Leah McNary went to China this summer to improve her game (Spomer/WBR)
Leah McNary went into the summer break looking to take her volleyball game to the next level. What she didn’t expect is how fast she would be working on that task –when a great opportunity came along, it was hard for her to turn down.
It started as a normal day towards the end of the spring season, but soon turned into a whirlwind of activity as she suddenly was headed to China to train with some of that country’s best volleyball players. Nebraska volleyball head coach John Cook contacted Creighton volunteer assistant, and former Husker, Amanda (Gates) Sjuts to tell her that he was going to send Alicia Ostrander to China for some training and that they had a spot left to send another player. He asked if Creighton had a player that would be interested, and said if the player could pay a sizable fee, that person could join the trip to China.
The catch: they had to know within the next 24 hours.
With a somewhat large fee and the quick turnaround, Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth presented it to her team not really sure that anyone would jump aboard. McNary right away said that she was interested. “I didn’t really have anything planned for the summer,” said McNary. “So I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more and I’ve always wanted to go there.” Leah then contacted her parents and within a matter of minutes confirmed with Bernthal Booth that she would go.
McNary can jump out of the gym (Spomer/WBR)
Coach Bernthal Booth was a little surprised by the quick response and wanted to get some more information about this opportunity. Bernthal Booth, Sjuts and McNary contacted Cook to get the details. As it turned out, there would be some phenomenal training, but the accommodations left a lot to be desired. They would be training for six hours a day in a hot gym, and on the weekends they would potentially have the opportunity for sightseeing in Beijing. After hearing more about the trip, McNary still wanted to go.
A lot of scrambling took place to secure a passport, get all the paperwork filled out, and make the myriad other arrangements for the trip, but McNary, along with Ostrander, found themselves on a plane to China right after finals for two weeks before returning to the states just a week ago. Once in China, they had intense workouts learning a lot of different things.
“One of the biggest challenges was communication,” noted McNary. “We had some people translating English to Chinese, Chinese to English. We were actually able to know each other by name and call out each other on the floor, but at times it was tough communicating.” The other communication hang up Leah experienced was the limited or slow internet access, as well as limited phone access to keep in touch with family and friends thousands of miles away. Those inconveniences were trumped by the ability to visit places like the Great Wall and Tienanmen Square during downtime from practice.
For Bernthal Booth, she praised how remarkable it was that McNary jumped at the opportunity. “For an 18 or 19 old woman to have the guts to go do something like that really shows what kind of person they are, and how her parents were so supportive for her to have this experience. I think her teammates were really impressed that she had the guts to do it. I don’t think I would have the guts to do it. I’m glad it was a great experience for her.”
McNary emerged as a bright spot for the Bluejays this past season as a freshman. The outside hitter from Tarpon Springs, Florida was originally planning to redshirt. But as Bernthal Booth noticed the team needed a little more offense and spark, McNary burned the redshirt and received her first playing time eight matches into the season, against one of Creighton’s toughest opponents, Nebraska.
“Since I was planning to redshirt, it was a nice surprise to get the opportunity to contribute right away,” said McNary. “I am honored that the coaches felt that confident in my ability to be put into that position.” After playing against the Huskers, McNary played in each of the remaining 24 matches of the season, starting nine times. She finished fourth on the team with 2.05 kills per set. Watching her play at 5’10”, one of the most impressive things is her ability to seemingly jump out of the gym.
McNary now gets to rest a bit before getting back to work. She will be home for about a month before returning back to Omaha in July to get back to preparing for her sophomore season. During the spring season, McNary worked intensely on improving her defense, specifically in the back row and improving her blocking. Heading into the fall, McNary is also ready to be a bigger leader on the court.
“One thing that stands out is that we will be a young team,” said McNary. “It will be fun to see how we have grown since spring and how we will put it all together.”
In addition to McNary, who was named to the conference All-Freshman team, Creighton returns All-Valley setter Megan Bober, fellow All-Freshman teammate Michelle Sicner and seniors Heather Thorson and Brooke Boggs. The Bluejays play their Blue/White scrimmage on August 18th.