I’m gonna start by asking you all a
question who has ever heard someone say
to a five-year-old your dreams are
impossible and unrealistic go find new
ones the answer is no when we’re five we
aren’t even allowed to say the words
impossible or real or can’t because
nothing is impossible and you always can
the possibilities and pathways at such
an age are endless so who would say a
rock star is impossible how do you know
that your five-year-old won’t end up
taking the right path to lead him or her
to be the Elvis of the 21st century or
the 2032 Olympic high jump gold medalist
we don’t know that so I say no at this
time there are no limits no budgets no
closed roads no cancellations there’s
nothing stopping us from our one true
dream and if by some chance we encounter
those dreams those things we believe
that we can overcome them and we want to
overcome them and we’re told that we can
we want to persevere and be exactly who
we envisioned ourselves as so why would
you suppress the drive of someone who
wants to work hard and might have the
potential to become who they want to be
the answer is you don’t which is why we
don’t tell our kids that their dreams
are impossible and unrealistic and
unreasonable as we start to get older we
develop interest in baseball or acting
or drawing and we begin to narrow our
focus on those things whenever we start
really loving an extracurricular we
start to put more and more time into it
and at some point we say wow I love this
what if I could make money out of this
but what we say what if I could be the
next LeBron James then we start to look
at those who made it big in their area
and we realized that we want to be
exactly like them so that we can end up
where they are now it’s a commonality to
idolize those like to seed the farthest
and the things that we love football
players idolize Tom Brady artists
idolize Andy Warhol Chellis idolize
yo-yo ma but it becomes really difficult
sometimes to accept that not everyone
can be that 1% of 1% of 1% and it is
especially difficult for sports players
to come to terms with this
because sometimes it’s not about having
the steadiest hand or being able to pick
the right colors and or training our
minds to become more creative in a small
room in sports a big part of making it
vague is genetics not everyone can be
Michael Phelps because not only is
Michael Phelps 6:4 but he also has the
wingspan of someone who’s six seven and
I’m not secreting Michael Phelps because
he had great genetics nor am i saying
that that’s only why he’s so successful
what I am saying is that he needed those
genetics and he had to work ridiculously
hard be the first one in the gym and the
last one out he had to be the kid that
everyone else tried to copy to get in
his position he had to take time to
train when everyone else took breaks he
had to think more about how to be better
and get better so that he could do it
first he had to be the hardest worker in
the room to get where he is today but
not everyone can be the hardest worker
in the room and still be Michael Phelps
because again not only is Michael Phelps
6:4 but he also has the wingspan of
someone who’s seven who’s six seven and
that is pure genetics and that cannot be
taught and it sucks to be the hardest
worker in the room but not have that
genetic portion especially for 12 year
olds who have been told their whole
lives that they can be whatever they
want to be when it gets really difficult
is when you’re playing growing up
playing basketball which we all know is
a tall person sport and you have fairly
tall parents your mum’s by five your dad
six-foot so realistically with basic
height equation average of your moms and
dads height plus two inches for guys and
minus two inches for girls you should
end up at about five six and a half but
then you think maybe you’ll get one or
two extra inches maybe you’ll be the
outlier in the family or maybe you’ll
get three and a half and be five none
you think maybe I’ll end up being the
extra tall one in my family but then as
you start hitting your stopping point of
growing and you go to the doctor and
you’re only 5’4 and they say you might
get two or three more inches if you’re
really lucky and you realize you’re not
going to be five nine you’re gonna be
five six five seven and at that point
you had so much riding on being taller
than you’re actually supposed to be but
then you ended up being
luckily what the taller the what the
doctors told you you would be that girl
whose plays basketball actually plays
volleyball and is standing right here on
this stage I’m five six and a half which
is exactly what I should be based on
that equation I told you I’ve been
playing volleyball for six years now and
I’ve always been the short girl trying
to play the tall girl spot when I tell
people I’m short they always say you’re
not short to which I respond for my
sport and my position I’m very under
sized MaxPreps found that in Division
one volleyball point five percent of
girls are five six or shorter in
