by CADY MAAS
FEATURES EDITOR
In just nine years, senior Sammy Hsu has climbed the ranks of the volleyball world to earn a spot at the highest level in college: Division 1. Despite starting from scratch in fourth grade, she now couldn’t imagine a life without the sport.
“It’s become a really big part of who I am,” Hsu said. “I feel like whenever I meet someone, one of the first things I tell them is, ‘Oh, I play volleyball.’”
Hsu has definitely come a long way from the start. “When I came to Chadwick, I was looking for new stuff. I had moved from Beverly Hills to P.V., and I was looking for a new sport to do.” She adds, “My dad played volleyball in college, so he always wanted me to pick it up.”
Though Hsu now dedicates eight to ten hours a week to the sport, she admits it wasn’t always this way. Before starting in fourth grade, she says, “I’d never touched a volleyball before in my entire life.” Once she did, she discovered a passion that has led her to where she is today. Her journey was anything but easy, as Hsu has dedicated many hours to the sport.
She began her ascent through indoor volleyball leagues, playing for two years with Surfside Volleyball Club and then four years at Mizuno Long Beach. In high school, she switched to beach volleyball and now happily plays for Elite Beach Volleyball.
“Volleyball is the one place I don’t have to think that much,” Hsu notes. “In school, I’m always stressed out. I have tests I have to study for, but I’ll go to volleyball and forget about all of it. It’s just me on the court.”
After making the switch, things improved. “My sophomore year, I really worked hard to improve my game and become a lot better at beach. Then, my junior year, I committed to the University of Washington to play D1 beach volleyball.” Hsu admits that the offer from Washington came as a surprise. “I never thought I would play volleyball in college, to be honest. I was never a starter. I was never the star person on the team, so I never thought I was good enough to play in college.”
“But my sophomore year, I worked really hard, and then a lot more schools than I thought reached out to me, which made me want to commit more. It gave me more confidence in myself.”
When the college offers finally came, Hsu found herself uncertain. She loved the sport, but was Division 1 volleyball the right choice for her? In her moment of hesitation, she turned to the person who inspired her to start her journey.
“My dad told me, ‘Why not just try and see where it takes you?’” she recalled. “I was given this opportunity, and he said, ‘If you don’t take it, are you gonna regret that in the future?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, probably.’ So he was like, ‘Well, then, step out of your comfort zone, take a risk and just try it out.’”
Now well on her way to big-time success, Hsu reflected on her journey and offered parting advice for aspiring volleyball players.
“Don’t get discouraged by not being the best when you first start. If you put in the work and the time and the effort, you will get to the point that you want to reach. Be the person on the team that wants to work hard, wants to get better. That’s how you’re going to improve and become a starter if you’re not. Stay consistent.”
The Mainsheet 