Karissa Carney '15 Recruiting Profile

  Hello and thank you for taking a few moments to learn more about me, my goals and my passion for competition and the game of volleyball. I've always been active in athletics starting sports at a very early age. At the age of 4 I played soccer and tee ball. At age 6 I started gymnastic and at the age of 7 I started competitively racing quads with my father. Unfortunately for my quad career, my parents discovered I had a powerful desire to be the best at whatever I participated in and approached racing with a winning at all costs attitude.  Even though I was very successful, they didn't think my win at all cost riding style was worth the risk moving forward in a sport so dangerous. I was forced to stop racing competitively and redirected to concentrate my efforts on gymnastics. I took to gymnastics very well progressing quickly to an advanced level within a few years. Gymnastics started to rule my life at a very young age. Practices at the level I had advanced to require a commitment of 5 to 6 days a week. My parents, through my tears and disappointment made a decision to pull me from gymnastics because they didn't want gymnastics to be the only sport I experienced or was involved in. They wanted me to participate and experience all that school athletics had to offer, softball, basketball, volleyball etc. and knowing if I continued with gymnastics I would miss out on all those opportunities.  I played all three of those sports excelling at each but my love for volleyball won out. I started here in Tucson with NYS volleyball at the age of 10. I joined VBC Dinamo at the age of 11 after attending their volleyball camp and have been with them and committed to the game of volleyball ever since. I've been told by several of my coaches that I'm the most coachable player they've ever had.  Although I'm unsure of that usefulness of that quality they seem to be impressed by it lol...   I've tried to approach my schooling with the same drive I have for athletics. I attend Ironwood Ridge High School which holds a Best High Schools US News Ranking of Silver. I'm a good student and currently hold a GPA of 3.4 but know I can do better striving to finish up next year with a GPA of 3.7 or higher . I'm hoping that my skills and love for the game along with my academics, will help me to obtain my dream of receiving a volleyball scholarship where I can make a difference in a volleyball program at a good collage.