Division two two point five percent and
in Division three it’s ten point seven
percent in volleyball the positions can
be split up into three major spots
hitters libero x’ and setters the girls
that have to be the tallest are the
hitters so go figure right I choose to
be the hitter the tallest position and
also the position with the most
competition because on a team of ten
players usually about six of them are
hitters and just my luck pretty much
every time I’ve ever been on has had one
extra so I compete against girls who are
against six other girls who are the
height I hope to be or taller I think
this picture does a pretty oh yeah
there’s a really good job of depicting
that um to put things in perspective on
my last team the hitters were five ten
six foot six one six two six two and
five ten and then there was me at a
whopping five seven if you give me that
extra half an inch or five eight if you
look at my recruiting profile on my team
specifically the girls I was competing
against for my specific hitter position
have all been over six feet tall because
of this my experience in volleyball has
always consisted of me getting in the
gym more than everyone else practicing
against my garage wall when I’m home and
have a light homework night training to
be faster and stronger and than everyone
else on on my weekends putting in
maximum effort in practice taking every
opportunity to show that I was going to
try to do whatever it took to compete
with them
I still remember parents and kids
actually praising themselves for not
needing to put in that extra work for
not needing to take private lessons or
train extra or stay after practice
their kid or she was special because of
it she didn’t have to work hard to get
where she was she was gifted with
something I could only dream about
height I actually got a lot of shade for
taking private lessons especially and
having a trainer thankfully my parents
could afford to put me through lessons
with each coach what I was training on
my own too
every day over the summer during my
middle school years my mom and I went to
local volleyball court we would practice
from 9:00 to 12:00 every single day in
the scorching hot Floridian Summer Sun
and I wasn’t even training for beach I
was training for indoor so after all
this practicing in the hot Summer Sun I
really started to come with all the
after although working in the Sun and
coaches and a home against my wall I
started to getting closer and closer to
playing to taking my teammates playing
time and eventually I did that was when
I realized how much my extra hours in
the gym my extra efforts to visualize
before each game my hyper focus and
mental effort into each moment on the
court was actually paying off because it
was always so hard looking for a way to
maximize your time potential energy just
to be at the same level as the girls who
got to be six feet tall but what do you
know a little playing time is sacrificed
and suddenly all those girls who were
throwing shade are putting in extra time
too I held on for as long as I could I
kept out my game I did whatever I could
to always have the highest vertical when
everyone else had to reach I kept
improving everything I could but
eventually the girls who just had height
were suddenly working just as hard as me
and that meant that they were getting
better faster than they were before they
had height and work ethic but now I just
had the work ethic suddenly all those
snide comments about my height became
really real to me they really got to me
because I realized that eventually they
would be true and that time was in the
near future I understood that it wasn’t
just about hard work like all the fairy
tales tell us is it is about effort or
ambition we are predisposed to succeed
in certain areas and volleyball isn’t
mine
one of the things that really helped me
understand just how much easier it is
for tall people is having my brother
this is a picture of me my brother and
my mom about four years ago this is a
picture of us a couple months ago my
brother is a freshman at Pine Crest and
is six four at fifteen I’ve seen all the
sides of natural high prejudice and
sports that you can imagine I’ve seen
that it sucks because I’m short and I
can’t compete at the same level as
everyone else and I’ve also seen the
foul against the big guy just because
he’s big I’ve seen the football coach
and the volleyball coach and the track
coach and the weightlifting coach all
come running after the big guy
just because he’s big I’ve also seen and
lived the part where I’ve to be happy
for all the success that my brother gets
because he’s so tall and this isn’t even
just a sports thing in many other
aspects of life taller people are
plucked out of society to be given
leadership positions because of their
height we are forced to naturally look
up to them both literally and
figuratively
Business Insider found in a 2004 report
that people who are 6 feet tall on
average will earn 166 thousand dollars
more per year than someone who’s by 5
