’s Junior Varsity team. Prior to that, I had only been playing volleyball for about two months at Rhode Island College’s volleyball camps. I also started playing for a club team after my school season ended, where I made South County’s 15 Open team. Recently, I made South County’s 16-1s team and have been practicing with LaSalle Academy’s varsity team to prepare for our upcoming Fall II season. 

I hope to attend an academically challenging school that allows me to further my education in medicine, business, and philosophy. I would also hope to attend a school with an equally as challenging volleyball program, so I can also learn to be a better player. I am generally interested in schools in the west. Even so, I’m open to all options and hope to find a school where I can compete at the highest level possible.

Before I learned to play volleyball, I was a dancer, gymnast, runner, and swimmer for most of my life. These activities are not very compatible with each other because of the high stress on muscles and limbs, and I learned that from a very young age. Being a taller person in these sports was mostly a disadvantage because it was so much harder to level up in the ranks. I pushed my body in ways it shouldn’t be pushed, and I sustained a lot of injuries in my knees, hips, and back. Even so, I continued to push myself to become better. Now that I have moved on from that stage of my life, I decided to try and give team sports a try. Since I had been competing in solo sports, being a part of a team was foreign to me. When I entered highschool, my father was actually the one who encouraged me to try volleyball but I was very hesitant. I took the time to do some research and quickly found my new passion. From there my entire life changed. I met so many people and have traveled with some of my now closest friends. I am still new to the sport and am constantly working to improve on my skills, but in the last almost two years, I’ve grown so much as a player and teammate, and I am so excited to see how far I go in the future.

At a young age, I struggled in the classroom. Once I started middle school, I made academics my priority and now I’ve maintained a 95 or higher average since 8th grade. I am in the honors program, and I am also a member of LaSalle Scholars. LaSalle Scholars is an exclusive enrichment program that exposes students to different professionals, places, organizations, and events that are not present in the regular curriculum. I have been helping my school as a tour guide for 3 years, I’ve also been a part of STEAM arts and helped in theater clubs in the past couple of years. I am involved in many community service projects through my church, like soup kitchens and thanksgiving boxes. 

As a player, I have very good court vision and am able to see the hitter and the ball and get up a firm block. I also have a rapidly improving vertical jump and am very versatile. I try to be upbeat and I like to take care of my teammates, whether that be emotionally or physically. I am very coachable and always willing to gather new information from different coaches. I try to be the hardest working on the court so I can become a better teammate and role model, and hopefully make my parents and family proud.