Q: Arielle, you won four national championships at Penn State—what did it take to make that happen, and what impact did that experience have on you after you moved on to a professional career?
A: Winning four championships took confidence. Every year at Penn State, we had a target on our backs. It’s not easy to always win or always see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, it takes a great support system and trust from everyone in the program. But it is the most incredible feeling to wear a blue and white jersey and know the reason I felt such pride wearing it is because of the tradition of the Penn State program.
We worked so hard, and a lot of the program’s success has to do with our great coaching staff and weight-training program. I remember having no doubt in what we could do as a team. Everyone was mentally and physically ready. We knew we were playing for ourselves and everyone else who came through the program before us. It was set in our minds from day one that the tradition is so important. It is what drove us to go a little harder in tough situations.
Our practices put us in situations that would help us through regular-season matches and then through the tournament to the last match. We weren’t ever a cocky team, but we were confident in each other’s abilities. We knew what we had to do when it was game time or when faced with a challenging situation.
Getting to the championship match was just the icing on the cake we had worked so hard to bake. It was time to show everyone that all the work put in before was now ready to be showcased on center stage. Each of the four championships felt very different but each brought so much emotion, heart, passion. I will forever be grateful to have gone out each year with a win!
Now as a professional volleyball player, I understand what it takes to be a great athlete. It is always important to learn as much as you can from the older players and your coaches. I find myself doing more and more to make sure my skills are improving. At this level, you play with athletes with a wide range of talent and you always have to find ways to reinvent yourself to be better than the next. Playing professionally, the language is different. You’re living abroad, and it can be overwhelming. But it makes it a lot easier when you are strong mentally and have the confidence to know everything will work out.
I am so humbled that I got to continue my career after college, and I owe it all to my college experience, my coaches, and the great institution of Penn State because this is not the first time I have been faced with adversity. The life experiences I collected at Penn State have helped me understand that life is what you make it, and it only gets better with time and patience.
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Originally published in
