So I show up to the tryout on no sleep, but at that point I was still running on adrenaline from what all just went down.  There are 6 teams in the Korean league, and all of them draft one foreigner (American) for their team when the 3 day tryout ends.  And just like any other draft you don’t know if/when your name is called, but if it is you sign the contract on the spot.  I was lucky enough to be drafted by IBK Altos Volleyball Club.


 I have gotten a lot of questions as to “Why Korea?” when I say where I chose to play professionally, and there are a lot of answers that go with that. First off, I’ll answer why I’m choosing to continue playing volleyball after college in general.  College was fantastic. I grew up, I became a better athlete, a better volleyball player.  But it’s really clear to me that I have more in me.  Combine the desire to be better and tougher with the opportunity to travel and put off the whole “real world working thing” a little bit longer seemed too good to be true. There’s that, along with the fact that when people stop and tell me I’m tall and ask if I play a sport, I can’t bring myself to say “no, I don’t” just quite yet.

Ok, so now Why Korea?  There’s opportunities in almost every country in the world (besides America, lame) to play volleyball and make a little bit of money doing it.  But I chose Korea, and technically they chose me as well for a reason. If I could sum up what my team IBK is like in Korea, I would say that they treat you well while simultaneously kicking your ass.  So they treat you like a professional, but you will be trained really freaking hard.  I want this.  I want to work my butt off while I still have so much passion for the sport of volleyball, because I love it.  I have the opportunity to be pushed in a way I never have been before.  So, you can say I’m going for the challenge.  The challenge of the strict training and the challenge of living in an Asian country where they dont even have the same alphabet. Because I get to be exposed to a new culture while sticking with volleyball.  Because right now, volleyball is my thing.