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grew up playing volleyball. She started playing when she was 11 years old. When she was 15, she left her mom and grandma and moved to São Paulo, Brazil. Picture yourself moving from Kansas City to New York; it's about the same distance. She moved to São Paulo because she says the volleyball in Macapa wasn't good and there were no opportunities for her there. "It was hard leaving because it was always just me and my mom, but I had to," Corraea says. Like leaving Macapa, coming to the University was just another of many hard decisions Corraea has had to face.
Correa gets to the team room in Horejsi Family Athletics Center at about 5:45 a.m. It is still dark outside, making it even harder to motivate herself for the upcoming two-hour practice. The team room is like a home away from home for the girls on the team; with a big leather couch, two leather chairs, a TV, a refrigerator and a microwave. "Most days when I get done with class, I'll go to the team room, make something to eat and try to take a nap before practice starts," says Megan Hill, junior outside hitter from Lincoln, Neb. "I'd rather get a nap than drive home, eat and then drive right back."
Correa and several of the girls on the team have to arrive early to practice to see the trainer. As with any athletic team, it's seen its share of injuries. At the moment, Correa is overcoming a recent knee surgery, her third since she arrived at the University of Kansas. The first surgery was to repair an ACL tear in her right knee, the second and third were scopes to clean out both of her knees. The training room is bare this morning except for the women's volleyball team. The girls have 20 minutes in the training room. Lying on the training tables in their practice gear, eyes closed, they heat their cold, sore muscles to get ready.
A atexactly 6:15 a.m., the entire team and staff are in the gym. Coach Ray Beachard
says hello to everyone and begins his ritual pre-practice speech, which he seems to make up as he goes along. This morning he chooses to comment on how "awake" everyone looks. Everyone just smiles, some chuckle and it seems everyone wishes that practice would just start. "The sooner it starts the sooner it's over," someone whispers to another player. Don't misunderstand. They don't hate practice. It's just really early. To keep motivated, every once in a while they have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and truly appreciate the opportunity given to them. But that is easier said than done at 6 a.m.
So what exactly is the bigger picture? For most of the girls on the KU volleyball team, volleyball is their life, and it has always been that way. Like Correa, most have played for close to 10 years and
you ask them, dreams do come true. Fifteen girls from all over the world have been given the opportunity to come to KU and play volleyball. So many girls would give anything to be where these 15 girls are right now. Seven years ago when Coach Bechard arrived at the University, the database of possible recruits was close to 200 girls. Because the program has improved over the years, the recruiting standards have gone up and the coaching staff is
maybe 15 of them, and on average we bring in three girls a year." Most of the girls on the team, including Correa, are on full-ride scholarships. In all, the volleyball program has 12 scholarships to offer people. The rest of the girls on the team are walk-ons who don't receive any money from the University to play volleyball.
For the girls who aren't on scholarship, life as a student-athlete is more difficult. "It sucks," says Jamie Mathewson, sophomore defensive specialist from Kansas City, Mo. "You put all the same effort out every day and you don't get all the same benefits." There are always constant reminders. For instance, the first of every month, when both of her roommates go to pick up their checks, she doesn't get one. Or after practice, when her roommates eat free at The Burge, she can't go because she is not on scholarship. "I'm
Freshman middle blocker Caitin Mahoney studies in the Wagnon Student Athlete Center on Monday morning.
more selective when it comes to future players. "Now we only have close to 60 girls in our database," says Jill Jones-Stucky, assistant volleyball coach. "Of those 60, we are only serious about
OK with it though," Mathewson says. "I made the choice to do this and it's making me a better person."
Practice ends and everyone sluggishly walks back to the locker room to take off
their volleyball shoes and knee pads and put on their cross trainers. It's not time to go home and go back to bed; it's time to lift some weights. It is 8:00 a.m. "I like weights better after practice because Coach Hudy usually takes it easy on us since we've already had a workout," Mathewson says. After a 45-minute strength workout, they head back to the locker room to get changed. It is still early, but these girls are wide awake. Right away they turn on the music. Some sing, some dance and some just sit there preparing for the day they know they have ahead of them.
This morning Correa has to go to the training room to get ice for her knees. The few lucky ones on the team are injuryfree, but it is rare for college athletes to end their career without some battle wounds. Many of the girls don't have time
to go home before their first class so some set up camp in the team room while others go to Wagonn Student-Athlete Center to catch up on some homework. Correa sits at one of the computers working on her paper. "It probably takes you one day to write a paper," Correa says. "It is harder for me. It takes me like two weeks because my English is so bad." When Correa arrived in the United States the extent of her conversation was "hello" and "goodbye." Along with teammates Josi Lima and Paula Caten, also both from Brazil, Correa spent her first two semesters at the University of Kansas learning English.
The team does well academically, holding steady at a 3.1
GPA. "I feel pretty good about the team's GPA because we were under a 3.0 the last couple of semesters," says Scott Ward, academic advisor for the women's volleyball team. "The team wasn't proud of that