Volleyball Newcomer Q&A: Allie Trame
9/28/2020 4:16:00 PM | Volleyball
Freshman - Middle Blocker - Champaign, Ill.
On her start in volleyball
"My whole family has always been huge into sports. Almost all of my cousins have played some type of sport in college. My parents are big into sports so when I was younger my parents just put me into everything to see what I would like. I played volleyball, basketball, track, you name it I tried it. I just fell in love with volleyball. It wasn't my best sport at first, but I fell in love with something about it and wanted to stick with it and keep trying to get better."
On what set volleyball apart from the other sports
"It was one of the first sports I tried. I think I started around second grade, doing little clinics and stuff, but wasn't on a team until fifth or sixth grade. That's probably around the time I started trying other sports. Honestly, I wasn't really good at any sports. I was one of the most unathletic and uncoordinated little kids. Especially because I grew so fast, it took me a while to grow into my body. I'd say I wasn't good at volleyball until the end of my freshman year, and by that point I wasn't playing any other sports. I just stuck with volleyball once I got to high school. I knew at that point that I wanted to play in college."
On the goal of playing in college
"I think I knew when I was little that I wanted to play a sport in college because I had seen my older brothers do it, my cousins did it and a bunch of people I knew were doing it. I knew it was going to be really hard, but I knew it was something I definitely wanted to try for and it made me realize that I liked volleyball more than any of the other sports. Going into high school I made it my goal to play college volleyball.
"I talked to my high school coach who has coached tons of players who have played in college, so he knew what someone my age needed to look like in order to play in college. He sat me down and told me we needed to start doing recruiting stuff, and he helped me send out emails and videos. I think it was towards the end of the fall my freshman year I started to get questionnaires in the mail. I think the very first one I ever got was from Alabama and at that point I started to realize playing in college was a real possibility. It was in the spring when I started going on visits and then once I started to get offers I knew I was going to play somewhere."
On the college selection process
"I was kind of open to everywhere. When I started, I didn't really know what size school I could go to until I started hearing back from them, so I reached out to anyone I could. Big, small, far, near, pretty much any school. I knew at that point my dad was retired and my mom was close to being retired, so I knew they'd be willing to travel to come see me. My parents love to travel anyways, so it is definitely something fun for them to do and so I was really open to anything. I think once I started my recruiting, I realized Big Ten or SEC was what I wanted because I'm from Champaign (Illinois), which is the same town as the University of Illinois, so I had grown up watching Big Ten sports my whole life. I also saw so many of the great sports programs in the SEC and realized that was where I wanted to go, and I ended up at Alabama."
On when Alabama came into the picture
"They were the last school I visited. I started visiting schools spring break during my freshman year and did the closer ones during the school year because I didn't want to miss too much school and we were in club season. Once the summer hit, I went to more camps at the farther away schools and I didn't visit Alabama until around the beginning of August going into my sophomore year. After that visit they offered, and I committed on my birthday, October 1st, of my sophomore year. I visited close to ten different schools through my recruiting process, and had five offers, including Alabama."
On her first impressions of Alabama
"One of the biggest things for me was when I was thinking of what I wanted in a school, I definitely wanted a college town, which Alabama has 100 percent. I remember we literally drove two blocks onto campus and I was looking around and was like 'this is it, this is where I want to go.' When you imagine yourself in the future, playing at a college, walking to and from classes and things like that, that's what I saw. This was what I wanted. I just fell in love with the family atmosphere and the things set in the program. The athletics department in general was amazing. Obviously, we have very nice facilities here and that is definitely a plus. I love the traditions of the school and the athletics department and the whole town supports athletics and the University in general. That was definitely something I loved."
On her first contact with new coaching staff
"The change was definitely stressful, just because there was a long period where we didn't know who the coach was going to be. It was a waiting game. I loved the school so much and still wanted to come here, but I had to wait until I could talk to Coach [Lindsey] Devine. When I talked to her, it was definitely a relief to know that I liked her and that it seemed like a good fit. They said they weren't going to make a decision until they watched us play, just to be fair to all of us. A few weeks later they watched me play and said they loved everything they saw and still wanted me to come here. It was definitely a relief to know that I liked them and that we had a good connection and it was a good fit for both of us."
On navigating the uncertainty of the season
"I think the biggest thing for me is to take it one day at a time. There is nothing I can control decision-wise. The only thing I can personally do is to do my best every day and take it one day at a time. I think our team has done a really good job at communicating with each other and our coaches and whoever else is helping us make those decisions. As soon as anyone knows anything, they've done a good job of communicating it to everyone, so we're all on the same page all the time. Our goal was to have a season and we were working toward that. We're going to be ready and prepared to play a game and we're controlling what we can control."
On the NCAA's eligibility ruling and the SEC's hybrid fall/spring schedule
"It was a big relief for all of us. The biggest concern was the eligibility because we don't want to miss out on a whole year. It was also a relief to know that the SEC is still planning on having a season. It would be very disappointing if we knew already that we weren't going to have a season. I think the SEC is doing a great job ensuring that we can go forward with the season safely. If it's possible, great. Obviously, if that ends up not being possible, we don't want to put any one at risk, but it's a relief to know that we have an extra year."
On adjusting to health and safety protocols at practice
"It's a big adjustment. Playing with a mask is a bit challenging, but you get used to it and it gets a lot easier. It was a lot harder in the beginning than it is now but were all willing to do whatever it takes to have a season. Whether it's the extra cleaning or masks or getting tested so often, we want to have a season."
On her goals for the year
"Our biggest team goal is to make the NCAA tournament. It would be such a huge accomplishment for our team and our program. I think our team can do it. We work really hard during practice and we're all on the same page on where we want our season to go. Being a freshman, I'm just focused on taking it one day at a time and trying to make whatever difference I can in practice or in a game. Wherever I can best help the team, that's where I want to help. In practice, I'm pushing my teammates to make sure they're the best they can be. Regardless of if I get playing time or not, I want to be the best teammate I can be. Helping my teammates get better will ultimately make the team better."
