Photos by Kit Leffler
Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hill sleeps in the volleyball team room Monday morning.
Life
By Ashley Michaels, Jayplaywriter
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It's 5:30 in the morning. While the rest of the KU student body sleeps off a hang over from the night before, Jana Correa and the other 10 girls on the University of Kansas volleyball team are waking up for practice.
When the alarm clock sounds, there's no hitting the snooze button for an extra 10 minutes of sleep. There's no turning the alarm clock off and deciding that today, you just don't feel like it. Out of habit and pure dedication, Correa bolts out of her bed in the Jayhawk Towers. She grabs her sweatshirt and sweatpants off the floor where she left them the night before, slips on her yellow and green flip flops with the Brazilian flag gracing the top of the sandal and heads to the bathroom. Eyes heavy with sleep, she grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste. Leaning against the doorframe, eyes closed, to take advantage of every second of rest she can offer her eyes, she brushes her teeth. She pulls her hair back into a messy ponytail, grabs a Slim-Fast shake out of the fridge and heads out the door. Turning back to look at me she says, "I don't drink this because I want to lose weight, I just drink because I don't have time to make something to eat." It is 5:42 a.m.
It is not the volleyball season and no, the team doesn't have a big game that could determine its hopes of post-season play coming up this week. They are in their spring season, practicing five times a week and strength training three times a week. This is their time to get better and prepare for their trip to Brazil at the end of May. Their regular season begins in August.
Men's basketball and football are the money sports at the University of Kansas, but there are close to 500 other student athletes who work just as hard and are just as passionate about their game. Volleyball is one of the 13 nonrevenue sports at the University. They have to balance school and athletics while they still try to experience college life.
The journey college student-athletes take is a hard one, regardless of where they come from or what sport they play. Correa's journey has been one of the hardest. Born in Macapa, Brazil, she
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Jayplay 05.05.05