Volleyball Newcomer Q&A: Chaise Campbell
9/23/2020 12:54:00 PM | Volleyball
Freshman - Middle Blocker - St. Petersburg, Fla.
On her start in volleyball
"When I younger, I used to play softball and basketball, but I hated both sports. I couldn't really find a sport that was for me. I had tried tennis, basketball soccer, everything. None of them were for me. My dad came up to me one night and said that I should try out for a club volleyball team. I didn't know anything about volleyball at the time. I might've played a little bit in middle school, one year, and it really didn't count for anything. I really didn't want to do that either because I was uninterested in sports. But he made me go out and try out and I made the team. At first, I hated it. I did not want to play. I was very much against it but over time I got better and better. I started falling in love with it. I had the best coaches ever when I was getting into it and they just really got me to love the sport."
On what made volleyball click as a favorite sport
"I had a coach named Svetlana and she was my first volleyball coach. She really pushed me at first. I was 14 and it was my first year but she was pushing me to be the best and she saw the potential in me. I just didn't want to do it. I didn't want to work. I was just very against volleyball in general. Over time, I saw my progress and I saw how good I was actually getting, especially at my age. She really changed me and the way I felt about volleyball. By the middle of that year, I really accepted her and was really grateful for everything she had taught me. She is one of my favorite coaches by far now. She really helped me fall in love with the sport."
On starting in the sport later than peers
"At my club, they would have us practicing with the older girls. From my point of view, I felt like I was really behind everyone because I was doing my drills with 17- and 18-year-old girls. I thought I was behind but then we would go to tournaments and we had things we would do with people my age and I would do really well against them. College coaches at the tournaments would come by and say, 'she is going to be really good one day.' I didn't really see the potential in it but supposedly from what other people were saying, I was good at that age."
On the goal of playing in college Â
"At the end of my 14s year, my club director came up to me and told me that college volleyball could be something in my future. At the time I wasn't thinking anything about college or anything about volleyball either. It took me into my mid 15s year when colleges started really recruiting and sending letters. That is when my recruitment really began and I started looking at different schools."
On her college selection process
"When I first started looking, I did not want to go anywhere far away and I wanted to stay close in state. A school like the University of South Florida, which is maybe 45 minutes at most away from me with traffic, was where I wanted to go. I just wanted to really stay close to home because I was young. I wanted to be with my mom, my brothers and my whole family. As time went on, I started looking for bigger schools that gave me a southern feel. I love the architecture of the old buildings and I like huge spread-out campuses. I started looking at more SEC schools and bigger D-1 schools in my area. The furthest I was thinking was Louisiana. I still wanted to stay relatively close but I wanted the big, homey school kind of feel."
On when Alabama came into the picture
"When I first thought of Alabama, I was 16. At that time I was told there were no more spots left on the team for me being recruited, so I didn't think anything about Alabama. I didn't start talking to Alabama again until like May 2019 and I committed here in July of 2019, which is pretty late. Coach Lindsey [Devine] was the new coach at Alabama and her and [Assistant] Coach Meg [Ailshie] saw me at one of my tournaments and they both knew nothing about me. They were just walking by the court and saw me playing. I got Coach Devine's phone number later that day and I talked to her. I really liked her vibe and her energy. I really liked how she focuses on the team being a family and her goals and morals there. Even that first night, I knew Alabama was back on the list. I really liked this school, already from the get-go. Then, they came to a couple more of my tournaments and I met the [Assistant] Coach [Ladislav] Lelkes. I just overall loved the coaching staff.
"Then, I came on an unofficial visit. I talked to Coach Devine and all of the coaches, I visited the volleyball gym, I walked around campus a little bit and I loved every part of it. I loved the campus, I loved the athletics department and I really loved the coaches. I didn't meet any of the team at that point, but I was really excited to get to know more about Alabama. Then, I came to a camp and after that was when I met everyone on the team and I met all the other recruits from my year and I loved everyone like my family. I would just go out of my room to go bother them and pick on them because I wanted to be around them. They are like sisters to me, I love them all. That day at the camp, I committed. I told coach I am going to commit here. I told my mom and she was like 'are you sure?' and I told her I had to come here. This is my dream school. I committed, then came on my official and when our football team played LSU and I loved it. I told all my friends this is where I am going to college. I am so excited to be here."
On navigating the uncertainty of the season
"There is a lot going on now, especially with COVID-19 and no one knows what's going to really happen. We have our season planned out now but there is still a lot that can change. There are a lot of protocols and things that have been changed. Our college experience has really been different than normal. Our team doesn't really see it in a negative light as much as a learning experience for us. I feel as though we really have taken it head-on and take every day as another opportunity to get better and get in the gym and work hard. We don't see COVID-19 as a barrier to stop us from moving forward. I feel like we are doing a really good job with handling the whole situation and recognizing the seriousness of it but also incorporating a good time with my teammates and having a good college experience as well, despite everything that is going on."
On the NCAA's eligibility ruling and the SEC's hybrid fall/spring schedule
"Before we knew much about our season, there was a lot of stress and anxiety about what's going to happen. Are we going to get sent home? Are we even going to have a season? Our seniors were really stressing about if we were going to be able to play or if they were going to get their last year taken away. There were a lot of ideas flying around and a lot of people were having a hard time trying to see what we were going to do. When the decision did come out, I feel like everyone was really happy with it. I feel like it incorporated a lot of different ideas into one type of schedule. Now that we have our own schedule going, we have our own times and dates, we are ready to rock and roll. We are going to keep practicing and we are going to get better every day. We're very excited to start playing and use every day as an opportunity to get better."
On adjusting to health and safety protocols at practice
"It was a lot to adjust to but I feel like [athletic trainer] Karah [Sims] has done an amazing job implementing the masks. After working out and conditioning in it, it has gotten a lot better. I feel like we are all easily comfortable with it now. We all come in and we all keep our masks up. It's not something anybody will ever complain about. It's a normal everyday thing now. Karah has done an amazing job, especially with making sure we keep our masks up, making sure that we clean everything, making sure that everything is organized and set in place. Everything is great now. Masks really aren't that big of a deal for us anymore. We have no complaints."
On her goals for the year
"Individually, I would love to make the SEC All-Freshman Team. That's just one of my biggest goals in general. Being a freshman, I would love to see the court no matter what and how long it is or if I need to come in for someone no matter what it is. I would love to get an opportunity to play and be engaged on the court. As a team, our primary goal is to make the NCAA tournament in the spring. We all hope that we get an opportunity to do that. We have been working very hard to give ourselves a chance to do that. Every day in practice has been another day to try and get better and reach that goal. I feel like everybody on our team is very driven and very excited. We are all working very hard and we are excited to see what our team is going to do this year. We're just very excited to play because not everyone has this chance, so we are going to take it and run with it."
