My Volleyball Story: Alicia Wallingford

Each Wednesday throughout the summer, Montana volleyball student-athletes and coaches will tell their volleyball stories. Read, in their own words, what the sport means to them and where their passion and drive comes from.

My Volleyball Story: Alicia Wallingford

Alicia Wallingford_young

It took me a long time to find volleyball.

Growing up, I knew there existed some sport that involved keeping a ball off the ground, back and forth over a net, because my brother and I always attempted to imitate it. We would draw a line in the living-room carpet as a net, find a leftover birthday balloon floating around and show off our most athletic dives to keep it from falling. I insisted it was called either 'bolleyball' or 'volleyvall', I just knew for certain it couldn't be volleyball.

Many years and many rug burns later, I discovered I loved that sport. And that it was, in fact, called volleyball.

I played just about every sport in the book before I picked up volleyball. I spent seven years playing soccer year-round, mixed in with sporadic seasons of ballet, track, softball and basketball. The first opportunity I got to try volleyball was in seventh grade. I made the varsity team thanks to my height, and I had plenty of fun, but wasn't completely sold on it yet.

I do however remember the day that changed. Alicia Wallingford_young

I can picture everything about it vividly: the tournament, the court, the neon pink knee-high socks. It was my first club season, as an eighth grader. In one match that weekend, I got my first block. For me, that block was the shot heard round the world. All I could hear was the sound it made echoing in my head. Time froze on the court. That was the moment I knew I had finally found my sport/place.

Thinking back to that day, the goosebumps feel just as real as they did then. I was hooked!

From there, I just kept playing. It was a cycle of school season to club season to summer ball to those awkward two weeks of no volleyball where I didn't know what to do with myself… and then back to school ball, repeating every year and deepening my love for it with every revolution.

I credit volleyball for a huge part of who I am today. When I started playing, I was just a shy, quiet kid who was really tall and didn't know what to do about it. Having volleyball as a constant during those formative years of my life led me out of my shell and taught me how to be OK with being nervous or uncomfortable and using that to learn both on and off the court. Looking back on all the sports I've played, volleyball is the only one I played because I liked it. To me, it didn't matter if none of my friends tried out, or if practice was in the morning before school, or if I sacrificed every weekend, just as long as I could play.

Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted to play collegiately, but I honestly couldn't say when that was. I don't remember ever explicitly making that decision, it just came naturally. All I knew was I didn't want to stop playing. I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it in the big leagues.

The biggest lesson volleyball has taught me is how to fail gracefully. As a self-diagnosed perfectionist, I tend to wait to do things until I can do them correctly. One of the things I love most about Montana Volleyball is how supported I feel to play fearlessly before perfection and ignore my instinct to hang back. Playing for the Griz is an experience unlike any I've ever had. The support of Griz Nation is unrivaled and is a truly amazing show of community. Having the athletic department, the school, the community of Missoula and people across the country backing us creates such a unique environment.

I love being a part of the Griz family and am proud to represent UM both on and off the court. The pride that University of Montana students, faculty, graduates and fans carry makes playing for the Griz worth every single rug burn!

Congratulations to Alicia Wallingford, our 2019 Most Improved Player!#GrizVB #GoGriz #UpWithMontana pic.twitter.com/d3MHnHoXna
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) December 12, 2019

July 8 – My Volleyball Story: Horning
July 1 – My Volleyball Story: Hallisey
June 24 – My Volleyball Story: Moreno
June 17 – My Volleyball Story: Garrido
June 10 – My Volleyball Story: Vander Ploeg
June 3 – My Volleyball Story: Godwin
May 27 – My Volleyball Story: Gleasman
May 20 – My Volleyball Story: Nestegard
May 13 – My Volleyball Story: Semadeni

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Alicia Wallingford

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