YSU’s Jeffery elevates her game after China trip

July 21, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

After playing six games in Beijing with a star-studded group of American volleyball players, Youngstown State junior Val Jeffery came away with a love for the food (“The dumplings are amazing”), the arenas (“It felt like we were playing at the Olympics”), the sights (the Temple of Heaven was “absolutely stunning) and the people, who often asked for her autograph after games.

“[I] felt like a celebrity with hundreds of Chinese fans asking, ‘Hello, picture yes? Can you sign here?’” Jeffery wrote in one of her blog posts from last month.

Jeffery also gained a new appreciation for American bathrooms (“The public restrooms over there are just a hole in the ground with ceramic tile for you to prop your feet up”), American plumbing (“The fact that we can change the water here from hot to cold, that in itself is amazing”), American air (“I’m so appreciative of clean air, that I’m not hit with repulsive smells when I walk around a corner”) and American streets (“There’s trash everywhere in the street in Beijing and you see little kids pulling down their pants and peeing in the street”).

“America is pretty great,” she said.

But after playing with a team that featured a five-time Olympian (Danielle Scott), a former national collegiate player of the year (Oregon’s Alaina Bergsma Coble) and eight professionals, her two biggest lessons were:

1. How to make herself better.

2. How to make her teammates better.

“I just had a bunch of really experienced girls around me and they knew what I was capable of, so they tried to bring that out as much as possible,” said Jeffery, the Horizon League setter of the year last fall. “So I gained a lot of confidence, but what I know now is I can’t be that bottom girl here. I can’t be depending on my teammates to pick me up, even if I’m having a hard day.

“And since I felt like I was at the bottom, I know how to treat incoming freshmen or walk-ons that maybe aren’t as skilled. I know how it feels to be in a place where you keep looking up to these girls and want to be as good as them and I want to make sure they’re OK and I want to lead them and make them feel comfortable and accepted.”

Jeffery traveled to Beijing with Bring It Promotions, a company that specializes in international volleyball tours. BIP contacted Jeffery after she was chosen as an alternate for the U.S. Collegiate National Team. The catch was, if Jeffery wanted to join the BIP team, she would do so as the only collegiate player. (There were also four recent college graduates.) And, since BIP isn’t affiliated with USA Volleyball, she would have to pay her own way.

She talked it over with YSU coach Mark Hardaway (“He told me it would be a huge opportunity to represent myself and YSU”) and her parents (“They said it was a really cool opportunity and I should definitely go”) and opted to go, playing a handful of sets during the six-game tournament, which pitted the Americans against several Chinese teams. Jeffery’s team finished second and she felt she learned as much by watching as she did playing.

“I’m a very visual learner, so it was really helpful,” said Jeffery, a Columbus native who transferred to YSU before last season after playing her freshman year at High Point University. “I felt like I improved my serve, I saw how much higher they were contacting the ball, how much more aggressive they were. ...

“I saw how hard these girls worked and how much I needed to step it up.”

YSU had its best season in 15 years last fall, going 17-14 with a loss to eventual champion Oakland in the Horizon League tournament semifinals. The Penguins have posted three straight winning seasons for the first time and, as the team’s best player, Jeffery wants to foster the same kind of culture she found in China.

“I never want a freshman to walk in fearful of an upperclassman,” she said. “I want to instill that as a culture here and keep that going.”

To read Jeffery’s blog about the experience, visit https://valjeffery2.wordpress.com