Family. Love. Passion. Determination. Champions. Friendships. These words come to mind when I think about my USI experience. Laughter. Support. Fight. Fun. These words too. How do you put the best time of your life into words? How do you thank the people that mean the most to you? I don’t know the answer, but I can tell you that USI made me the person I am today and the athlete I was then!
I can’t tell you all the details of who we beat, what the score was, who had the most kills or aces, but I could tell you how much fun we had. I can tell you about numerous miles we put on Coach Mercer’s Jeep (don’t worry, she my teammate back then:)) traveling to Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, following around singers you have never heard or mountain biking trips where we thought we were going to kill ourselves and getting in the car on such an adrenaline rush and laughing for hours or eating dinner with teammates families after matches because they “adopted” me that night because my family couldn’t make it and I can tell you about watching my teammates grow up, get married and have children, just like we talked about in numerous 15 passenger van rides to our matches. And I wouldn’t be doing my team justice if I didn’t mention the moment I remember the most, achieving the goal my senior class set out as freshmen, when we beat Northern Kentucky in 2002 for our first GLVC Championship and trip to the NCAA tournament in school history. The part I remember the most is grabbing fellow captain Kristi “Kav” Kavanaugh (Griffin) and hugging her until our coach pried us apart to make us shake hands! We did it! I can tell you how much that banner means to me in the gym, that I tear up everytime I see it or think about it, not because I remember that match, but I remember my journey it took to get there!
I took away from USI tons of memories, but the what I value most is my relationship with my teammates and my coaches. I think one of the best compliments you can give to a coach is to become a coach yourself. My coaches were amazing in every way, as coaches and as people! They pushed me in so many different ways because they cared. They made me do things I never thought possible because they believed in me. They helped us reach our goals because they were competitive and had an undying love for the game! How do I give back to someone who has done so much for me? I became a coach and many times think back to the coaches (now mentors) I had in my life and remember those same exact things they did for me, because it meant so much. During my years at USI, we have had 5 people go into college coaching and numerous at the high school and club level. Thank you coaches (you know who you are) for believing in us and shaping our lives!
I had to give a speech when I was a senior in college at the GLVC banquet and I knew it was going to be an emotional one, but I hung pretty tough, thanking everyone such as my mom, my family, my previous coaches, the administration, the GLVC, but then I had to thank my teammates and I lost it because they meant so much to me and I was afraid to go out into the world without them. They were my family, my comfort, my security and I would miss them dearly, but what I didn’t realize is how my experience at USI and my relationships with these people had prepared me more than enough to face the real world on my own. We had ups and downs as a program and each of us as individuals had our low moments, but each one of those things shaped us into the people that we are and the person that I am. And at a moment’s notice I could call and they would be there and they are still there.
What we had as a team, was unreal, you couldn’t match it. Teams were jealous of it, coaches were jealous of it. We were special, it was normal to us, our love for each other drove us to be the best and drove us to push each other to the best. Coach Mercer says it’s back in the program and you have no idea how happy that makes me.
I love being a part of the USI family, I still watch old game tapes of my teams, watch us out there chest-bumping, diving all over the place, getting after each other, inspiring each other, cheering like we won a national championship on every point, and then I look at those people out there and see my USI family and I can’ t help but smile.
I am more proud than ever to tell people that I graduated from the University of Southern Indiana and I played Division II because it was the best experience of my life!
As a former player and as a coach, just some advice, enjoy the journey, whether you are a collegiate player or a high school player, because the things that matters the most are the relationships, not what you get out of them, but what you put into them as well, that is what you remember the most and that is what I truly cherish!
USI TIL I DIE!!!!
Shannon Wells #1
