Spotlight on #10: Katie Coburn

Katie Coburn was honored at the volleyball senior night on November ninth, not as a true ‘senior’, but an athlete playing her last home game. Katie is a junior at OIT, majoring in Radiologic Science. She not to go through two years of pre-requisites to play four years, so next year she will be going on her externship.

At the start of freshman year, Katie planned on doing a two-year pre-year: “fall and winter term that was my plan. Then for some reason I was just like, ‘man, I at least want to try this year’. And so spring term I took 24 credits and busted it out and applied and I got in. I don’t know how that happened, but I’m like ‘okay cool’ and I guess I was thinking I have too many loans already and I wasn’t getting a huge scholarship so why not try for it now.”

What is interesting about Katie is that she knew exactly what she wanted to by the time she was a junior in high school. “I had never broken a bone or anything. I didn’t really know what it was like; I just thought it would be fun [radiologic science]. So I checked it out and applied here. This is the only school I applied to so I’m glad I got in. And I’m glad they wanted me to play volleyball for them.”

When she came, school was first, volleyball was second. She still remembers her freshman year: “It was really hard my freshman year. When they came and dropped me off, like my whole family came to drop me off for the weekend and when they left I was just bawling. And having the volleyball team really helped; it just takes your mind off of it, especially the first term here. Having them for support was great.”

Her freshman year, the team “was really welcoming. I was the only freshman on the team, so they kind of all took me in because I had no one to cling to. Most of the freshman cling to each other and just becomes buddies with each other. So they just included me as one of them, like I had been there the whole time, so it was nice.” “I never really had ‘freshman experience’, which I’m okay with.”

I asked her how she dealt with playing while two other Katie’s are on the team: “my freshman year there were two Katie’s, and so I was considered ‘Baby Katie’ and everyone called me that last year and the year before. And Katie Fuller is considered ‘Big Katie’. And then this Katie came [Katie Nelson] and some of us call her ‘Infant Katie’. We kind of have different nicknames for her, but Coach calls her Nelsey, because her last name is Nelson. But that kind of confuses Kelsey, so…” It’s a little difficult, but they deal with it very well. Plus, it is not anything knew for Katie Coburn. She had three Katie’s on her club team growing up, and she told everyone to call her shaniqua, but it only lasted one day. Oh well--it was a good try!

Katie is sad that this is her last year, like any player, but she said that she is even more sad knowing that she still has one year of eligibility left. However, she is excited for her extern. She wants to go anywhere between Portland and Corvallis. “I just don’t want Alaska.” This is because her family is in Salem, her boyfriend lives in Corvallis, and her brother lives in Portland. “Anywhere [I go] I have people to hang out with and live with.”

Katie says that the biggest strength she contributes to the team is her positive attitude. “I try not to complain, like ever, and I know that I mess up a lot and so…I’m the setter so if someone doesn’t give me a great pass I’m not going to go yell at them. That’s just the way I’ve been brought up, that people make mistakes so get over it and move on.”

Her advice she would give to young, aspiring volleyball players is: “just keep your head up. Coaches are going to yell at you and get on you for certain things and you just have to take what they are trying to say, even if they don’t say it the way you like—just take what they’re trying to say and use it as good advice. They are wanting you to get better, that’s why they are yelling at you. Take the good out of it.”

Something I found really interesting while talking to Katie is that she is the Vice President of the Taco Bell Fan Club! “We [her and some friends] made it up my sophomore year of high school. We decided to get a group of people together and go to Taco Bell every Tuesday, and call it Taco Bell Tuesdays and we’d have “meetings” we’d call them and just eat Taco Bell and talk pretty much. And then we decided to take it to the next step and so the Taco Bell people knew us and would give us stuff and we would get free drinks on Tuesday s. then we decided to make a test that everybody would have to pass if they wanted to join our little group. It was an easy test, and some people started taking it just for fun and we ended up getting like 75 people in this little ‘Taco Bell Fan Club’. Then Taco Bell gave us shirts and took pictures of us and put us in their world-wide magazine. So it actually became a real thing…it got to be a lot bigger than we expected.”

