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| 2001 | |
| Cayley Thurlby: From Obscurity to...Hawaii |
| Naperville, IL
(9/4/01) -- Cayley Thurlby is a happy and lucky young lady.
"Hawaii has been my dream school for as long as I can remember…but quite honestly, I thought it was out of my league."
Despite such modest words, high school senior Cayley Thurlby and the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team consummated a swift courtship. On July 12, 2001, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin made an otherwise innocuous little statement that sent minor ripples across the islands. The local Honolulu paper announced that a pair of prep players, one of whom was Cayley Thurlby, a 5-11 setter from Chicago, Illinois, verbally committed to the University of Hawaii. Who is Cayley Thurlby, the Hawaii fans wondered out loud? For months prior to the July 12 announcement, thousands of Hawaii volleyball fans inquired who Hawaii was recruiting. Because of NCAA rules against commenting on prep players prior to the signing of their official Letter Of Intent, the Hawaii coaching staff was barred from saying anything specific. The volleyball message boards were flooded with inquiries and speculations about the identities of Hawaii's potential recruits. The hundreds of speculation posts were focused on a few key visible players - but not Cayley Thurlby. Never Cayley Thurlby. To understand how such a tiny statement could have such a huge impact on the many diehard volleyball fans of Hawaii, one must understand the unique and fortunate position Hawaii enjoys within the volleyball community. To say that volleyball is visible in the state of Hawaii is an understatement. The University of Hawaii's two volleyball programs lead the nation in attendance at the 10,500-seat Stan Sheriff Center every year. The women's team averages roughly 6,000-7,000 per match while the men's team draws roughly 3,000-4,000 per match. In other programs across the nation, the attendance average lies anywhere from a few hundred to 2,000 per match. Hawaii's successes at the box office are well-known. Remarkably, it achieves these numbers despite the fact that a local TV station televises every home match live - twice a night! The local print press also covers the Hawaii team vigorously. Needless to say, although Hawaii's volleyball players are only 17-22 year-old college students, they are celebrities on the islands. Unbeknownst to the Hawaii faithful, even the Hawaii coaching staff did not "discover" Cayley until the last minute. Did they see something special in her that convinced them that she could lead a Top 5 program? Within a short period of time, they switched gears in their recruiting efforts from one or two other players to Cayley. And the race was on... Buried in the Depth Chart Despite engaging in other activities such as soccer and junior Luvabull cheerleading, she gave up those pursuits for the sake of volleyball. "I loved volleyball. My dad really encouraged me. He said that you can only excel at one thing and do something you really love and get really good at it." So volleyball it was. Cayley started playing volleyball at age 13 by joining the prestigious Sports Performance volleyball club, run by Rick Butler. Initially, she was a hitter, not a setter. "When I first made the Sports Performance volleyball program, I was scared to death because I did not know anything about volleyball. As far as I knew, they just took me because I was athletic," reflected Cayley. "I would hit balls off the back wall. I would pound at them and they would go flying out of bounds. I was awful."
