What #12 can teach us...

I want to share a personal story with you all. I recently lost a great friend and former teammate to a seven-year battle with brain cancer. I am not telling you this for pity, or to make you feel sad, but for inspiration…For motivation to take advantage of each opportunity you’re given.

In August of 2004, our freshman preseason, Erin was complaining of headaches. She was sleeping through practices and classes. She went to the doctors and they discovered a mass on her brain and planned to operate the following week. Before that scheduled appointment, the mass hemorrhaged.

In September of 2004, Erin was diagnosed with brain cancer. Everything happened very quickly and she remained in the hospital. She received so many treatments of chemo and fought hard each day to defeat what was trying to take over a very strong 18 year-old.

In November of 2004, she was still fighting. We were competing for the NCAA National Championship Title in Rochester, Minnesota and Erin wanted to come too. Knowing this was something Erin really wanted, her family borrowed a trailer and drove her from the hospital in Pennsylvania to NCAAs.
(Assuming none of you are familiar with Rochester Minnesota – it is the home of one of the best hospitals and clinics out there…The Mayo Clinic. It just so happened to be a very safe place to take Erin considering the condition she was in.)

The team wheeled her onto the court when they called the line up, and she sat beside our bench the entire match. When we won, I looked at her and I said, “Erin, we have three more of these to win!!” Without even opening her eyes, she held up four fingers – letting me know that she will have one more year than me to win more titles. We were both freshmen, but our Coach was able to redshirt her once she got sick to save a year of eligibility and Erin was very aware of that!!

Erin had to relearn a lot of everyday habbits. Walking and balance was tough and she would become frustrated easily. She had a red scooter she would drive around campus and she would show up to practices in her uniform, sneaks, and kneepads. She would tell us, not ask us, that she was ready to play. Coach would lower the net and the team would help her stand up so she could hit. She was determined to get back in the gym for our 2005 season. She never gave up – even when they retired her jersey in 2008 :)

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” - Jimmy Valvano
(Abby - I thank you for sharing that quote with us)

Needless to say, Erin was unable to play again but she never stopped trying. She beat that bout of cancer and what a victory it was!! She went through periods of remission, and when the cancer would come back she would tell us that it was ok – because she would just beat it again. She probably held her composure better than we all did over the past seven years.

Sometimes we take for granted things we do everyday. We don’t appreciate things that really make us who we are and, for me, volleyball is one of those things. Each of us is getting the opportunity to experience success, failure, comradery, etc…with the girls around us and it is an amazing and incredible thing.

Again, I am not sharing this for tears…or for you to feel sad. I know Erin isn’t sad, and this is not a sad story. It’s a great story with an inevitable ending and I pass it along in hopes that each of us realize what we have and that we take advantage of being a part of something so amazing.

My Inspiration...

I started playing volleyball in junior high…seventh grade was my first organized year because that’s all that was offered in my area. I LOVED IT. I started club ball my freshman year of high school and committed to playing at Juniata College during my senior year. I had no idea what I was headed into.

I can’t describe Juniata Volleyball in words, I definitely can’t justify it in a blog post. In a little while I will try, but first let me preface this post: I went into preseason pretty physically prepared. Mentally? I was clueless as for what was in store.

I wouldn’t say I was the star of my high school…I COULDN’T say I was the star of my high school team. My middle was Christa Harmotto (Penn State ’09), my outside was Dana Mclaughin (Duquesne ’08), and I also played with Aubre Smith (Troy ’08). I will say, however, I was a leader – or at least tried to be whether my team liked it or not. That attitude? Not welcomed with open arms as a mediocre freshman outside hitter at Juniata College. The upperclassman kicked my butt and I think they liked doing it. :)

Something I quickly learned was that, there were no stars. Sure we had NCAA players of the year, tournament MVPs and all-conference honorees, but what we didn’t have was a National Championship. Not yet at least.
I sat the bench A LOT my freshman year. I am sure it upset me…I know that I HAD to have been itching to get out on that court during games. It’s funny, though; because I cant recall it bothering me. That’s not what I think back and remember.

That was 2004, and that was the first NCAA Championship title Juniata brought back to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. We brought our second gold trophy home in 2006 and that is the most recent one that sits in the case outside of the gym at Juniata College. I still have a piece of the ’06 sport court in my house, I wear my rings every opportunity I get, and both championship pictures sit on the mantle. What I took home with me the summer of 2008 was so much more than any of those things.

The norms the program instilled in me, the strength it provided me with, and the lessons it taught me all were a part of an experience bigger than me…one I still don’t think I deserve. Juniata Volleyball made me who I am today. I get teary-eyed thinking about Larry Bock, Heather Pavlik, all of the girls from 2004-on…I owe them my life. I owe volleyball my life.

And that’s where coaching comes in for me. I have decided to pay it forward. I want to share my passion, and I want young women to be able to experience what I did. Watching my players develop and just simply love the sport is one of the most gratifying feelings for me. Lastly, I want to prepare them for the next level. I want them to walk into preseason as freshmen ready to work and to respect the game. I will never be a Larry Bock, but I will never forget the opportunities he gave me and I will always do my best to pass that along.