Taylor Meeks

Sports Editor

I turned onto my side, a smile spreading across my lips, as my alarm sounded bright and early in the morning. I’m not usually a morning person, but last Friday I awoke knowing that the day I had been waiting over a month for had finally arrived.

All of the emotions I could possibly feel coursed through my body. Excitement, nervousness, fear, elation, anxiety, pressure…you name it, I was feeling it. All these feelings only intensified when I landed in Colorado Springs.

Volleyball has been a part of my life since it was introduced to me in the sixth grade. I was awkward and uncoordinated in the game until about my sophomore year in high school. Granted, I was still navigating through my huge growth spurt that shot me up nearly eight inches in a year, but I found one of my life’s passions, something I could be truly great at.

At the beginning of January when I sat down in my head coach Sammi’s office, the absolute last thing I expected to have a conversation about was the USA women’s national team tryout. So, when Sammi suggested the opportunity to me, I was beyond speechless.

Most athletes dream about playing at the next level, and when we reach that level, we aspire to achieve more. Being a collegiate volleyball player for Idaho State University, I’ve dreamt about competing at that next level, what it would feel like, the process to get there, where I would begin and so on.

Well, this past weekend my dreams unfolded before me as I was given one of the most amazing opportunities of my life.

Upon landing in Colorado Springs, I was transported to the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center (OPTC) alongside other volleyball players from across the nation. I had been placed in the first wave of the day, the Red Wave, which started at two o’clock p.m.

After obtaining my I.D. card at the front desk, I was directed to a station that had rows of red, white, blue, pink and navy colored t-shirts, each with different numbers. I gave the woman behind the computer screen my name. She handed me my shirts, and before I knew it, I was in the gym getting warmed up for the first session.

With this being my first time in the high-performance pipeline, I had all of these expectations and thoughts about what I was about to experience. Was I going to be “short” next to the other players? What was the tempo of the game going to be? How was the connection with the setters going to be?

Once we all started playing, all of these questions fell away from my mind, and I just focused on being present in the moment, having fun with the players around me and representing both the USA and Idaho State volleyball to the best of my ability.

Each session was formatted similarly with the typical warm up, a serving and passing drill, hitting lines to warm up the arm and then six-on-six action. There were dozens of court coaches and evaluators rotating to each of the four courts to watch the high-level volleyball action.

With over 200 athletes in attendance, we were separated into red, white and blue waves each day. As we progressed through the four sessions (one Friday, two Saturday and one Sunday), we advanced to different skill levels until we eventually divided into teams to compete.

Though the USA Women’s National Team is already set to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the purpose of the tryouts was to build the Collegiate National Team (CNT) program which varies each year in terms of touring. The CNT is considered an extended tryout for the USA Women’s National Team and only a select number of athletes are invited.

Being able to compete alongside the nation’s most elite volleyball players and being able to receive feedback from the national team’s head coach, Karch Kiraly, has been such a humbling and special experience for me. I was pushed outside my comfort zone, learned more about myself and the game and grew both personally and as a volleyball player.

To say the tryouts was a fun, amazing and surreal experience is quite the understatement. My appreciation for ISU, for my coaching staff and most importantly my teammates has grown by leaps and bounds.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity that Sammi presented to me this past weekend and for her constant support, belief and encouragement. This past weekend will be ingrained in my brain for years to come, and I hope that I can bring what I gained back to Idaho State.