DAVID NAKAGAMI
Assistant Sports Editor
To those who are on the outside looking in, the high-profile life of a college student-athlete seemingly consists of hanging out with your teammates, traveling to play other schools around the country, and performing in front of big crowds in huge stadiums. While all of these are a part of in the day-to-day lives of these select few, it is not the big picture. After all, as the title student-athlete indicates, they are students first. This is a point women’s volleyball player sophomore Kiah Fiers knows all too well.
“Teachers don’t like when you miss class,” says Fiers, the Waves’ setter. “It’s hard to get all your schoolwork done and to be there for quizzes. You don’t have a lot of time.”
Like many athletes’ schedules, Fiers’ is carefully planned and jam-packed. On a day without morning classes, Fiers wakes up at 8 a.m. By 9 a.m., she is in the training room taking care of the bumps and bruises that come with the daily wear of volleyball. She then heads to the locker room by 9:40 a.m., puts on her gear, and walks onto the court for practice at 10 a.m.
After almost three hours of vigorous training with the team, Fiers hits the weights for an hour before taking off to make her 2 p.m. class. Following class, she sometimes returns to the gym for some extra cardio or to practice by herself.
“If something’s not working right for me in practice, I’ll come back later and work on that,” Fiers says. “And tomorrow it won’t be like that in practice again.”
Although she has free time in the evenings, it is usually spent keeping on top of her studies.
“I go to the beach sometimes when I have time,” she says. “Most of the time, I’m doing homework, catching up on stuff.”
The beach has much more significance than just a place where Fiers goes to get away from the rigors of life and clear her head. In fact, the sand was where her father, a former junior college volleyball player, passed on his love of the game to his daughter in their hometown, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif .
“My dad used to play on the beach every day, and as soon as I was old enough, I would go with him,” Fiers says. “As soon as I could walk, he would throw me the volleyball.”
She learned her first lessons from her father and has continued her volleyball education under the tutelage of Head Coach Nina Matthies, whom Fiers describes as an energetic motivator.
“During the match, things will happen, and I get really excited,” Fiers says. “She’s taught me that it’s all going to pan out and that I should just play my game. And go for every ball because you never know when you’re going to get it up.”
From those times on the beach with her father to the hardcourt of Firestone Fieldhouse, Fiers’ passion for the sport has grown. Now, volleyball has become intertwined in the fiber of her life.
“It’s what I love to do,” Fiers says. “I can’t see myself doing anything that’s not related to volleyball. My whole life is volleyball.”
It is this zeal that defines her role as a setter on the team. It depends on her to control and direct the Waves’ offensive attack by preparing kill opportunities for the outside hitters. She is not just the second player to touch the ball, but an encourager to her teammates.
“I try to keep everything positive because a lot of times girls will get down on themselves. It’s hard because everyone wants to play well,” Fiers says. “We all started playing the game because it was fun and because we liked it. I try to go back to that — try to keep everyone calm, because sometimes it gets crazy out there.”
The chaos heightens on the road, when the Waves wake up before sunrise to continue play, leaving schoolwork behind on the bench.
“It’s hard traveling, just because you’re really tired,” Fiers says. “It’s just hard because you still have to do the same amount of schoolwork that everybody else does, but you’re not in class.”
Work and class aside, Fiers finds enjoyment in visiting college campuses around the nation.
“It’s so cool to all of these different schools and see their school spirit and be a part of that kind of atmosphere,” she says. “It’s fun to play in front of a big crowd. It’s just really exciting and exhilarating.”
In the locker room before games, the team has a fun ritual they like to perform to keep the mood light.
“Our team likes to sing together, so we’ll sing songs and we play our music,” Fiers says. “Everyone dances. It’s all laughter, trying to get ourselves pumped for the game.”
In addition to the team’s dancing and singing, Fiers herself has an interesting superstition she carries out pre-game.
“We have to wear ankle braces and you have to lace them up,” she says. “There can’t be any twists, and it has to be completely flat. It still takes me a lot longer to put my ankle brace on.”
Her years of games and practices have helped Fiers put her sport in perspective. Taking a step back, she says that volleyball is a very technical sport, one in which perfecting skills such as passing and setting take many years of adjustment and dedication. The work that volleyball players put in makes the game that much more exciting to watch, she says.
“You can sit there and feel like you’re in the game,” she says. “You’re really close to the players and you can feel the energy. I think volleyball is the most fun sport to watch.”
No matter how fun of a sport it is to watch, Fiers doesn’t plan on being a spectator after the end of her collegiate career.
“I would like to play professionally overseas,” Fiers says. “That would be good experience-wise.”
She also lists playing on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) as a post-college possibility.
In the near future, before she leaves college, Fiers has some unfinished business. In her first year at Pepperdine, Fiers had already garnered awards such as West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, as well as being a member of the WCC All-Freshman Team and an honorable mention for the All-WCC Team.
Now a second-year player, she has her eye on one more title — a championship.
“I was standing in the foyer looking at all the NCAA championship trophies we have in there, and I was like, ‘I really want one of those,’” she says. “I want to be a champion. I want to walk away from school and say, ‘I was a champion.’ That’s what I really want to do.”
09-13-2007