having my brother get the good end of
the gene pool really opened things up
for me and it wasn’t as hard as you
think it be in reality there are
restrictions there’s obstacles there are
closed roads and there are budgets but
in reality not everything is a clear
pathway I know that there are girls who
are going to be taller than me and
they’re going to work just as hard as me
and they’ll beat me out and they’ve come
to terms with that understanding where I
am on the spectrum has allowed me to not
become overly obsessive over the
numerous times when the bigger and
better girl can do more than you know on
the court and yeah there were times when
that really sucked because I was doing
everything I could and more but I just
never worked out for me
and yes height is to blame for that but
understanding that was the key to my
success understanding where I fell off
in comparison to everyone else allowed
me to love my sport even more I didn’t
obsess over the numerous blocks I
couldn’t hit over or the girls
with height and a ridiculous vertical
both of which they were born with I came
to terms with where I was and there was
a huge weight lifted off my shoulders
because of it playing your sport I’m
doing what you love is something I
really wish I could give to everyone I
wish everyone could find the thing that
they’re absolutely obsessed with and
just cannot get enough of I love that
feeling when I block the six foot right
side who committed her sophomore year I
love that feeling when everyone shocked
at how hard the little blonde girl could
hit the ball I love that feeling when
you block the girl who mentioned to you
that short girls need to start moving to
the back row I love that feeling when
you have more kills than her and I wish
that everyone could feel that but it
doesn’t last forever and that’s the hard
part after a while it only comes in
small portions but I keep playing for
those small portions I’m going to still
find them I’m not going to give up
something I love because of the people
around me even if your dreams aren’t the
same as those of your five-year-old self
don’t be afraid to go get them try for
them you may not end up exactly where
you want to be or maybe you end up
loving that place even more but do it
for you
do it for you because you can and you
know you can maybe not forever but for a
few moments of glory because those
moments of glory are those moments that
no one can take away from you and I can personally vouch for that thank you
question who has ever heard someone say
to a five-year-old your dreams are
impossible and unrealistic go find new
ones the answer is no when we’re five we
aren’t even allowed to say the words
impossible or real or can’t because
nothing is impossible and you always can
the possibilities and pathways at such
an age are endless so who would say a
rock star is impossible how do you know
that your five-year-old won’t end up
taking the right path to lead him or her
to be the Elvis of the 21st century or
the 2032 Olympic high jump gold medalist
we don’t know that so I say no at this
time there are no limits no budgets no
closed roads no cancellations there’s
nothing stopping us from our one true
dream and if by some chance we encounter
those dreams those things we believe
that we can overcome them and we want to
overcome them and we’re told that we can
we want to persevere and be exactly who
we envisioned ourselves as so why would
you suppress the drive of someone who
wants to work hard and might have the
potential to become who they want to be
the answer is you don’t which is why we
don’t tell our kids that their dreams
are impossible and unrealistic and
unreasonable as we start to get older we
develop interest in baseball or acting
or drawing and we begin to narrow our
focus on those things whenever we start
really loving an extracurricular we
start to put more and more time into it
and at some point we say wow I love this
what if I could make money out of this
but what we say what if I could be the
next LeBron James then we start to look
at those who made it big in their area
and we realized that we want to be
exactly like them so that we can end up
where they are now it’s a commonality to
idolize those like to seed the farthest
and the things that we love football
players idolize Tom Brady artists
idolize Andy Warhol Chellis idolize
yo-yo ma but it becomes really difficult
sometimes to accept that not everyone
can be that 1% of 1% of 1% and it is
especially difficult for sports players
to come to terms with this
because sometimes it’s not about having
the steadiest hand or being able to pick
the right colors and or training our
minds to become more creative in a small
room in sports a big part of making it
vague is genetics not everyone can be
Michael Phelps because not only is
Michael Phelps 6:4 but he also has the
wingspan of someone who’s six seven and
I’m not secreting Michael Phelps because
he had great genetics nor am i saying
that that’s only why he’s so successful