Then she started to set. In her freshman and sophomore years, she was a hitter and a part-time setter in 6-2 offenses. Her junior year, she set a 5-1 offense full-time. Despite developing her setting skills rapidly in club ball, she was still not getting the exposure and visibility that other players received. At Sports Performance, she was either setting the third team, buried in the depth chart for the higher teams, or playing the right-side hitter position. The top level 16-1 team was led by Samantha Tortorello, the 16-sophomore team was led by Shannon Parker, and the 16-Red team was led by Cayley. When Cayley's team failed to qualify in the Junior Nationals during the summer prior to her junior year, she was inserted in the roster in the higher 16-sophomore team as a right-side hitter. "So a lot of schools were recruiting me originally as a right-side hitter. A few of them, however, after talking to Rick Butler, knew that I was a setter," said Cayley. When recruiting officially started in her junior year, she received recruiting letters from Ohio State, Indiana, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Seton Hall, and several other smaller schools. By this time, she was inserted into the top level 18-1 team as a second string setter, behind Erin Virtue. Although Ohio State, Wake Forest, and Tennessee recruiters came to see her practice, "they did not truly see me set," remarked Cayley. "If I set at all, it was in the third game of a match." The Turning Point Without much playing time as the second string setter for the top level 18-1 team, Cayley hardly received any notice as a setter. Nevertheless, her pure athleticism and competitiveness allowed her to improve her skills dramatically. Rick Butler, the director of Sports Performance, reminded her that nobody knew about her because she was just starting to be a setter. He encouraged her and told her she was going to be a great setter by the time she was a sophomore in college. During spring break, Cayley traveled with the 18-1 team to China. Near the conclusion of the trip, Cayley received some news from Rick Butler that would change the course of her volleyball life. Victoria Zimmerman, the starting setter for the 18-Red team, tore her ligaments in her thumb and was lost for the remainder of the season. Would Cayley like to set the 18-Red team in place of Zimmerman to help them compete in one of the qualifier tournaments in Baltimore, Butler asked? "For me, it was an incredible experience and opportunity because I went from not playing much to setting my own team." It was a no-brainer decision for Cayley. From that point on, Cayley would set the 18-Red team exclusively. Her setting skills became more noticed among recruiters. Reputable schools like Pepperdine sent her letters. To simplify her busy year, Cayley decided to accelerate the recruiting process. After quickly narrowing her list of schools to Ohio State, Wake Forest, and Tennessee, Cayley and her father took a road trip to these schools. Although she was impressed with all the schools, she was "99% sure it was going to be Ohio State," insisted Cayley. Because of a communication problem with the Ohio State coaching staff about whether a scholarship was offered, Cayley had to wait another two weeks so that Ohio State could finalize their recruiting. Translation: Ohio State was looking at other setters. Those two weeks were agonizing for Cayley. The waiting. And waiting. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the National Junior Classic volleyball tournament in Chicago was scheduled. "A week before that tournament started, I was supposed to hear from Ohio State. But I didn't. And I was getting pretty fidgety. The whole recruiting process was strenuous. I made up my mind about wanting to attend Ohio State, and I told them. But they didn't write to us." Cayley's anxiety level increased. "She practically had a nervous breakdown," explained Cal Thurlby, Cayley's father. Enter Hawaii On a Friday of the National Junior Classic, the University of Hawaii's Associate Head Coach Charlie Wade saw Cayley set the 18-Red team. He immediately wanted to know more about her and offered his business card to one of her coaches at Sports Performance. On Tuesday, Ohio State offered her a scholarship. Wake Forest and Tennessee had offered her scholarships during that time as well. But it was no longer a gimme for Cayley. The recruiting landscape had changed. Until Hawaii entered the picture, "I guess I never saw the big picture and didn't realize how far I could go." She was not going to take this lightly and soon decided to investigate further Hawaii's interest in her.
Cayley called the Hawaii volleyball office and talked to assistant coach Kari Anderson and head coach Dave Shoji. She was impressed. Very impressed. A week later, Dave Shoji flew to Chicago to watch her practice. Two days later, Hawaii made a scholarship offer to Cayley. From very little visibility to four scholarship offers! Cayley decided to weigh her options more carefully. She discussed the Hawaii offer with her parents - the distance, the pressure of playing for Hawaii, the media spotlight, the academics, and the cultural differences between Naperville, Illinois and Honolulu, Hawaii. She even consulted with former Hawaii player Therese Crawford via email. Crawford was also another midwesterner who donned the green and white for the Wahines in the mid-1990s. Play for Ohio State in the Big Ten close to home? Or Hawaii, where volleyball is king? The decision was looming. Her Skills What did Hawaii see in Cayley? "I think they saw a very good athlete with an attacker's aggressive attitude playing the setting position and knew that over the next year, she would get the training and competition to allow her to compete at the elite collegiate level," said Rick Butler, director of the Sports Performance volleyball club in Illinois. For example, "when one of our middles needed knee surgery, Cayley moved to the middle blocking position and played over a month there. There were many practices where collegiate coaches would be in our gym and wanted information on Cayley because they thought she was an attacker. That gives you an idea of her physical potential. When I told them she was a setter, I got some pretty interesting looks." Even Cayley admitted she likes to attack the second ball. "I still have a hitter's mentality."
