Winning a national championship is always special. But to be able to do it with this Stanford team, my senior year, the last time I was able to wear the Stanford jersey, was something indescribable. We celebrated the win and the last four years in Pittsburgh and then I was off to my next adventure early the next morning, lugging around overweight suitcases containing my life for the next six months.
In the world of professional volleyball, there is not a professional league in the United States like there is for so many other sports. In order to communicate and negotiate with overseas teams most people pick an agent. So, during the chaos of the national championship weekend I met with a myriad of agents that had traveled from all over the world to meet with me and other players hoping to go pro. The next day was the final, so my mind was going in a million different directions on decisions that I would have to make in my very near future, all while preparing to play the next night. Fast forward 48 hours and I was now in New York City celebrating the holidays with my family. By the next week I chose an agent and immediately started talking to teams. There are leagues in almost every corner of the globe, so the options would usually be endless. However, I was joining in the middle of the pro season, so these options quickly became slim. I wanted to go to a country that had a tradition of high-level volleyball, where I could see myself improving quickly with elite competition. I settled on Italy. I signed with a team called Saugella Monza, out of Monza, Italy, a mere 20-minute drive from Milan. After dealing with the struggles of acquiring work visas, I was off. January 16th, 2020. JFK » Milan: here I come.
The drive from the airport alone showed me how different Italy was from what I had grown so accustomed to at Stanford. The lanes are smaller, everyone uses WhatsApp, and the Italian version of the DMV was a small room with multiple clerks. I understood that my life was now different, and I had to figure it out alone, with a language I didn't know, and no familiar faces to help guide the way. I was staying in a hotel about a three-minute drive from the gym and the grocery store was on the way, which made for convenient stops on the way home. There was also a strategically placed bakery with the best croissants I've ever had only a block away. Being far from my friends and family was difficult, but at least I had volleyball to help get me through it.
On February 20, 2020, the first case of coronavirus hit in my region of Italy. I didn't really know what to think at first. Things were lost in translation and I was always the last to know because I was the American that didn't speak Italian. I heavily relied on family back home to tell me how bad it was getting, and as soon as I found an English news station on television, it was on all day, every day. I was living a completely foreign life to begin with, and once I had to have a government document to go to practice every day and buy food, I began to understand the severity of the situation.
On March 12, 2020, President Trump announced that travel would be suspended from Europe, so I started looking into plans to get home. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a foreign country all alone in the middle of a global pandemic. I ended up booking a flight out of a small airport in Italy to get to Frankfurt, Germany to eventually get home to LAX. Masks and gloves and a lot of hand sanitizer gave me peace of mind, but my plans of being in Italy until the middle of May had crumbled. The Frankfurt airport was packed with Americans, all trying to get home as well. Once I arrived in Los Angeles, the airport was as empty as I've ever seen it and surprisingly, customs were the most lenient part of the journey. I got home after a long travel day and self-quarantined for 14 days.
Being home with family has been great. Challenging at times being with the same people for hours, but great to be surrounded by loved ones and familiarity. The garage became my gym, the dining room table became a puzzle dispensary, and the kitchen has seen more cookies and homemade bread loaves than ever before. We are keeping ourselves busy for sure, and I think that's the best thing to do.
The biggest thing I learned through this whole experience is how fortunate I am. I have family around me, and we are all healthy. I have access to workout equipment. I have had more dinners at the kitchen table in the past month than I did playing club volleyball for eight years. I appreciate the work that my parents do to keep a strong household for me and my brother. I understand that my brave mom is risking things every day going to work at a hospital in order to keep food on the table. I have daily Zoom calls with youth clubs around the country, getting to meet new people and share my experiences. I now realize how grand of an impact being a student-athlete at Stanford can have on girls dreaming to play volleyball in college one day.
I am currently planning for what's next. The future of the volleyball world is uncertain, but hopefully we will be able to train soon. I will be training with the National Team and if all goes as planned, I will be off to my next professional adventure in a country unknown, learning new things, diving into different cultures, and always knowing that home is just a phone call away. I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and loving on those around you.
With Love,
Kat