Spotlight on #8: Katie Fuller

Katie is currently in her fourth and final year of playing volleyball for Oregon Tech. She didn’t see a lot of playing time her first two year, but played a lot last year and this year. Her first year she also played basketball, but “the season is so long and it overlaps with volleyball so much. It got really hard with school, like double practices and everything. And volleyball is like half way over once school starts. That one reason why I chose volleyball, plus I enjoy it more. It’s where my heart lies.”

Katie came here first for the school. Originally, she wanted to go into medical imaging, but ended up ‘falling’ into respiratory therapy. She wanted to be in a medical field, and found that she wanted to be in something a little more interactive than medical imaging: “[in] imaging, they come in there, they take a picture and they peace out. Us, we’re listening with the stethoscope, we take blood, which I like a lot.” ABGs (Arterial Blood Gasket) are her favorite things to do because “I have to find the pulse, hand-eye coordinate the needle, and then when you get it…it’s challenging.”

She goes on her externship at the beginning of spring term, 2008, and hopefully she’ll be going to Bend. “I love Bend. It’s cool. My boyfriend’s parents live in Bend too, so I have a free place to stay.” She’s also really excited to finish school. Katie says finishing her program is her greatest accomplishment.

Just because Katie wants to go to Bend, does not mean she doesn’t like Klamath Falls: “the town is a little boring, but the people are the best. I wouldn’t go anywhere else if I had to do it all over again. It’s awesome. There’s one bar, one bowling alley, and Wal-Mart. It’s boring, but I like it a lot.” She also says the school and student’s do a good job of balancing studies with having fun. “There’s good collaboration.”

Katie started playing volleyball in fifth grade. All growing up she never got the chance to play with her little sister, Beth (#13 above), but this year she has been able to play considerable minutes with her. At Roseburg High School, where Katie graduated from, the freshman class stayed at the middle school. In order to play for the high school, you have to get asked up. They were three years apart so they always ended up apart.

“This year has been awesome” said Katie. “Being sisters, we get in a little bit of fights and stuff, but it’s nothing major; just like dumb things. It’s nothing bad.” Sometimes Katie feels like she has to be the big, protective sister and watch out for Beth. “It’s her first year of college, and my last year of college, and I kind of know what it’s like.” She mainly has to help her with ‘the boy situation’. “She likes it. We’ve talked about it. We’re cool.”

Katie says that the team this year has “a lot more strong hitters. Michelle’s back. Nicole’s here. She’s doing a really good job picking up the slack…our defense is really picking it up. We’re just overall pretty solid right now…we’re where we need to be right now, as far as the season. We’re doing really well. We peaked at like the perfect time.” She says they peaked after they beat Corban. They were the underdog, so “it was a moment for us.” After that game they found out that if they came together, there is nothing they can’t accomplish. “We had doubts in our mind if we could do it, but after that game those were all gone.”

Katie is a quiet leader on the court. Her leadership and quiet motivation are her biggest contributions. She’s “not screaming crazy,” but she swings hard and has a presence on the floor. Over her career, Katie says that “playing volleyball has been awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m really glad I got the opportunity to play for a great school. I got lucky.”

In her spare time, Katie loves hanging out with her boyfriend and friends. She also loves scrapbooking. She’s a little behind in her volleyball scrapbook, but as soon as she finds the time she’ll get it done. She also said it’s hard to find volleyball stickers and it’s an expensive hobby. “I also love shopping. If I could have endless credit cards that would be bomb!”

While shopping in San Francisco this year with the volleyball team, she had her first shoplifting experience. The team was in Payless Shoes buying close-toed shoes to wear to the church they were going to volunteer at. While they were in the store, some person ran out with a pair of shoes. Her thoughts were: ‘whoa this is a big city’, and ‘oh my gosh someone just shoplifted!’ It was quite an experience for her, since she is from a smaller town and has never seen anything like it.