what I am saying is that he needed those
genetics and he had to work ridiculously
hard be the first one in the gym and the
last one out he had to be the kid that
everyone else tried to copy to get in
his position he had to take time to
train when everyone else took breaks he
had to think more about how to be better
and get better so that he could do it
first he had to be the hardest worker in
the room to get where he is today but
not everyone can be the hardest worker
in the room and still be Michael Phelps
because again not only is Michael Phelps
6:4 but he also has the wingspan of
someone who’s seven who’s six seven and
that is pure genetics and that cannot be
taught and it sucks to be the hardest
worker in the room but not have that
genetic portion especially for 12 year
olds who have been told their whole
lives that they can be whatever they
want to be when it gets really difficult
is when you’re playing growing up
playing basketball which we all know is
a tall person sport and you have fairly
tall parents your mum’s by five your dad
six-foot so realistically with basic
height equation average of your moms and
dads height plus two inches for guys and
minus two inches for girls you should
end up at about five six and a half but
then you think maybe you’ll get one or
two extra inches maybe you’ll be the
outlier in the family or maybe you’ll
get three and a half and be five none
you think maybe I’ll end up being the
extra tall one in my family but then as
you start hitting your stopping point of
growing and you go to the doctor and
you’re only 5’4 and they say you might
get two or three more inches if you’re
really lucky and you realize you’re not
going to be five nine you’re gonna be
five six five seven and at that point
you had so much riding on being taller
than you’re actually supposed to be but
then you ended up being
luckily what the taller the what the
doctors told you you would be that girl
whose plays basketball actually plays
volleyball and is standing right here on
this stage I’m five six and a half which
is exactly what I should be based on
that equation I told you I’ve been
playing volleyball for six years now and
I’ve always been the short girl trying
to play the tall girl spot when I tell
people I’m short they always say you’re
not short to which I respond for my
sport and my position I’m very under
sized MaxPreps found that in Division
one volleyball point five percent of
girls are five six or shorter in
Division two two point five percent and
in Division three it’s ten point seven
percent in volleyball the positions can
be split up into three major spots
hitters libero x’ and setters the girls
that have to be the tallest are the
hitters so go figure right I choose to
be the hitter the tallest position and
also the position with the most
competition because on a team of ten
players usually about six of them are
hitters and just my luck pretty much
every time I’ve ever been on has had one
extra so I compete against girls who are
against six other girls who are the
height I hope to be or taller I think
this picture does a pretty oh yeah
there’s a really good job of depicting
that um to put things in perspective on
my last team the hitters were five ten
six foot six one six two six two and
five ten and then there was me at a
whopping five seven if you give me that
extra half an inch or five eight if you
look at my recruiting profile on my team
specifically the girls I was competing
against for my specific hitter position
have all been over six feet tall because
of this my experience in volleyball has
always consisted of me getting in the
gym more than everyone else practicing
against my garage wall when I’m home and
have a light homework night training to
be faster and stronger and than everyone
else on on my weekends putting in
maximum effort in practice taking every
opportunity to show that I was going to
try to do whatever it took to compete
with them
I still remember parents and kids
actually praising themselves for not
needing to put in that extra work for
not needing to take private lessons or
train extra or stay after practice
their kid or she was special because of
it she didn’t have to work hard to get
where she was she was gifted with
something I could only dream about
height I actually got a lot of shade for
taking private lessons especially and
having a trainer thankfully my parents
could afford to put me through lessons
with each coach what I was training on
my own too
every day over the summer during my
middle school years my mom and I went to
local volleyball court we would practice
from 9:00 to 12:00 every single day in
the scorching hot Floridian Summer Sun
and I wasn’t even training for beach I
was training for indoor so after all
this practicing in the hot Summer Sun I
really started to come with all the
after although working in the Sun and
coaches and a home against my wall I
started to getting closer and closer to
playing to taking my teammates playing
time and eventually I did that was when
