I grew up playing sports. I participated in basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and track and field. From a young age, it was my dream to become a track and field Olympian, but as I became older, I realized that dream would not come true based on the fact I wasn't fast enough. I didn't know then, but soon I would find a sport that I would love. I found volleyball.

​

When I entered into my first year of high school I had to stop playing soccer and track & field because they were in the same season, but by letting one of those go, I ended up trying out for the volleyball team.  I had never played volleyball before so it was all a new concept for me. I started on the lowest team my first year, and ended up playing for the JV team later in the season. During that year, a high school club coach came to one of my practices to help the head coach and noticed me play. He told me that I could end up playing for a collegiate team when I was older. I thought he was crazy because I was terrible, but he wanted me to play for him and the club he worked for called Juggernaut.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

That next year, I decided to play for him because I wanted to challenge myself and see how good I could become and set a new goal of becoming a professional volleyball player. I had to improve a lot. My coach and I spent countless hours in the gym together to get me up to the level of play that the other girls were at. Everyday we would spend an hour before practice working on the basic movements and skills of a middle blocker, and I became good for my age at the sport. It wasn’t until I was 17 that I became really good at volleyball and loved it. That year I played with the top team in the club with girls that were a year older than me. I started out playing in the middle and half way through the season, I played as an outside hitter. I was decent at that too, but I had to re-learn a whole new position that most other players had been playing for their whole career. I had also been receiving letters from colleges that year wanting me to play for them. I had received around 60 letters from different colleges, which for a girl who started knowing nothing about the sport was amazing.  I ended up committing to Colorado State University (CSU). I chose Colorado State because it was a top 20 program in the United States, it was close to where I was from and the team atmosphere was great.  My senior year of high school, I became All-Conference and All-State for my team. 

 

My first year at CSU was a year that was more for learning. The head coach had red-shirted me and my other 3 teammates that were freshmen that year. That year, I was trained as an outside and an opposite hitter. My second year, I was able to play, and I played as an opposite hitter. I split playing time with another girl on the team. Then my third year, I was switched to play as an outside hitter, and I did well, but the outside position just didn’t seem to fit. So later that year during our spring season, my coach had asked me if I would like to start training as a middle. I was happy that he wanted me to do that because I have always loved the middle position. So that spring I trained as a middle blocker. During the summer, I went to China to play for a BIP college team representing the USA, and I played as a middle blocker. That next year, my fourth year, I started as a middle blocker and did very well. I received All-Conference honors, and was a part of the Mountain West All-Star team, which we played in a tournament in Croatia. My team and I took third place, and I received a place on the All-Tournament team. Both my coach and I liked how I played in the middle and kept me there for my fifth year.  My fifth year was great. I received MVP for our first tournament of the season, I had made All-Conference again, and my team and I made it all the way to being seventh in the nation. We ended up making it to the sweet sixteen in the NCAA Division 1 tournament. 

​

During my fifth year, I had decided I wanted to play professionally. I signed a one season contract with SWE Volley-Team in Erfurt, Germany, and it was an amazing experience. During that season, I got to experience the world and different cultures. I wanted to play another season, but unfortunately there isn't any cartilage left in my knees and I had to stop. But by the age of 23, I reached a goal that I thought was nearly impossible.