Spotlight on #4: Michelle Klaja

Growing up, Michelle Klaja’s family thought she would go to a college far away from home. Between her and her older sister, Michelle is the more outgoing one. They all thought her sister would stay close to home and Michelle would leave. In fact, the exact opposite happened. Her older sister went to Montana for college, while Michelle stayed in Klamath Falls to attend Oregon Institute of Technology.

Michelle graduated from Henley High School in 2004. All through high school she didn’t want to stay in Klamath Falls. She also said she never really heard anything about OIT. She only heard about it through family friends that are professors here. Of course the OIT coaches were interested in her, but Michelle was looking elsewhere. Then, at the end of her junior hear of high school she tore her ACL while pole vaulting. At that instant, all her scholarships went out the window.

OIT was the only school that still had faith in her: “I think that shows a lot of character about the coaches here. They recognize talented athletes.” She wanted to continue sports in college, acting as a payoff from all her hard work and effort she had already put into it. She also knew she wanted to go into some kind of medical field, so OIT fit perfectly. She is currently working toward her degree in vascular technology.

Next July Michelle is going on her externship. She doesn’t know where she’s going yet, but said she is “freaking out about it” because vascular is one program that has a lot of east coast sites: Florida, the Bronx, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. She would stay in Klamath Falls, especially to play her last year of volleyball (since she is a junior volleyball-wise), but that is not an option. She said the hospital is not busy enough for students to get eh experience that they need; there’s hardly enough to do their clinical rotations. Last year they only had two Oregon sites and Michelle is hoping to get one of those spots. She wants to stay in Oregon.

Because this is her last year of volleyball, she is treating it as her senior year. Since she was injured at the end of her junior year of high school, she was not able to play volleyball or basketball her last year. She’s really excited to have a “senior year” since she never had one. She didn’t get to play in one single game. She helped out with the teams, kind of like an assistant coach, but it wasn’t the same.

Michelle would technically be a senior this year volleyball-wise, except she had to sit out last year due to a knee injury. She tore her ACL while practicing hurdles her sophomore year of college. “That one was really disappointing” she said, “that was really devastating.” She had qualified for nationals in the heptathlon, the open javelin and the open high jump. It was one week before the national meet when it happened. She was ranked seventh in the nation for the heptathlon, and was looking toward top three with her most recent scores. “It’s like third times a charm, and it just didn’t hold out…I knew what I did right away [tore her ACL].”

Michelle came back this year and has been a driving force for the team. “This is one of the most talented and well-rounded teams” she said. “We have a deep bench. It is nice when someone’s having an off night because we can put someone else in there…the unity on the team is really really good. We all get along. I would like to think for the most part that the upperclassmen are being mentors for the freshman.”

Michelle thinks the best game of the season was when they beat Corban College in three: “it was that one game where everyone was enthusiastic and having fun playing and we were playing well and there were no lulls that put us behind. It was just one of those games that I’ll probably remember forever.”

Her favorite team to play is Southern Oregon University because “you get that hype to play them. They’re our rivals. You always know they’re a good game. You wake up that morning completely excited and the butterflies and everything…it’s just like gung-ho. I just love playing them!” On the contrary, she does not like to play Evergreen State. They only have six players and “it’s hard to play those teams that don’t match up well to you…you shouldn’t, but we play down to their level so it’s slow. You’re just waiting for it to end. You don’t get the adrenaline rush.”

Spotlight on #6: Kelsey Russell

Thus far, Kelsey Russell’s college experience has been like a roller coaster ride. As a freshman she was a pre-dental hygiene major and played volleyball and softball. Softball lasted through winter but didn’t stay on into the spring. “I kind of regret it now, because I love softball” Kelsey said. She stuck with volleyball for her first two years, where she didn’t see a lot of playing time. Her third year she played in one-too-many games before ending her season, ‘losing’ a year of eligibility. She switched majors her second year of college to Communication Studies. The next year she went back to dental hygiene and got accepted into the program her third year of college. She chose not to play last year and is back this year for her last finale.

She is currently in her fifth year, expecting to graduate winter term of 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene, a Dispute Resolution Certificate and possibly a minor in Communication Studies. Getting into the program is one of her biggest accomplishments. Kelsey said that because it is so difficult to get into the program, it makes it such a huge accomplishment when you do.

