2018 Alabama Volleyball Newcomer Q&A: Layne Stone
8/17/2018 3:06:00 PM | Volleyball
We will be posting Q&As with each of the six newcomers on this year's Alabama volleyball team heading into the 2018 season. Our second Q&A is with Layne Stone from Mountain Brook, Ala.
When did you start playing volleyball?
"I was in first or second grade when I begged my mom to sign me up to play. I had already tried some other sports and they were a lot of fun. My mom casually mentioned one day that she played volleyball in college at Virginia and right then I was dying to get into the sport. I did a few camps and then when I was 10 I finally was able to play club for the first time. I was really into soccer. I did gymnastics for a while and I tried basketball but volleyball pretty quickly became the favorite. I finally made the choice to stick with volleyball in fifth grade. I liked the speed of the game more than soccer."
When did it become a more serious pursuit rather than just a fun hobby?
"When I was 12 the club director asked if I would consider playing volleyball in college and I naturally said, 'yeah!' My mom kind of brought me back and said that was a pretty big decision to make but I pretty much knew from then that I wanted to."
When did the college recruiting process start?
"When I was in eighth grade, I was playing on a 16U team with an older girl who was being scouted. I wasn't even thinking about recruitment at that point but we played in a few big tournaments and there were teams scouting us because she was on our team. That really kicked it off and I went on my first visit spring of that year."
What schools were you looking at initially?
"Funny enough, I initially wanted to go anywhere out of state. Both of my parents went to UVA so I always identified as a Virginia fan when I was young. In kindergarten, we had a day centered around the Iron Bowl where the kids would come in wearing a jersey for their team. At that time, more of my friends were Alabama instead of Auburn so I felt a lot of pressure to pick a team. I came home and decided to be an Alabama fan and we've all been fans since then. My dad and his friends have weekly get-togethers where they talk about Alabama recruiting and everything now!"
Did your Mom's experience playing in college influence your decision-making process at all?
"I've always wanted to be my mom, she's the best. I always wanted to play college volleyball. When my recruiting process started, my mom was actually the one playing devil's advocate. She would say, 'You know you'll be busy all the time, you'll see your friends do a lot of fun things that you won't be allowed to do.' She made sure I knew that I didn't have to play college volleyball just because she did. She wanted to be sure that I wanted it for myself."
When did Alabama come into the picture?
"My sophomore year, Coach [Ed] Allen came to one of my club practices. We talked on the phone a few times. The first time we talked I was riding back from a practice and it was pouring rain and I couldn't hear anything! I was still convinced I would go out-of-state, but my parents and coach told me to visit so I did at the end of my sophomore year. I came in with the worst attitude about it, but I came out of it really liking the school. I thought hard about it and committed about half a year later. I gave myself a deadline of my birthday (Sept. 29) to commit and, in early September, I thought I would have made a pick halfway through the month but I woke up on my birthday having not made a decision yet. I knew I had to go with my gut and Alabama was where I wanted to be."
How has the college acclimation process been so far?
"When I was a junior in high school, I moved to New Orleans on my own for school and was taking care of a lot of things by myself, so this adjustment has been a lot easier. It's great to have the other freshmen around me also making the adjustment at the same time rather than just me in New Orleans."
What are some of your team and individual goals heading into the fall?
"I'm still learning the new defensive system and serve-receive technique so I want to get more comfortable with that. As a team I think we have infinite potential if we can come together and play together as one."