Her work ethic is unsurpassed. "She's a kid who works extremely hard in the gym, both volleyball and weights to be a strong player, both physically and mentally," remarked Cayley's high school coach Amy Van Eekeren, who was a middle hitter for the University of Illinois from 1991-94 under the name Amy Brickley. "Due to her work ethic, her physique/body is at excellent peak right now." Cayley is also physically gifted. Van Eekeren points out, "She has large hands and long fingers, which helps her have such good control in her setting." Indeed, as Cayley describes them, "they're bigger than most guy's hands." Cayley also possesses a competitive mental edge that most players lack. "She's a self-motivated player," Van Eekeren continues. "You aren't trying to keep her motivated or keep her challenged in the gym. She does that herself, which shows that she expects excellence out of herself and her team. She's a leader, works very hard to keep the team together to pick the team up when they're down and keep the team going when they're up." Butler concurs with Van Eekeren's observations. "She is very self-confident and does not rattle easily. She always plays hard and always to win." Nevertheless, the overly critical Cayley pointed out that she has not been setting as long as other setters and that she has some problems with the accuracy of the D-slide back set to the middle hitter. But Van Eekeren notes that "setting the middle is the most difficult position to set because you have different size players, some who are quicker than others, and you have to vary the middle set, unlike the outside ball where you throw the ball up and the hitter is usually expected to get to it." Cayley mentions other areas of improvement. "I'm really trying to soften my hands…keep them big and soft. Keeping my touch. Keep the spin off my balls." Furthermore, "I need to be quick to the ball. I have really long legs so I'm fast but not quick. I have long strides. I need to use shorter strides." But Van Eekeren disagrees. "She's quick." Butler reminds us that Cayley is first and foremost "an excellent athlete with tremendous potential for growth. She is not a polished setter yet. That will come over time and until then, there will be times that she is a little rough and will make some mistakes that a more experienced setter would not make." But, Butler continues, "She is not afraid to make mistakes and gives her best all the time." Despite her need for more training, Butler stresses that "Cayley's future is bright. She is only now getting serious about the setting position and with more training and experience, I think she has a chance to continue playing volleyball after college." Aloha Means Hello Having received the scholarship offer from Hawaii and discussing it with various people, the decision came rather easily for Cayley. She verbally committed to Hawaii and intends to sign the official Letter of Intent in November 2001. "Hawaii has been my dream school for as long as I can remember. I vacationed there last year in May and I loved the islands," exclaimed Cayley. She even commented to her mom during her Hawaii vacation about how "cool would it be to go to school here!"
As for Hawaii's volleyball program, Cayley knew it was big, "but I really had no idea how big it was. Quite honestly, I thought it was out of my league," Cayley confessed. Indeed, when Cayley filled out her SAT application last winter and was asked to list the schools that should receive her scores, she listed Penn State, Ohio State, and Hawaii. Listing Hawaii seemed so preposterous for her. "I asked my mom, is this crazy? This is where I want to go but they're not recruiting me. Does that sound stupid?" Her mom told her to do whatever she wanted. So she did. "This is the right choice for me," said Cayley about her Hawaii commitment with the utmost confidence. "No doubt in my mind." ----------- Cayley Thurlby was named an All-American at the AAU national championships in 2001. She was also unanimous All-Conference, Honorable Mention All-State, All-Area in the Daily Herald, All-City in the Naperville Sun, and was part of the All-Tournament team at the Autumnfest Tournament. |
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