The End of the Road

This morning I want to take a moment to digress from my usual blog entries and reflect on something else that is very important to me.  Volleyball.

When I was in middle school I got cut from the baseball team.  I was heart broken.  Baseball was my favorite sport since I was five years old.  I was looking for something else to occupy my time and something new to try.  One day my neighbors were peppering in their backyard so I figured "what the heck, I'll go and try to play with them."  I was awful.  Years later they told me how they hated it when I came over to play because I was so bad.  I knew they didn't mean anything bad by it, it was just something we all look back on now and laugh at.  If it weren't for Caitlin and Margaret Masty it's safe to say that I wouldn't be sitting here this morning typing this entry.

The spring of my freshman year at Hilliard Davidson High School I tried out for the boys volleyball team.  I made the freshmen squad and even saw action on JV that season.  My sophomore year the opportunities really started to open up for me.  We graduated twelve seniors the year before.  As a sophomore I made and started for the varsity team.

My junior year we saw our most success, although the season didn't win with a state championship as we had intended we finished 20-5 overall and 10-0 in conference.  That was a fun season.

My senior year had it's ups and downs.  The Sunday before Thanksgiving I was at practice for the club volleyball team I played for.  I dove for a ball and my shoulder popped out of place.  Upon impact with the ground it went back into place.  Needless to say, I was in a lot of pain.  The next day I visited the top shoulder orthopedic specialist in the state of Ohio hoping for the best.  The news wasn't the greatest but it wasn't the worst.  I had dislocated my shoulder and had two options for recovery.  Option #1, undergo surgery and jeopardize playing for Davidson in the spring or option #2 undergo intense physical therapy and see what happens.  There were no guarantees.  This injury occurred right in the heart of recruiting season, so it was looking as if there would be no collegiate volleyball future for me.

After a long grueling three months of physical therapy, I returned to action over Valentine's Day weekend at a tournament at Penn State University in Happy Valley.  In that tournament I pulled a muscle in my back pretty bad, I couldn't catch a break.  At that point we decided it was best for me to stop playing club and make sure I would be healthy in time for the high school season.

We experienced a lot of success my senior year and ended the season as regional runner-ups.  I received 2nd team all state accolades and was surprised how far I had come after such a severe injury.  We were playing in the Buckeye Classic and the end of the season (a large tournament at the Columbus Convention Center hosting teams from all across the nation) and I sprained my ankle in warm ups.  High ankle sprain...out two weeks.  Now this was important because my current head coach, Mike Watkins, had come to the tournament to watch me play, only to find out that I wouldn't.

To this day I am forever grateful for Coach Watkins.  He was one of four coaches that still offered me an opportunity to continue playing volleyball beyond high school.  Coming to Siena Heights was the absolute best decision I made in my life.  Not only for volleyball but for the university's academics and the countless number of amazing people I have met in my time here.

With all that being said and as the title of this entry indicates, everything comes to an end at some point.  This afternoon I will take the floor at home in the Siena Heights University field house one last time.  It's incredible how fast the time has gone, I can't believe it.  I received a tweet this morning from a teammate and close friend that read "Today, for you."  But today I'm playing for all of the SHU men's volleyball players that have come before me and the ones still to come.

I'm at a loss for words.  I don't think things will really set in that this is it until I head over to the field house in about an hour and a half.

I really appreciate the support the faculty, staff and student body has provided us over the past four years.  It's been great.  So come out today and enjoy it and soak it all in one last time.  1 pm, SHU field house, against St. Xavier (IL).

#saintsnation