I realized how much my extra hours in
the gym my extra efforts to visualize
before each game my hyper focus and
mental effort into each moment on the
court was actually paying off because it
was always so hard looking for a way to
maximize your time potential energy just
to be at the same level as the girls who
got to be six feet tall but what do you
know a little playing time is sacrificed
and suddenly all those girls who were
throwing shade are putting in extra time
too I held on for as long as I could I
kept out my game I did whatever I could
to always have the highest vertical when
everyone else had to reach I kept
improving everything I could but
eventually the girls who just had height
were suddenly working just as hard as me
and that meant that they were getting
better faster than they were before they
had height and work ethic but now I just
had the work ethic suddenly all those
snide comments about my height became
really real to me they really got to me
because I realized that eventually they
would be true and that time was in the
near future I understood that it wasn’t
just about hard work like all the fairy
tales tell us is it is about effort or
ambition we are predisposed to succeed
in certain areas and volleyball isn’t
mine
one of the things that really helped me
understand just how much easier it is
for tall people is having my brother
this is a picture of me my brother and
my mom about four years ago this is a
picture of us a couple months ago my
brother is a freshman at Pine Crest and
is six four at fifteen I’ve seen all the
sides of natural high prejudice and
sports that you can imagine I’ve seen
that it sucks because I’m short and I
can’t compete at the same level as
everyone else and I’ve also seen the
foul against the big guy just because
he’s big I’ve seen the football coach
and the volleyball coach and the track
coach and the weightlifting coach all
come running after the big guy
just because he’s big I’ve also seen and
lived the part where I’ve to be happy
for all the success that my brother gets
because he’s so tall and this isn’t even
just a sports thing in many other
aspects of life taller people are
plucked out of society to be given
leadership positions because of their
height we are forced to naturally look
up to them both literally and
figuratively
Business Insider found in a 2004 report
that people who are 6 feet tall on
average will earn 166 thousand dollars
more per year than someone who’s by 5
having my brother get the good end of
the gene pool really opened things up
for me and it wasn’t as hard as you
think it be in reality there are
restrictions there’s obstacles there are
closed roads and there are budgets but
in reality not everything is a clear
pathway I know that there are girls who
are going to be taller than me and
they’re going to work just as hard as me
and they’ll beat me out and they’ve come
to terms with that understanding where I
am on the spectrum has allowed me to not
become overly obsessive over the
numerous times when the bigger and
better girl can do more than you know on
the court and yeah there were times when
that really sucked because I was doing
everything I could and more but I just
never worked out for me
and yes height is to blame for that but
understanding that was the key to my
success understanding where I fell off
in comparison to everyone else allowed
me to love my sport even more I didn’t
obsess over the numerous blocks I
couldn’t hit over or the girls
with height and a ridiculous vertical
both of which they were born with I came
to terms with where I was and there was
a huge weight lifted off my shoulders
because of it playing your sport I’m
doing what you love is something I
really wish I could give to everyone I
wish everyone could find the thing that
they’re absolutely obsessed with and
just cannot get enough of I love that
feeling when I block the six foot right
side who committed her sophomore year I
love that feeling when everyone shocked
at how hard the little blonde girl could
hit the ball I love that feeling when
you block the girl who mentioned to you
that short girls need to start moving to
the back row I love that feeling when
you have more kills than her and I wish
that everyone could feel that but it
doesn’t last forever and that’s the hard
part after a while it only comes in
small portions but I keep playing for
those small portions I’m going to still
find them I’m not going to give up
something I love because of the people
around me even if your dreams aren’t the
same as those of your five-year-old self
don’t be afraid to go get them try for
them you may not end up exactly where
you want to be or maybe you end up
loving that place even more but do it
for you
do it for you because you can and you
know you can maybe not forever but for a
few moments of glory because those
moments of glory are those moments that
no one can take away from you and I can personally vouch for that thank you
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