Olivia Szylar '20 Recruiting Profile

This season I promise to work my hardest to reach my goal of becoming a college setter, I will constantly work on my technique, come in extra, go to the weight room, and lead our team towards success. I value every minute I spend on the court, even though sometimes it may not look like it but the underlying love is there. Ball control, upstairs conditioning or stairs I love it all even though I sometimes struggle with it, but those aspects of practice only bring me closer to wearing a college jersey. I promise to lead our team into the best positions possible, setting up my hitters for success, valuing the digs from the back row, and getting to know each player’s strengths to maximize their potential in a game. I know that I need to work on this, but I am learning to be a better leader every day and incorporating it in tournament play. I promise to never give up on a point because all the hours of training are leading up for a winning game and the worst thing a player can do is not go for a ball which is inexcusable. I promise to not let my emotions interfere with my presence on the court, because I know they sometimes look for me to be the one to step up and be a leader. I have managed to improve this valuable skill throughout the season and throw away my old mentality to embrace the power of positive thinking. I promise to value a coach's critique and honest judgement because I know that the coaches at Sports Performance have more volleyball experience than I have, and in the end they know what can make or break me in volleyball. I promise to never let a coach down because it is the worst feeling seeing a coach frown at you, I will try my best to make my coach proud of me not disappointed by me. I promise to wear the Sports Performance logo with pride and respect because the coaches and players throughout program history have shaped the presence of the club name today. I promise to play for the love of the game, never forgetting why I started playing volleyball in the first place. Volleyball should not feel like a job to me, but a strong passion that I enjoy every day.

If the season were to end today I would be hopeful but never satisfied. I am never satisfied with how I play, I always look to improve and learn something new everyday. I want to feel like I got better at least 1% after each practice. But, I have changed a lot from last season in my practice mentality and I see myself improving especially in my defense and consistent setting ability because last year I was not the player that is on the court today, I was slow, lazy, and unfit but that all changed over the summer because I could not accept it. My vertical, agility, strength, and endurance drastically improved. I take hard work very seriously, it has carried me through hard practices, supported me during tryouts, it has left me sore for days, it had me doubt myself, but in the end it made me a stronger and wiser volleyball player. I know in the end it will help me accomplish my dreams.

I wrote this essay to Sports Performance Volleyball Club that encompasses my work ethic and commitment to any hopeful program.

Recently I had the opportunity to experience how a strong and determined mindset can affect my game in many ways. I was in practice, during six on six scrimmage I was playing defense in base in the right back position, the rightside on the opposing team nailed a cross court shot near my head, I stuck my hands out and tried to set the ball, when the ball touched my fingers it completely dislocated my pinkie the two bones in my finger had jammed up severely and were not aligned. Seeing that I got the ball up I quickly pulled my finger to realign the bones and continued on with the rally and upcoming play to successfully win the scrimmage game. After practice I went to the trainer and got it checked out. That day I realized how much a focused and driven mindset can overpower fatigue and in this case pain.