By Justice Brown
With graduation right around the corner, and our seniors getting ready to start their next path, some of our student athletes will be continuing their sport at the collegiate level. This is a huge accomplishment for our seniors who have been dedicated and committed to their sport throughout their lives.
This is Gabby Muller. She will be attending San Francisco State University in the fall for volleyball. Gabby has played volleyball for the last 9 years. I interviewed her on her volleyball journey and all the highs and lows she faced along the way.
“I realized I wanted to play in college when I was a kid. In 5th grade, my school volleyball team went to watch a UC Berkeley volleyball game and I loved the atmosphere of everyone cheering and the love the players got during and after the game. I knew I wanted to be like them. I wanted to draw people to the sport to see how enjoyable it was.”
“During my 16s season, I moved to a volleyball club that had a great recruiting program. I didn’t realize how behind I was in my whole recruiting process and there were certain points where I thought that it wasn’t worth it anymore. I thought I missed my opportunity to play in college. It was very emotionally draining to not have coaches get back to me, especially from programs that I really wanted to get in contact with. I definitely had to have a good mindset going into the recruiting process and be mentally prepared for rejection or not hearing back. However, I had a lot of support from my teammates and from my coaches to keep going to pursue my dream of playing in college, so that helps me a lot.”
After hearing Gabby’s story I asked for some advice she’d give to others who want to play in college. “Always work hard in practice and always keep your head up even when you’re having a bad day. As soon as you know when you want to play college, you should send out emails to all types of colleges and make sure you have a good list of requirements and things that you really want in your college life even if it’s the smallest things like the weather or where the school is located. Those factors can make or break your college experience and I think those are super important to think about when you’re emailing and picking out colleges that you would like to attend. Always remember that mental health is the most important thing when it comes to being an athlete, don’t be afraid to give yourself breaks.”
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