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Zacchio: Punished for being a three-sport athlete?
For the past five seasons, Nicolina Chenard has been a three-sport varsity regular for Ardsley — on the volleyball and girls basketball teams since eighth grade, and on the softball team since freshman year.
And while her volleyball career has now fully blossomed from raw talent, to one of the top hitters in the state, the decision to be a three-sport athlete has affected her collegiate future.
Despite being an all-state caliber outside hitter, Chenard has zero offers to play at the next level.
“It’s upsetting, but I get why,” she said at Saturday’s annual Yorktown volleyball tournament, where she was named to the all-tournament team.
Because of her desire to represent the school as a three-sport athlete, and her dedication to the school as a supportive fan at sporting events — particularly football, basketball and baseball, where her brother Ricky, a junior, plays — Chenard chose not to play club volleyball, which begins approximately two weeks after the high school season ends and runs through the summer.
“My dad was a three-sport athlete, my mom was a three-sport athlete, my aunt was, my uncle was — it’s just what we do,” she said of her family, all Ardsley alums. “My brother is one now.”
Chenard’s mother explained in August that when recruiters talk to her daughter, the same two questions open the conversation — “Where do you play club?” and “How long have you been playing club?”
That’s where the conversation ends.
Most college volleyball scouts don’t come to high school events, except maybe the state championships. It’s become common knowledge and an unspoken truth in the sport’s realms that if you want to get college looks, you play for a club team.
“It’s like two or three (recruits) on one court (in high school), or it’s six in club,” she said of why scouts opt for club tournaments. “I think I would go to club, too.”
Most multi-talented high school athletes eventually come to a crossroads at some point in their careers — stay a multi-sport athlete, or commit to being a year-round player.
Chenard considered the latter.
“I actually stayed up in my room until 2 a.m. crying about it because I didn’t know what to do,” she recalled of her sophomore year. “It was either: continue out and be a three-sport athlete the rest of my career, or go to club and give up basketball and softball.”
Chenard signed up for the Peekskill-based Downstate Volleyball Club her sophomore year and paid the $75 registration fee, but she never played serve for the prestigious local outlet.
“The winter season, I told (then-girls basketball coach Michael) Pollio I wasn’t playing,” she said, “and then the night of the tryouts, I ended up going to tryouts.”
It’s not a fear of commitment for Chenard, it’s just that being a well-rounded athlete is all she’s known. It’s literally in her blood.
“It’s not that I don’t want to get sick of volleyball — I don’t think I could — but I can’t give up basketball and softball,” she said. “It’s not okay with me.”
And it shouldn’t be.
High school kids should take up every opportunity high school presents them outside of the classroom.
The facts of the situation are these: most high school athletes don’t go pro, and the number of opportunities for female athletes are significantly less than their male counterparts.
The odds of Chenard — or any volleyball player — playing past college are slim, so the argument that playing year-round will increase her chances at playing professionally is invalid.
Even if she were more attracted to basketball, which has a few pro opportunities for women, there’s no reason she couldn’t do all three sports and still be heavily recruited.
Ossining alumna Saniya Chong — arguably the best female athlete to come out of Section 1 — has already won two national basketball titles with UConn and may very well be drafted in the WNBA when her collegiate career ends, yet she still played volleyball through her senior year.
There’s nothing wrong with a player choosing to play club volleyball. Most of the athletes I cover who do club are volleyball junkies and can’t get enough of the sport.
But an athlete shouldn’t be punished for not playing club volleyball.
An athlete’s talent should do the talking, not their parents’ checkbook.
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