EFFINGHAM — Haylee Mathis’ birthday still might be a month off, but the St. Anthony sophomore-to-be already knows this birthday is going to be extra special.

    Instead of celebrating it at home in Illinois, Mathis will be in Tuscon, Ariz., from July 20-30, training for and competing in an international volleyball tournament as part of the USA Volleyball Girls Select Continental team.

    “Honestly, there was just so much shock,” Mathis said about her reaction when she found out she had made the team. “There was just no emotion at first because I couldn’t consume it all. I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t actually believe I made it. Once I told everybody about it I couldn’t stop smiling.

    “The 21st is my birthday, and it’s a great birthday present. I’m just super excited because there’s going to be so much exposure out there.”

    Exposure. That’s one of they key aspects of her selection that Mathis is looking forward to the most. The reason is simple — a Division I volleyball scholarship is next on her list of goals.

    “I really want a Division I volleyball scholarship, and I’m working really hard to get that,” Mathis said. “So many doors are going to open out there. One goal would probably be to really work hard and get my name out. There’s going to be a lot of coaches there from big colleges. I want to work really hard so I can stand out.”



First stop: St. Louis

    Mathis has her dad, Russell, to thank for finding the information for the Select age group tryouts. Soon enough, she was on her way to St. Louis and her tryout at the Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams.

    It was at that tryout that Mathis not only impressed the coaches and representatives from USA Volleyball but also surprised herself with some of the things she was able to accomplish. Even if her nerves were firing on all cylinders.

    “It was very nerve-wracking playing,” Mathis said. “I hardly ate that whole day.”

    But Mathis still impressed on a near empty stomach. Her tryout started with skill tests such as vertical jump, sprint speed and serving ability before moving on to skill-specific drills with the rest of the setters at the tryout.

    “I was actually completely happy with how I did that day,” Mathis said. “I told my parents, ‘I was doing things I’d never done before.’ There were things I was doing playing-wise I didn’t know I could do.”



Fast start at St. A

    St. Anthony volleyball coach Kristie Henkelman saw enough of those developing skills this past fall to make Mathis a key member of the Bulldogs’ rotation — even if she was a freshman setter getting extended playing time on a mostly veteran team.

    “We did have a large group of very talented athletes,” Henkelman said about this past fall’s team. “She stepped into the position we needed her to play.

    “I’m very excited to have her on our team. I think we lucked out with her. I just think she’s going to bring a tremendous amount of love for the game and dedication, and a lot of times that’s catching. Ultimately your entire team gets better.”

    Mathis was a little trepidatious about going to St. Anthony. A Strasburg native, Mathis’ freshman year at St. Anthony was her first. That didn’t curb her determination and ambitions, though.

    “I was worried about it because it was my first year going to St. Anthony all together,” Mathis said. “I just knew i was going to have to work for my spot as hard as I could. I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes, but I wanted that varsity spot. In junior high I said in high school I wanted to play four years of varsity.”

    Henkelman said she was excited for Mathis’ selection to the Select Continental team not simply because one of her players is getting an opportunity of a lifetime, but also because it could open the eyes of other area players to what is possible.

    “Hopefully it gives some other girls in the area the idea that just because they come from a small community doesn’t mean they can’t move on and do bigger and better things,” Henkelman said. “She sets the bar higher. She’s definitely a very good athlete and deserves to be on this team.”



On to Tuscon

    Even with early success at the varsity level as a freshman, Mathis’ readily admitted to the initial shock of her USA Volleyball selection even though she played some of her best volleyball at her tryout in St. Louis.

    But the numbers don’t lie in telling the story of how Mathis has made herself into an elite volleyball player. There are six setters on the U.S. Girls Select A1 team and five more on the Select A2 team (Select being the age group of players representing players born in 1996 or 1997, the second youngest group in the USA Volleyball program).

    Mathis’ selection for the Select Continental team ranks her in the top 20 of all players at her position in the country and one of 88 to get a shot to train and compete at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships in Tuscon out of 2,300 who attended the Select age group tryouts earlier this year.

    “Quite literally, the HP programs, that’s our pipeline to our national team,” said Denise Sheldon, who’s a coordinator of High Performance Indoor Programming for USA Volleyball. “What we’re trying to do is find athletes at all ages. We’re trying to find the top athletes in the country.

    “We train them hopefully every summer if they keep coming back. We have the opportunity to evaluate them and work with them so when they get to college and are of national team age and not juniors anymore they have our background and are ready to jump into the national team program.”

    The players selected already boast specific skill sets to make them elite players in the country, but the selection process was also based not simply “who is” but “who could be” as far as talent goes.

    “We’re looking for athletes that have a strong skill set now, but we’re also looking for different factors that will identify for us that they’ll have potential to be better and better as time goes on,” Sheldon said.

    “Certain things like height are great, because you can’t teach height. We are looking for general athleticism and volleyball specific athleticism —   volleyball quickness and jumping ability. And definitely just court smarts — having a high volleyball IQ and understanding the game.”

    Mathis’ first five days in Tuscon will be spent training with her 32 other Select Continental teammates. Those five days of training will give the Select Continental coaches — Jeff Wanderer (West Hills College), Andrew Wehrli (Nebraska Elite) and Abbey Masters (Bethel University) — time to evaluate all 33 players to split them into three ranked teams for the international tournament held the final five days.

    If Mathis impresses in Tuscon, she’ll make a strong case to advance to the next stage in the USA Volleyball program — the Youth level, which is just below the Junior and Senior levels — since this would be the second year she’s considered to be in the Select level.

    Neoga senior-to-be Amanda Baker is a middle blocker on this summer’s Women’s Junior Continental Team and will be in Tuscon the same 10 days as Mathis competing in the International Junior Division. That could be Mathis’ eventual stop if everything goes well in the Select and Youth age groups.

    “For her next year, and everyone tries out fresh every year, she would be looking to make the Youth National Team,” Sheldon said. “At the Youth level, it becomes much more competitive — the athletes are much stronger.”

    It’s a level of competition, though, Mathis said she wants. And it all starts in July with 10 days playing with some of the top young volleyball players not only in the United States, but in the world.

    “I think it will help me just because it’s going to take my playing level (and) step it up a notch,” Mathis said. “It’s just going to step my whole game up overall.”

    The Select Continental team is just Mathis’ first step into the USA Volleyball program. But there’s an ultimate goal in the distance. One that involves a torch and five interconnected rings. Rio de Janeiro in 2016? The yet unannounced Olympics of 2020?

    “That’s another one of my dreams,” Mathis said. “It’s just something so amazing. I don’t know how I’d even react to that. That’s sort of a ways ahead, but it’s definitely something I’m willing to work for.”