Kelsey likes to keep good grades, thinking that she never knows where she’s going to end up. She may go on to get her Master’s in Dental Hygiene, and even being a dentist is not completely out of the question: “I feel like if the education is there, why not open yourself up to it?”

As far as volleyball goes, Kelsey’s biggest accomplishment is “being able to come back and play again. It’s kind of like being able to close a chapter of my life. I’m having a really great time playing. It’s awesome. I’m happy…I’m really happy with Angela…she was really honest and upfront with me [about being able to contribute to the team]. I’m really happy that I ended up doing it because it’s a good thing for me to be able to finish this.”

She started playing in seventh grade. Her parents suggested she try volleyball because she had been playing soccer and wasn’t into it. What’s funny is that Kelsey was a big tomboy growing up, and always though volleyball was a super girlie sport. But, as soon as she starting playing, it instantly became one of her favorites. The thing she loves best about volleyball is the intensity of it: “everyone gets so into the game on the court, and relationships you have with fellow players is nothing like you can ever imagine. Volleyball just seemed to fit for me. It’s just something I absolutely love to do.” She loves it so much that last year, while taking a break from playing, she coached the JV team at Klamath Union High School.

This year, Kelsey brings experience along with a calming, settling role to the team. She is one to encourage and keep the team on track and make sure their heads are held high. She has also stepped up her defense. She’s been working really hard on it all season and it’s paying off. Their team goal is to make it to nationals, with regionals in their sites at the moment. “In order to do that, we need to play each game, win each game, play our hardest each game, and practice as hard as we can. It’s kind of a day by day for us.” She says what makes the team successful is that they are always pushing each other to be better. Nobody’s position is guaranteed because there are one or two girls backing every position. This means competition non-stop, which leads to continual improvement.

Kelsey’s favorite memories with the team is going to dinner at night, hanging out, and having a ton of inside jokes. “They are a fun group of girls,” Kelsey said, “the people I’ve met here are amazing. I have the best time here.”

Kelsey plans to stay in Klamath Falls after she graduates, mainly because of the friendships she’s made. Her boyfriend lives in town and she has “made some really good friends that are here permanently--that work here. It seems to fit right.”

Kelsey is also “in a good spot in her life right now, as far as school, where I want to be and the person I’m becoming [she feels she has, and is still becoming a good person]. I feel like a couple years ago I wouldn’t have believed that I would be in the spot I am right now.” She’s headed in the direction she wants to be heading.

Kelsey has found that you can be happy with yourself, your life, and the people in it. Her word of advice to people is: “if you’re not happy in your life, make a change. There’s no need to be unhappy. There’s no reason to stick with something just because of money or because you feel comfortable. Always strive to be the happiest person. Be the best person you can be.”

Instead of Serving the Ball, the Volleyball Team Serves Food

In the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, Glide Community Church helped Will Smith’s character and his son with a place to stay and food to eat. The church provides those services for 800 people every day. August 27, 2007 the Oregon Tech Women’s Volleyball team returned the favor to Glide community Church, helping them serve 786 meals. The team had a break between the Fresno and William Jessup tournaments, taking 16 students--14 players and two assistant coaches--along with Angela and Greg Stewart to volunteer for a couple hours. They spent their time serving meals to homeless or near-homeless families and individuals located in downtown San Francisco.

“Serving at Glide was a great experience for the team. It was humbling, memorable, and more importantly, helpful to the community. It was the first service project experience for many of the girls. I think we walked away having more compassion for those less fortunate in the world,” said Head Coach Angela Stewart.

The church serves three meals a day, 365 days a year. They have approximately 130 people on staff, but are still dependent on volunteer groups from all over the world. It costs nearly one million dollars a month to provide the services they keep available. These services include: low cost housing (apartments), childcare, free summer program for kids, toy drives, holiday food gifts, health care services, and a walk-in center. They also participate in global outreaches and train and employ hundreds of people every year.

For more information about the church click here.